1. In needle-felting the quantity of options what to create is endless because our fantasy doesn’t have any limits and borders. This book “Felted pictures by your own hands” written by Janette Knake proves this statement. Here you will find master-classes to create amazing pictures which will become a piece of your home decoration or a present for the members of your family and friends. “Felted pictures by your own hands” includes the step-by-step instructions, wide range of models (flowers, paysages, etc.) with detailed description and bright photos, useful pieces of advice.
2. If you prefer to be a unique person this book is for you. Jenne Giles’s “Couture Projects from Garments to Accessories” will help you to create your own style and to replenish your wardrobe with several needle-felted things. Felting is known for many centuries and besides it is an ancient craft it is also a kind of art and a way to produce clothes. Handmade felt can be used in thousand different ways: it is rather easy to be handled and to be transformed into something extraordinary and beautiful. Needle-felting is the field in the art where everyone has a chance to become a real master. This issue proposes you a great variety of projects: a collar, an entire dress, vests, skirts, etc. You may also try other popular techniques following the author’s instructions (wet wool-felting, nunofelting and punch needle felting), learn to make the patterns and choose the fiber and wool. Read the rest of this entry »
The previous post opened some secrets about wool to make the process of creating felted things easier and more effective. Let’s continue here learning the basic guidelines about how to become a professional in needle felting. We have clarified the facts what wool should be and what it is better to be bought in. Now, it is time to make sure you understand what needle felting is. As you may have already known there are two basic types of felting- wet felting and dry felting. Wet felting is felting wool with the help of a soap and water. Dry felting is a process of felting wool with the special needles, with the help of which the fibers are pinched together forming felt; – the last one we are interested in here. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s a common knowledge that needle felting is a good hobby and easy way to create just about anything with wool using felting technique. All you need is a special needle, foam, and wool. There are many internet websites which sale raw material-sheep’s or alpaca wool and other necessary things. You need to get medium to fine wool, straight off the animal or already cleaned and carded. Also we recommend at first to use barbed needle. Barbed needle is easy to use and you can find it in any Internet store. It costs about $ 1.
First of all you should try working on a foam block. It is safe and gives you a good surface for felting the wool. Also you can use foam pillow inserts at craft stores that will work. But remember that your foam needs to be at least 2 inches thick. Put down your wool on the foam and poke it with the barbed spine. You should tangle the wool by needle. Several jabs, and you will see how the wool begins to felt Read the rest of this entry »
Needle felting is a nice way to differ and make your hand-made items inimitable. Needle felted things look creative, unique and unusually. They are the best presents for friends on their birthday parties or charming pieces of design for every home because nothing can decorate the house better as a hand-made picture, a colorful pillow or a charming vase. At least once in our life each of us was crossed with the thought of learning felting to create masterpieces on our own. So, if you have a strong wish to try yourself in making something unique with the help of the needle felting but feel yourself being newbie in it, here are some basic tips which can help you to avoid mistakes in the process and make it as easy as possible.
Wool is the first and the main thing which is needed for felting; it is the basic component for any felted item while some accents can be added with the help of other materials. Wool comes to us in different colors, different quality and from different breeds of sheep. Every detail about wool matters because there are several kinds of felting and wool must be various for each of them. Thereby, the main question which should disturb the starter in felting is what wool the best for needle felting is. Read the rest of this entry »
We are sure that such things like a case for the cell-phone and a cover for the documents are really necessary. But if you want to be different, not similar to the ordinary people with their staff from the shops we propose you to needle-felt these two accessories. For the cell-phone carrying case we will need some blue felt, white silk and red wool, needles for felting, a sponge and scissors.
Take a rectangle piece of blue felt (or any other color), then fold it in half – it is the pattern of our future cell-phone case. Now we should lay out the print on the basic felt: the silk is the first – put it in a circle as the central part of the flower. Use the wool strands to make the petals of the flower. When everything is ready you can begin felting – piercing the fabric with the needle.
