What is Needle Felting?
Are you wondering how sculptures can be made from wool?
It's hard to imagine that soft fluffs of wool can be transformed into realistic sculptures, but it's true. I find the process to be relaxing, creative, challenging, and satisfying. However, it is also extremely time consuming, often tedious, and sometimes painful (it does involve needles)! For those who are curious, this page will briefly explain my process.
Make an armature (skeleton) from wire.
Wrap layers of core wool over wire & felt (poke) to hold in place.
Continue felting layers of wool to create the shape of the animal. That means poke, and poke, and poke, and...
Cover core wool with colored wools to form the coat or feathers of the animal (the reference photo was taken on one of our kayaking trips).
Add spots, feathers, stripes, or other details (all done by poking more wool).
Add ears, tails, beaks to suit the animal.
Create a mount (or leave free standing).
Stop fiddling and call the creation complete!
The key ingredient needed for this kind of project is LOTS OF PATIENCE! This little fawn took MANY hours to create. I wonder how many needle pokes have been invested into him? Must be several thousand! I love striving to make my art as realistic as possible!