a Single needle felt puncher
Ideal for needle felting eyes and other detailed parts.
b 3-needle/2-needle felt puncher
Speeds up the felting process. Some models are adjustable to two needles or a single needle. It’s useful to have multiple punchers on hand for easy switching from 2-needle to 3-needle tasks, and vice versa.
c 5-needle felt puncher
The extra needles enable larger area coverage when needle felting. Useful for the tray project.
d Brush-style felting mat
The bristles minimize resistance and allow for a smoother felting experience. Use for projects requiring flatter surfaces like the picture fabric board.
e Sponge felting mat
The firm sponge holds its shape during needle felting. The projects in this book mainly utilize this type of mat.
f Felt puncher replacement needles.
These can also be used without inserting them into a needle puncher, but may be less comfortable to work with for extended periods.
• Regular needle—Standard gauge for needle felting. We use this type predominantly.
• Heavy-duty needle—Thicker needle for adding indentations or hollowing out certain sections.
• Finishing needle—For smoothing out surfaces and general finishing techniques. Also used for adding delicate design details.
g Hand sewing thread
For stitching fabrics and connecting parts.
h Hand sewing needle
For stitching fabrics and connecting parts.
i Craft glue
For attaching plastic safety eye pieces and so on.
j Awl
For creating preliminary holes in which to insert eye stems into figures’ heads.
k Oil-based pen (black, extra-fine point)
For markings and for adding whiskers.
l Craft scissors
For cutting wool roving.
m Pliers (long nose)
For shaping and cutting wires.
BASIC TECHNIQUES
• Make the base out of batting
Prepare batting (1 g)
Gather the batting with your fingers and poke with a regular needle (2-needle puncher). To prevent the needles from breaking, pull the needles out from the same direction they were inserted.
Rotate the piece as you poke liberally to create a spherical shape. Poke deeply and harden from the center section.
Aim to poke about 600 times to achieve a desirable hardness. As a final step, if you use the 3-needle finishing puncher to poke lightly on the surface, it will have a smoother texture.
• Add color with wool roving
Take a thin piece of wool roving and spread out evenly.
Wrap around the base.
With the finishing puncher (3-needle), lightly poke. Needle felt the colored roving uniformly.
When all the loose fibers of the wool roving have been felted, it is complete.
• Adding small colored details
Take a small amount of wool roving and roll into a cord. Further rolling the cord between your fingers will make it even easier to handle.
Felt with a regular needle puncher (single-needle). For even smaller parts, consider using the thinner finishing needle puncher.
The color has been successfully felted and incorporated into the larger piece. There is no need to force the entire cord into the larger piece; you can simply trim off the excess roving with scissors.
This is how it looks once the excess roving has been trimmed off. Use this method to create facial parts and other details.
• Blending different wool roving colors
Align two roving colors.
Pull them apart simultaneously with your fingers.
Layer the roving pieces and pull apart again.
Repeat previous steps several times until the two colors are blended.
ALPACA