While felting you may choose the place and the shape of the details, add some more wool.
Continue piercing until you see that all fibers are securely fixed. To finalize the case, sew the edges with the colorful threads and sheathe the contour of the flower with metallic braid. The case is done, now you may put there your cell-phone and boast to your friends. Read the rest of this entry »
You know that accessories tell a lot about your personality. If you want to be a stylish reader you should certainly needle-felt a bookmark! If you like needle-felting and reading this master-class is for you! To start working you will need: 10 g of merino wool (we will use the wool of deep blue color, you may choose any color you like), several strands of the wool of other colors (we will take blue and purple fibers), a wool felt square, a needle for felting, a sponge and scissors.
At first we should make a pattern (a basis) for our bookmark: cut a piece (25 x 6cm) from the felt square. Then take a strand of merino wool (about 8 cm length) and make it fizzy with your fingers by separating the fibers. Put the wool on the wool felt.
After that place all these staff on the prepared sponge, hold the wool fibers between your fingers.
Now you can start felting – pierce the wool with a needle moving it up and down through the wool fibers and wool felt under them. Please, be very careful – do not change the direction of the needle motion (only vertical)! Otherwise you may pierce the fingers or break the tip of the needle.
You will be able to see how the wool felts – the fibers will lock into the wool felt. Continue piercing until all fibers are felted well. Now add some more wool if there are any holes and felt it; if the surface is equal and smooth, you may correct the edges with a needle. Read the rest of this entry »
Do you like flowers on the summer field? They are so nice and pretty that sometimes we can’t help picking them and bringing home. But what if we could enjoy that kind of flowers every day? Let’s needle-felt a blue knapweed and it will remind us about the summer fields and flower valleys. We will need some wool of different shades of blue color for the flower itself and some wool of green color (several shades) for the leaf, a sponge and a needle (better if there will be several needles – at least two: thin and thick) for felting, of course.
Take the wool of the basic blue color and lay thin strands out on the sponge; four layers will be enough. While putting out the wool, try to give the shape of the petal to the strands – it should look like a crown.
Then take the needle and pierce the central part of each tooth of the “crown”, and then – the edges making the punctures at 45 degrees angle. This will help to fix the wool of the petal. Work with the needle for 2-3 minutes and after one side is ready, turn the semi-product over on another one. (When you remove the wool from the sponge don’t be afraid that the lower part is too fuzzy – it is just not felted yet.) Read the rest of this entry »
The accessories change the whole look and help us to create our own style. Therefore we propose you to needle-felt a beautiful brooch which will look like a sophisticated orchid flower. We will need some wool of white, pink, yellow and purple colors, the base for the brooch, the needles for felting and a sponge.
Before you start felting we advise you to find a picture or to draw a flower and to study it well.
Take several strands of white wool, divide them and roll into a small ball. This ball will become one of the petals. Put the ball on the sponge and using the needle start giving the shape of the petal to it. Don’t forget to leave a small tail to felt the petal to the flower. On this stage of work give the necessary shape to it with your fingers. Add some more wool onto the “weak” points and felt it with the needles. Turn the semi-product over and felt the fibers on another side too. If necessary, turn the ball and needle-felt the wool again and again until the semi-product becomes dense enough. Read the rest of this entry »
If you fulfill all our instructions and follow our master-classes you must already know about needle-felted pictures and have some experience in making them. If you are just a beginner it will be a great opportunity to go onto the next level. Wool for felting is captivatingly warm and textured material which allow creating real art masterpieces. We will explain you the most important and basic methods how to draw a picture with wool. Read the rest of this entry »
Can you imagine that needle-felted fruits and vegetables look very realistic and natural? We will persuade you that it is true in our master-class: we will use the combination of wool felting and needle felting techniques. The first thing we will felt is an apple. You should prepare the wool of different colors (green, yellow, red, orange, scarlet), some soapy water, an apple, shears and a needle. Read the rest of this entry »