Who invented needle felting

This is simply done by stabbing the wool repeatedly with the felting needle, shaping until it meshes the wool fibers together creating a firm object. Needle felting is a completely different process to the ancient craft of wet felting; no mess and you only need a small area to work on and, pretty cheap in comparison to many crafts as you need very little to get started.

You will find lots of info here on wool type, accessories and my own preferences. I have also made it really easy for you by putting it all in a starter kit to help you get set up. Needle felting essentials: tea, cake and enthusiasm! Such beautiful art work to work with by your own hands is something to be admired and I would love any tips and ideas on how to get me started. However, I still meet with Weird Looks when I take wool and needles out in public.

For these inquisitors, I summon up a whopper of a lie. Gobs of it. Such a bother. In researching this article, I wanted to explain the difference between wet felting traditional method and needle felting.

The first thing I found is that traditional felters disagree on the best approach for creating a piece of felt. At the most basic level, to make traditional felt, you need clean wool, friction, and moisture to interlock the scales of the wool fibers.

The jury is still out. Felt and other fibers may have been abundant in ancient societies, but unlike metal tools or clay shards, fibers are rarely preserved for archaeologists to find this problem includes basket weaving, too, which may have been a highly valued and difficult skill. In spite of sketchy evidence, we can safely speculate the earliest peoples made felt. While it takes much work, felting does not require complex equipment or techniques. Both nomadic and settled peoples could produce felt for clothing, shelter, saddles, etc.

Felt is relatively strong, slow to burn, and offers protection from the elements. Old felt can serve as a base for new felt, so nothing is wasted. While experts disagree on which domesticated animal came first most say the dog via the wolf , sheep and goats are also early contenders, showing up in significant numbers in northern Iraq around B.

Perhaps dogs first helped human beings to hunt for food and guard the tribe; later, dogs herded other domesticated animals. The domestication of cats is harder to determine. Recent evidence suggests cats earned a place beside humanity around the late Stone Age, far earlier than first theorized. We cannot be sure if they were true pets or opportunists attracted to mice and rats nibbling away grain stores.

Needle felting is a dry method. Special needles used in industrial felting machines penetrate the wool and tangle upper fibers to inner fibers. These industrial needles have been with us since the mid 19th century; they were not widely used until the mid 20th century, when wool waste became an attractive option for mattresses, car interiors, and the like. Needle felting lends itself to either 2D embellishments or 3D sculptures. Industrial needles solved the problem. Along the way, Eleanor created other designs and products, such as scarves and wraps.

Her work is beautiful and she includes a more in-depth history on her website. Most sources point to Ayala Talpai as the pioneer of sculptural felting. Ayala is a true free spirit, artist, and teacher.

I offer are a selection of sculptors creating work I admire. One thing I noted: these sculptors use various breeds of wool and tend to prefer simpler tools. I am cheered by the idea of a lineage: these artists learned from other artists, passing along knowledge and refining it. May they inspire you as well.

I stumbled across needle felting. Trained in classical sculptural techniques and traditions, I had no experience or education in anything fiber related. I was out of school, working in a frame shop, and feeling frustrated at my lack of work space to make sculpture.

A friend showed me an article about wet felting, and I was intrigued at the thought of such an alchemical sort of transformation: that soft wool could become structural and solid through the use of hot, soapy water and hand work. When I finally went to a yarn store to play with the technique, the owner immediately directed me instead toward a book on needle felting, The Felting Needle, From Factory to Fantasy by Ayala Talpai.

Perhaps I mentioned my sculptural proclivities; in any case it was a totally novel process to me, and I started making a small seated figure, similar to the anatomical studies I had made in college. I had no serious plans for felting; I was playing and experimenting and teaching myself what I could do. Do you consider yourself as a sculptor or a fiber artist? Do such labels matter? I consider myself a sculptor who happens to use fiber as my medium. Why does it matter?

Do you have a favorite tool and a specific way to use it? I use felting needles, and tend to have several different multi-needle holders with different arrangements and quantities of felting needles at the ready as I work.

For details I often use a single needle, but for large areas I use three to five needles well spaced apart. The process is simply to poke wool into compact forms, and join them together into more complex forms through more poking.

I dance with the danger of repetitive stress injury, but my lifestyle and work habits help minimize that: I have sons in first grade and preschool, so I have limited studio hours spread out over a given week. What advice could you offer to someone starting her first needle felting project?

I would counsel someone just starting out with needle felting to play, experiment, and be patient. Needle felting rewards patience and steady work: to get the kind of finish you want you have to put in the time. Needle felting is just a technique to apply to sculpting. I think it was the precision and control of the medium.

The moment I got my hands on a felting needle and some wool, it just clicked. I suppose there is a part of me that enjoys the repetition and tedium of it all too. I consider myself an artist, and I consider what I make to be sculpture. I prefer for my work to speak for itself, so instead of trying too hard to describe what I do, I usually just try to have a picture handy.

I favor a combination: Corriedale or Romney for the bulk of the sculpture and a layer of Superfine Merino for the outside. I also enjoy incorporating other fibers, like silk, into my work. My favorite tool is a single felting needle. Instead, I prefer to use a coarse or medium gauge triangle for everything and just vary the pressure and depth of my thrust.

Felt is an amazingly forgiving material. You can do pretty much anything with any wool you wish, but to make things easier, I recommend starting out with something that felts readily, like Corriedale. Hot water and soap is added, gentle agitation begins. The process of agitation varies depending on the methods of the felter and the piece being created, but the result is the same. The more agitation, the tighter the resuting fabric.

Wool fibers have scales -- the process of felting causes these scales to grab onto neighboring fibers and interlock. To emulate what people created with wet felting, industry created the felting needle. Thousands of these needles were used together to "needle punch" wool into a fabric and allow the creation of felt without soap or water. The felting needles have small, downward barbs that entangle the wool fibers together. It is from this process that industrial felt is made - the kind you find in the craft store, in your car's air filter, etc.

Needle felting is currently less practiced than wet felting, but it is gaining popularity amongst crafters, doll makers, bear artists, and artisans. Once you learn some basic techniques, needle felting is really quite easy! Needle felting is a form of soft sculpture that is fast and gratifying.