I can't begin to tell you the number of times I have been at a show demonstrating needle felting and people look at me horrified, as I stab my needle into some wool and say
"What ARE you doing?????"
The origins of needle felting are a bit blurry, like many things it depends on who you ask as to what information you are given.
Rather than buy into further discussion as to the origins I would prefer to tell you a little more about this ingenious little needle and its uses.
Felting needles are no ordinary needles, they have tiny
barbs along the edges of the shaft at the bottom of the needle. When you
poke your needle into some fibre the barbs push the fibre through, basically
creating tangled wool.
These needles come out of a commercial needle punch machine, the machines are used to make a variety of non woven textiles, the one we most commonly know of is our craft felt.
Thousands of needles are loaded into beds top and bottom in these machines. The fibre is fed between the beds and the needles are punched into the fibre at an incredible rate to create the textile.
There are a great many sizes available in felting needles as a wide variety of fibres both synthetic and natural are needle punched but not all needles are suitable for use with wool.
In my work I also us a needle
felting machine.
There are now a wide range of these machines, also known as embellishers, available.
The machine I use is the Merrylock, a reasonably priced but great little machine to use.
If you would like further information on purchasing one of these machines, please contact me.
Felting Needles I use to create my artworks:
n 36 gauge triangle blade
A good needle for rough work and coarser fibres.
n 38 gauge triangle blade
An all purpose needle
n 38 gauge star blade
Excellent needle for sculpting, and fine fibres.
n 40 gauge triangle blade
Used for fine detail, and applying mohair locks. Sometimes can be used to repair nuno felt.