2D Needle Felting "Ewe and Lamb" - Part 1

Today, I'm needle felting (entirely by hand) the background for a 10"x10" 2D piece with a ewe and lamb. The video is sped up; this process took two hours in real time. For this part I'm keeping the colors mostly simple, no actual shading or embellishing yet. Needle felting is a lot like many other forms of artistic media, where you block out the colors first before adding the details.
Sources of fiber: Living Felt and Peace Fleece
Backing/substrate: prefelt wool batt
Audio credits:
Parting of the Ways - Part 1 Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Touching Moments Four - Melody Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
creativecommons...

[@carolinemayor9319]

This is incredibly helpful. I will make some work for the Pateley Bridge Art Club exhibition at Easter.

[@marlenejones6266]

could you please advise us as to why you kept putting the white ball of wool and the tape on the piece while you were felting? it must serve a purpose for dimension or something but im at a loss as to what its helping you achieve. Thank you so much.

[@Starmagnolias]

Sure! It was to help me visualize the placement of the sheep and their sizes so I didnt need to cover that area with green

[@joanjohnstone7241]

This would have been quicker and easier to do on a felting machine and would have looked the same.

[@Starmagnolias]

If I were aiming for speed, just to knock out the background, possibly. The only issue with this particular piece is that it is thick - about a quarter inch thick, due to the prefelt. This is something that the felting machine would have thinned out of course, but then I wouldn't have been able to wrap the edges as nicely as I did at the end. That being said, when I made this, I didn't have a felting machine yet. It's one of my earlier pieces, which I had created to enter into the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival for the cover art that year (didn't get it though). I was gifted a felting machine the following year. For detail work, I wouldn't use a felting machine. I do have a piece I did with my felting machine to speed up the process, which I didn't end up filming - the sun & moon 3ft tapestry piece (it's the banner on my website). That one was done on a linen background, so it was thin enough to knock out the background quickly on the machine. That being said, because the machine can be overpowered at times, I still found myself having to go back and fill in spots that it had essentially shredded the fibers and punched them all the way through. There's also a seller on Etsy I found who sells felting machine needles, and I keep meaning to check and see if they have finer ones. I am hoping that it will leave smaller holes as opposed to the ones that came with the machine itself. The next video part for this piece where I start getting into detail work, I wouldn't use a felting machine for those, especially anything that is meant to be more textured. You are correct in that they're great for flat work and knocking out large areas of color for a background.

[@blackpoppy1159]

i have a question...how do u blend the colours?i have an issue with invisible color transition in wet felting ...i fix using needle felting in beetwen 2 processes..any advice is welcome...

[@Starmagnolias]

I use a variety of methods to blend wool. To do it directly on the felt, layer very thin wisps of wool between the two colors until you get the desired effect. Another way I do it is using dog brushes (the same kinds you use to brush dogs) and blend them together much like you'd use hand carders. Except dog brushes are much cheaper. Cat brushes work too if you only want to blend a tiny bit.

[@pollythompson1589]

What type of wool (sheep breed) do you recommend for beginning needle filters making a landscape?

[@Starmagnolias]

for wool painting, I use any breed :) finer wool, which typically comes as roving, will give you more of a painterly texture (like brush strokes) - but this can be achieved with any wool in roving form. Coarser wool, typically found as batts, are much easier to blend through layering, but again, this has to do more with batt form than the wool itself.

[@karla2584]

Amazing 🤩😍💞

[@kifurban]

Absolutely lovely. I’ve only just started felting, can you tell me what is the white material that you felted on?

[@Starmagnolias]

Wool pre-felt. Specifically, this thick stuff feltingsupplies.livingfelt.com/PF-X-Prefelt-Wool-Batt-26-Micron_p_634.html

[@jenniferbriere1152]

Beautiful! I am planning on trying to make some 2D felting art this summer and this is incredibly helpful. Also, I love your Etsy shop!

[@Starmagnolias]

Thank you! I've also written a blog post about 2D felting - hope it helps! starmagnolias.com/blogmain/2016/12/22/wool-painting-guide-felting-fridays

[@jenniferbriere1152]

Great! I have seen a few other things on your blog (specifically your section on needles was really helpful), and I'll take a look at this too. I have a few things selected from your etsy shop that I want to buy too :D

[@Starmagnolias]

Thank you so much for your support!

[@annamiller4044]

This is beautiful you are so talented. I noticed your felting needles and what was on the ends of them?

[@Starmagnolias]

They're polymer clay grips that I made :)

[@mauraronda1265]

O

[@jwatley313]

Beautiful

[@jwatley313]

Are you needle felting on felt

[@Starmagnolias]

In this case, I was felting on prefelt, which is looser and a bit thicker in that sense than regular felt. It's a great option if you want to hang the finished piece on its own, since the thickness holds its shape better. My main preference is to use 100% wool felt for wool painting. (In this video, specifically this one, other pre-felts can be thin feltingsupplies.livingfelt.com/PF-X-Prefelt-Wool-Batt-26-Micron_p_634.html)

[@jwatley313]

Oh thank you..yeah thats neat thank ..great job..🌷