Things You'll Need:
- Felting needle
- Non-felting wool fiber (for core)
- Washed and carded wool finishing fiber
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Step 1
Decide what figure you want to create, and roll or ball up your non-felting wool fiber into the pieces for your planned figure. The fiber should be rolled tightly to make felting easier and faster.
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Step 2
Put a sponge or foam rubber behind your roll of fiber so you can poke your needle through the fiber and against the sponge. Move the fiber frequently as you go so as not to felt the sponge into the fiber. Needle felt the core material by moving the felting needle in and out of the fiber in a straight fashion. Be careful of sticking your fingers. Jab the piece fairly deeply, and thoroughly until the core is tight. Experiment with sideways jabs to see the shapes you can make with your needle to help enhance your project.
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Step 3
Add in rolls of fiber with your needle to flesh out the shape of your sculpture. Attach pieces for arms and legs or other appendages.
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Step 4
Wrap your core with finishing fiber fairly tightly. Use shallow jabs with the needle all over to attach the finishing fiber to the core. Add balls of core fiber to fill out the figure, and deep jabs to make indents in your figure (such as eye sockets, knees, design details). You can needle felt in yarn or locks of wool for hair or decoration.
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Step 5
For the smoothest surface, wet the felt after you are finished needle felting.
