Toys and Accessories Archives - Page 26 of 60 - Ashley Hackshaw / Lil Blue Boo

Basic Needle Felting (A Tutorial)

February 14, 2012 by Ashley Hackshaw

Yep….I’m still felting. Starting out with the small projects and working my way up! Needle felting is the process of felting/tangling one piece of wool to another using barbed needles. The needles take the wool fibers from one piece and drag them through the other piece where they tangle and attach the two pieces. There are two types of needle felting:

Applique felting: attaching wool yarn, wool felt or wool roving to a flat piece of wool fabric or felt.
Sculptural felting: creating a three dimensional piece of felt from wool roving.

In this tutorial I’m doing some sculptural felting….3-dimensional hearts….and a matryoshka (babushka) doll:

…..using 100% wool roving (wool pieces that have been combed) and a felting needle pen. If you are doing a free form you might need a needle felting mat too.

I used a heart shaped measuring cup as my form:

I filled the cup with bits of wool roving (mixing colors for some of the hearts I made) and started using the needle tool to carefully punch the needles through the roving. It’s not necessary to punch the needles all the way through…..only into the center because you’ll eventually flip the felt over and punch from the reverse side.

The needles’ barbs tangle the pieces of roving making the wool thicker and denser with each punch. Every once in a while I removed the heart shape and flipped it over to the other side in the measuring cup:

The felt gets thicker and thc

Keep felting until your shape is the density you want it:

For free form sculptural felting, I made this little matryoshka doll:

I started out with a base of 2 different sized felted balls (see tutorial here)….but you can roll felt and use a needle to create a form from scratch too:

I used hot pink roving to connect the two balls….putting pieces around the center and using my needle tool to punch and connect them:

I started using small wispy pieces of hot pink roving to cover the balls….the felting needles barbs intertwines the fibers as you punch:

I kept punching and adding wool roving until the felt was completely uniform:

The base of my matryoshka:

I used some natural roving for the face:

…..and for the dress bottom:

Tiny pieces of wool roving I balled up and punched with a felting needle pen for details…you can remove all but one needle for very small details:

When I needed a VERY small amount of a certain color (eyes, mouth, hair), I used fabric markers to color some natural colored roving:

The finished matryoshka doll:

Oh….one MORE thing you can make. While making felt balls (using wet felting), I made this longer oblong piece of felt:

Once it had a full day to dry….I pinched it at the bottom like so:

And then used my needle tool to connect the sides:

And the result is a heart!

Click here to see other felt and fiber art tutorials I’ve done!

I purchased all of my felting materials and tools at Dharma Trading….click here to see their selection!

How to Make Felt Balls (Wet Felting 101)

February 13, 2012 by Ashley Hackshaw

I don’t know why felt balls are so appealing…..but they are. They are soft and bouncy. There are so many projects you can use them for: garland, hair accessories, wreaths etc…..I’m just getting started. I set out today to make some of my own using a wet felting process. Wet felting is the process of taking layers of wool roving or wool yarn and combining them into one piece of felt. Making a felt ball is the easiest form of wet felting there is….taking layers of wool roving (combed wool) and creating a dense, uniform, and seamless ball. You can purchase pre-dyed packages of 100% wool roving in a variety of colors:

Or you can dye your own natural wool roving with Jacquard acid dye.…or even Kool-aid (I’ll have a separate tutorial for dyeing tomorrow):

To start the felting process, I filled a tub full of hot water and added about a tablespoon of dish soap to create a sudsy mixture. I cut pieces of wool roving into pre-measured sections so that my felt balls would end up uniform in size:

(Note: it’s not recommended to cut felt with scissors because you want to retain the long fibers….but for felt balls I’m lazy and don’t feel like weighing out a gazillion different piles of wool)

For each ball, I pulled apart the roving to create a large puff ball that I shaped into a roundish shape:

Next, I dipped the wool into the hot, soapy water and began to shape it carefully into a round shape using the palms of my hands:

Round and round I rolled the wool, careful not to press too hard, until it began to felt…..you will feel it becoming denser, and denser as you roll:

I rolled each felt ball until it was a perfectly round, dense piece of felt. Then I rinsed each ball out carefully and set it to dry. Change the hot water as it cools…..hot, soapy water is the key.

Each felt ball needs to dry for about 24 hours so it can completely dry out:

So easy even a 5-year-old can do it!

I used this batch as felt beads…..threading them onto some elastic string:

A bright and fun piece of jewelry! Stay tuned for more felting tutorials!

Click here to see other felt and fiber art tutorials I’ve done!

I purchased all of my felting materials and tools at Dharma Trading….click here to see their selection!

Make a Portfolio: Easy, DIY Artwork or Photo Storage (A Tutorial)

February 7, 2012 by Ashley Hackshaw

I was organizing the studio today and needed a way to store some important artwork so it didn’t get damaged…..so I made a few easy portfolios for storage! They open up flat to lay the artwork in….

….and then fold up and tie to keep the artwork safe and flat. You could make one for each year to hold your kiddo’s precious art pieces from school….or use it to hold large photos for transport if you are a photographer.

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