Using Wool and other fibers to needle felt to a base to make art
Such lovely harmony of colour using wool roving, silk and other yarns or fibers, layered to create a blend of beautiful colour and texture. This is a great way to make Textile Art. Starting with the beginners level, let me show you how it is done. Very simply. You will need, a piece of felt for the background a felting needle and fibers, and a high density spounge. Let us start.
The felting needle itself, has sharp barbs on the end, and comes in a variety of sizes, and holders. You can use the needle just as is, or you can insert multiple needles in a holder so you are getting more punch power. The essence of needle felting, is to use, thin wisps of roving (wool) that you place down onto the background, You will need a piece of spounge or something for the needle to go into underneath. And you stab repeatedly, making sure that you go in the same direction as you come back out, so that you do not snap the needle by bending it. Stabbing with the sharply barbed needle, send small amounts of the roving into the felt background and melds the two.
As you can see above, a lovely amalgamation of fiber colours blends together, and makes the work glow. You can also add in something like silk roving, or yarns, some fabrics etc, but this would depend on your subject matter. The silk roving will add a little shine in areas, But does not felt in as readily, in this case, you can then add a very fine wisp of wool over it in places which will felt in nicely and trap the silk fiber underneath. I am not going to get too heavily into all the fun things we can try for this craft, but I am discovering more every day, and will continue to bring more to you in this blog and through my videos on YouTube so as to hopefully inspire you to begin your journey, on this wonderful craft.
Here is a video below I made for You Tube, which will show you how to start, with a great beginners lesson. Don’t forget to like and subscribe if you are interested to see more. And join my mailing list, if you would like to see what else I am doing.
Cheers Tracey
Hi Tracey, I just wanted to say that I really appreciate your time and effort in sharing your knowledge and skills so freely, I think that is just wonderful.
I have just discovered your work via pinterest and it’s very appealing to me, thanks again and stay creative 🧡
Thank you Donna, I really appreciate your feedback. You stay creative too!