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Time: 30 mins

felting wool
okay so this is my first attempt at making a "how-to" guide so id like to say sorry in advanced if its not helpful at all (im actually rather horrible at explaining things xp)

buuuut i think this is really simple and i hope that this might help or give you guys an idea of how to felt.

soo without further ado...

Posted by k!m from Las Vegas, Nevada, United States • Published 10th February 2009 • See k!m's 4 projects »

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Ellen R. favorited Felting 07 Aug 17:59
Lily P. favorited Felting 07 Oct 06:58
LCD :) favorited Felting 02 Jul 20:04
GothicYolita favorited Felting 21 Jun 14:55

Step 1
first off you need to buy a felting needle/tool
i dont suggest buying just the needles
because accidents happen and these needle are extremely sharp!
Step 2
oh and no you cannot just use any plain simple needle to do this
(trust me i tried xp )
felting needles have special barbs in them which help the tiny wool fibers to interlock with eachother
Step 3
next you need a felting block
or
if your cheap like me ;]
then find a styrofoam block
but make sure its big enough
because this is like our base that we're gonna be stabbing with our needle.

you dont want to break a needle by stabbing it into the table
Step 4
last thing you need to buy now is the roving wool which you can find at your local crafts store
Step 5
ok so now that we have everything
get wool and pull a piece off
(not too big not too little this is just a practice thing)

then place it on your felting block
Step 6
with your needle you start to stab the piece of wool in a vertical (up & down) motion

*try not to stab at an angle because this could break your needle
Step 7
once you've stabbed most of the wool
flip it over and stab it some more

it doesnt look like anything yet but once the fibers start to lock into eachother it begins to get a bit more stiff

*dont stab it tooo much
remember you want to be able to still pull it off your block
Step 8
just keep stabbing...
just keep stabbing...
Step 9
as your stabbing away at that piece of wool start to bring/pull the edges into that wool-y center
im not sure how to explain this :/
but its like your sculpting the wool with the needle
bunching the wool into a somewhat more solid shape ?

<- in these pics im just doing a simple circle
Step 10
when you have a pretty solid shape take it off the felting block.

it looks fuzzy with stray fibers right?

this is what i do:

for a flat piece - rub your hands together until its warm and then rub the piece between your hands..until its warm
it smooths most of it down

for a 3D-ish shaped piece - just use a small pair of scissors and cut the fuzz off
Step 11
finished!

you can make these into any shape you want, any size, any color

if you have any questions comment/message me and i'll get back to ya as sooon as i can ;D

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Comments

Livia 29th March 2011

huh you use Styrofoam... i usually use felting foam bc ive been told that styrofoam doesnt work

and really cool needle btw haha i only have plain felting needles

quirky been v. · U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado, US · 8 projects 19th April 2010

ive decided to start this summer!! (yeah right like that'll ever get done) im sorry that was the sarcastic side of me!!

Kat · La Cañada Flintridge, California, US 8th March 2009

This is absolutely PERFECT
I always wondered how to do this
You can make so much cute stuff!
I am off to go try this now.

k!m · Las Vegas, Nevada, US · 4 projects 5th March 2009

im happy to have inspired someone ^_^

Katherine Munro · Halifax, Nova Scotia, CA · 12 projects 4th March 2009

This is great, I've always wanted to try felting. I even have all the stuff but now I'm inspired to actually do it now that I can see it being done. Great job on the How-to!

k!m · Las Vegas, Nevada, US · 4 projects 28th February 2009

i havent tried wet felting (yet;)
but i hope this helps

FrolleinKram · Las Vegas, Nevada, US · 132 projects 27th February 2009

Uh... I'm used to wet felting, but I'm gonna try this since you can do shapes and patterns and stuff WAY better this way... Thanks for sharing.

k!m · Las Vegas, Nevada, US · 4 projects 24th February 2009

hm i really dont know /:T
im sure you can with A LOT of wool and patience
but it would probably be alot easier to just buy a wool scarf and felt patterns or whatever into it