Needle Felting: The Craft Where You Stab Things
Shop this needle felting starter kit here
Have you ever tried needle felting? It’s like playing with fuzzy clay, and it’s amazingly fun and meditative.
Plus you shape the wool by stabbing it with special felting needles, which let’s be honest it’s a little bit cathartic and just plain fun because it’s a wee bit dangerous! That’s me, out here living dangerously with my crafting. But truly, I had no idea you could take wool and a needle and turn it into so many amazing things.
A few years ago for Christmas my sweet Mama gave me all the supplies needed to begin needle felting: several large watermelon-sized bundles of roving wool in a creamy off-white to use as a sculpting base; several bags of dyed wools, each chunk about the size of a lemon; felting/roving needles and a felting pad to work on top of (so I don’t stab myself in the lap); wire for helping create more intricate shapes and forms; wool clippers and trimmers; and a GIANT woven basket to store it all in!
(Which was a good call otherwise it would've ended up everywhere.)
There are so many incredible felting ideas on Pinterest that I love.
I spent several hours just playing with chunks of wool, getting comfortable with how it moved and how to manipulate it.
I also spent a good bit of time on Sarafina’s website and watching several of Sarafina’s YouTube tutorials — really just to watch her master hands at work and to get a feel for how someone who knows what the heck their doing does it.
Sarafina Fiber Arts website - shop supplies and original art, read tutorials, and more
Watch her tutorial for beginners on how to felt these adorable little sleeping mousekins here:
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I experimented with shapes and weird nondescript creatures. I made my fiancé what I will simply call “a gremlin” that looked pretty terrible and was far too loose - I had to learn to keep stabbing to make my shapes more dense so they’d hold together better.
Then I made an okay little chipmunk and used wire in its legs so you can wrap it around your finger. A few times I found it helpful to use the stick-end of a wooden spoon or some of my wooden clay sculpting tools to wrap the wool around to help hold and shape a chunk of wool while I felted it into the position I wanted.
The first true project/endeavor I tried that I was finally pleased (enough with to share) is this cute little pair of Ewoks! I even sharpened their tiny sticks so they’ll be battle ready if they come across any Storm Troopers.
My first major needle-felting success,
my Star Wars Ewoks:
One of my first needle-felting projects! Two cute little Ewoks. Source: my own photo.
Whether you want to keep it simple or go for something more detailed and intricate, the possibilities are endless!
Here’s some of my felting inspirations, projects I love, and several items you can purchase from other talented felters out there:
The cutest. Check out this and more from Manooni on Etsy.
Shop more from OnceAgainSam here on Etsy. Perfect if you’re like me and were not blessed with a green thumb.
We can’t even. Source.
I would want to keep this baby bunny in my pocket all day. Source: diyardent
How amazing is this? By the talented Mikaela Bartlett. Visit her site BoredPanda
LOVE IT! Check out these amazing fishies and more from Melkada on Etsy
From Etsy shop gingerlittle - a village that fits in a teacup! I imagine fairies could live here.
Source. By artist Diana Latysheva
Source. By artist Diana Latysheva
I love these teacup villages! I have several antique teacups that just hold jewelry or seashells. . . I may need to repurpose one!
From artist Ashley Thornsberry
Source. By artist Diana Latysheva
The embroidery, beading, and color choices on these little felted foraged mushrooms slays me.
Source: Hine Mizushima
Source: Felted Sky
Looking for some direction, tips, and help from the get go? Check out this DIY kit shown above, where you can get all the supplies needed to make this cute little succulent set for just 35 bucks! Check out the kit and more from the shop Felted Sky.
Or how about these felted wool pieces you can hang in your house or around your neck? I definitely wouldn’t have thought of this! Dreamy, dreamy, dreamy.
Shop beautiful felted wool lights from Ekaterina Galera on Etsy here
Source: The Wonderland Of Wool
Like wearing a piece of fine art! See more from The Wonderland Of Wool on Etsy
And then you get into the world of flat/2D felting and wet felting.
Like the floral wool still-life on the right. How amazing is that?!
I’ve never tried felting a 2D flat piece like this, but this is so very lovely I think I may have to. I like the almost watercolor appearance of it. Plus, doodling florals has always been a personal favorite of mine.
Source: Flickr
It would also be cool to add embellishment with beadwork. You could work in little corners and tiny sections if you wanted to add a little sparkle.
Here’s another YouTube video from Sarafina where she’s working on a 2D wet-felted hummingbird that looks insanely beautiful. I love the texture, the colors, and the dreamy abstract feel.
By artist Rowena Scotney
By artist Karen Wyeth
My second needle felting project:
Mushroom wall art!
I’m so pleased with how these turned out considering I’m still a newbie felter. I need to get some more wood slices so I can make more — I’d like to do the next batch in more browns/orange/yellow earthy tones and mount them so it looks like they’re growing out of the core. What do you think?!
I’m super thankful for the gift from my sweet Mama. I had never been exposed to needle-felting before, and probably would never have realized how addictively fun it can be had she not put everything I needed in front of me.
Once you get going on a project it’s easy to get lost into it for an entire afternoon. Like a blend of watercolor painting and sculpting. When you see some of the projects that are so insanely detailed they’re almost life-like it’s not hard to see how it took the artist 60+ hours!
The ideas are limitless and there are so many projects at every level, all you have to do is choose where to start. If you enjoy challenging yourself with new crafts and mediums, consider dabbling with wool and giving needle-felting a try!
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Originally published January 22, 2020. Updated May 14, 2020.