What is needle felting? Needle felting equipment?

Basic information for beginners. You use carded wool and a needle with barbs to make the wool felt together, the more you poke, the tighter the wool will be felted.  It's a bit like building with building blocks, but with wool and a super-sharp felting needle.

What you need is:

1. Carded wool

2. Felting needles, preferably in different qualities

3. Felt backing

4. Patience, caution (the needles are thin, sharp and can break)

5. Fantasy

Wool

There are several types of wool, the most common for needle felting is carded wool. We only use and sell wool from Hillesvåg ullvarefabrikk, they have great Norwegian carded wool that filters well and is available in many nice colors. You can also use carded wool and merino tops. Wool from Alpakka filters well too, but stay away from carded merino - it is not suitable for needle felting. More about wool in a separate blog post later.

Felting needles 

Needle felting needles are not like regular needles. They have small, sharp notches, barbs, that grab onto the wool fibers and felt the wool together. When it comes to needle felting, the needles are the heart of the process. Although they look quite similar at first glance, they have different properties depending on their thickness and shape. Here is a brief overview of the different types of needles:

Thickness is measured in Gauge (G) where a 42 G needle is thinner than a 38 G. 

Triangle needle -  This is the most common shape, with three edges with 1-3 barbs on each edge. 

Spiral needle - This needle has a spiral shape, which means it pulls more wool with it when you insert it. This is great for attaching parts together, attaching wool to wool.

Star needle - This needle has four (or more) edges instead of three, meaning more felting points per stitch. 

Reverse needle - This is a needle that pulls wool out instead of pushing it in.  It is often used to create a "furry" surface, as it pulls out small fibers from the inside and creates an airy texture on the outside.

Puncher - This is a holder for 7 needles, this is great if you are going to flat felt (clothes, ears etc) or needle felt on seat pads, mittens etc. Needle felting is time-consuming anyway, and then it is great to be able to use 7 needles at the same time instead of 1.

Remember: The needle should always be inserted straight in and straight out – never bent – ​​otherwise it will break. If you feel like you have to use a lot of force to get the needle through the wool, it is time to switch to a finer needle. It is important to know that needles break from time to time. This is completely normal, and it happens to all of us, regardless of experience. Needles are thin and fragile, and can break especially when used at the wrong angle, twisted, bent or put under too much pressure. Make sure you have spare needles!

If the needle breaks inside a figure and you can't get the needle point out of the wool, it's best to throw it away. While it may be tempting to just continue with the project, you should definitely throw the figure away if you can't get the broken needle out. You never know what might happen later, and no one wants to risk children or animals getting hurt by a hidden, sharp needle point.

Felt backing 

You need a felting pad (felting pad or foam pad) to avoid damaging your table and your needles, and of course to avoid pricking yourself. It is difficult to avoid getting wool fibers in the mat, to clean the mat you can take a little water to moisten your hand and drag it over, then you will easily get wool fibers from the mat. You can also use one side for dark colors and one for light colors, mark the mat with e.g. some light wool on the side you will use for light colors. After a lot of use, the mat will collapse (puncture) and will not be as good to use, then it is time to change to a new one, but please take care of the old one. Worn out felt mats can be used to hold needles, cut into smaller pieces to put inside the mitten/slipper you will be needle felting on.

Patience

Needle felting is a slow process, it takes time to needle felt. If you want recipes or complete packages with everything you need, you can get them here at Ullnåla. We also have some weekend courses so stay tuned. During the process, the work often doesn't look good, so don't criticize half-finished work. Have fun, remember needle felting is an art! If you make a small, weird cat instead of a great tiger, then so what?

There's no right or wrong here, just tons of possibilities to create something amazing. Good luck, and have fun delving into the world of felting.

Imagination

Only your imagination sets the limits to what you can make. Although here at Ullnåla we mostly make cute little decorative figures that resemble mice and rabbits, we also believe that it is possible to felt everything from spaceships to our entire planet. We look forward to seeing many beautiful needle felted masterpieces from all corners of Norway and the rest of the world!

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