A First Stab at Needle Felting

In my journey to discover all things fibre-art related, I've discovered needle felting! Stabbing items repeatedly with extremely sharp, barbed needles? As I'm sure you can imagine, it can be therapeutic as well as fun (until one inadvertently stabs their own finger, resulting in a colourful utterance of expletives).

Felting needles come in a variety of sizes with either triangle or star shaped points, and can be used either singly or several grouped together in one tool, such as the popular Clover (see this review over at www.craftcritique.com). Similar to wire, the higher the gauge of a needle, the finer the needle is... i.e. a #40 needle is considered 'very fine' and a #36 is considered 'course'.

Having purchased a starter kit which included a colour assortment of wool roving, two felting needles, a foam base (to protect the work surface) and instructions on how to needle felt an *insanely* cute small rabbit, I chose to ignore said instructions and dive into a completely different project altogether (using the same wools). I had created a design which I had originally planned to paint as a birthday gift, and thought to myself... why not needle felt it instead? And so she was created: The Angel of Buttons (my friend, the birthday girl, absolutely loves angels, and is also a seamstress).

Initially I was somewhat of nervous since figures (particularly faces and hands) are not my strong suit. But the wool is amazingly malleable and forgiving, I was actually really surprised and pleased with the result!

Truly, this is a craft I can fall in love with... I've ordered more wool roving, and I still plan to make that wee bunny! But FIRST... I have a hooked rug to finish. :)