OT: Needle Felting

[ButtercupFlibble]

I know this is a long shot and very off-topic before I post it, but I thought I'd give it a try anyway because I'm desperately hoping that one of the people in our diverse membership will have some experience with my problem and possibly offer some help.

Background: I am a business major who is taking two art classes this semester just because I like messing around with art supplies. One of the art classes is fibre arts, which concerns tapestry weaving, felting, dyeing, etc. Anyway, I have a project due in a few weeks, but I am supposed to have the supplies by the end of spring break, which has just started.

It is the "Off the Loom" project, meaning no weaving. I am supposed to use one of the other processes we've been taught, such as felting. The only other requirement is that I have to have some kind of content or idea expressed to elevate it above mere craft to "Fine Art". I'm going to use dry felting, a process that consists of repeatedly stabbing pieces wool with special needles to tangle and compress the fibres into felt.

I have a vague idea of what I want to do (a wall hanging), but I do not know how much wool I need to buy. Wool roving runs between $20 and $25 (or more) per pound (you get more than it sounds like, because wool is light and fluffy, but still it's pretty expensive for me). I am a broke college student, and my (very generous) aunt is paying for my supplies. I'm extremely grateful to her, so I don't want to overestimate what I need too badly and ask her to buy me too much because I feel embarrassed asking her to help me out as it is. On the other hand, I don't want to be halfway through the project and run out of supplies. I've tried asking my art teacher how much wool I need, and she hasn't been able to give me an estimate. (She is a wonderful person and a knowledgable teacher, but kind of flakey and bad at estimating). There are no stores within a few hours of my house that carry felting supplies, so I have to buy this stuff online without being able to see it or touch it in person or get an idea of how big it is.

I'm not being lazy about this, before I asked here I asked on another board (where they yelled at me), and I have spent 4 hours Googling through more than 50 websites today trying to find some kind of guidelines, but to no avail. I hope someone will give me the answers I need in time (I have ten days in which to get the supplies here. When you consider shipping and handling time, that's only a day or three), but if not, I am hoping that somewhere there is a board member who could offer her experience.

Question: Is there anyone here who has experience with needle felting? I need some guesstimates about a few things to help me calculate what I need and fast. If you can answer ANY of my questions, I'll be eternally grateful.

How big is a pound of wool roving? How big is an ounce? I know that the breed of the sheep it is from has some impact on the size, but just a rough estimate using an average or common type of wool is fine, I just need SOME idea. (The size of a basketball? A ping pong ball? A yard long?)

About how many pounds/ounces of wool would I need to make a 1 foot by 1 foot flat, felted square? (If I know this, I can multiply it out to find out how big to make my wall hanging.)

I really hope you'll all forgive me for asking what may be stupid questions, but I can't find any active needle-felting-specific live journal groups or message boards or anything to ask (most haven't been updated for months or years), and as I said, I got yelled at on another board for asking. (I probably should have thought to ask here first, as a lot of the members here are crafty, and this is a lot more friendly of a board.)

Slightly on-topic, now that I'm learning how, I think that one could probably make some interesting AG accesories with felting.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer,

[Skittl1321]

I've only needle felted a tiny bit.
This was my first project- http://www.mielkesfarm.com/ladybug_dir.htm

I do spin, quite a lot, and will tell you that a pound of wool is a TON. Felting takes a good amount, but that project above takes only an ounce, maybe two.

I am a spinner and have bought wool from a lot of places on the internet. I recommend http://www.countrywool.com/ for good priced wool, in lots of colors. If you call them tehy can recommend what you need for needle felting. Lot's of spinners/felters also use www.coppermoose.com

I've found the main start up cost of felting to not be the wool (you can also find it on ebay, but I've found the prices to be about the same as the stores) but the needles and handles for the needles.

I'm a real big fan of fulling (knitting, and then shrinking the wool) my favorite pattern are the flowers by Pick Up Sticks- JimmyBeansWool (.com?) sells them. (Google for the addresses)
Good luck!

[Em Are]

Woo! I am totally a needle felter and my husband and mother both actually teach needle felting classes! However, we all make 3-D pieces and not flat work, so I'm not sure if I can help you specifically. You do not have to use wool roving if you don't want to--any washed, carded wool will do. My mom buys most of her supplies on ebay. I will ask her for her favorite seller's id. A pound will be a pretty large bag full (5 pounds will fill about 1/2 of a large garbage bag, if that helps you estimate at all) and will probably be quite enough for your project (if you choose 12 x 12). Hopefully, you will be able to find a mixed lot on ebay so that you can use lots of colors (white for the base should work well and then you will only need literally only a few ounces for the top layer with the design). So, I would tentatively say to buy a pound of white wool (not roving, just wool) and then a "grab bag" of only a few ounces of colored roving (maybe 8 ounces). One ounce of wool is approximately a sandwich bag full.

Best wishes!

Em

<font color="#051E50" size="1">[ February 25, 2006 06:21 PM: Message edited by: Em Are ]</font>

[3castles]

Well....I must admit, I've never done any felting personally which my husband is probably shocked at since I like to try anything if it has to do with crafts! BUT.....I love to watch HGTV and I've seen several projects with felting.
I had saved some on my favorites so here are some links that may help you...

http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/cr_needlewo...693854,00.html

Also, a link to an artist local to me who does felted wall sculptures.
Her name is Sharron Parker and her number is (919)562-4056.
Here is a link to her HGTV appearance.

http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/cr_artists/...992321,00.html

Now, when I have been interested in something in the past that an artist has done on an appearance on HGTV I have even called or emailed the artist personally to see if they would help me. So far, they've all been happy to help in any way that they could. That's why I thought that Sharron Parker could be of some help. Lynne Farris could also do it or Ellen Allan.

Call them!!!! I'm sure one of them would be tickled to help you!!

Ellen's web address is www.ellenallan.biz

Lynne's is
http://www.lynnefarrisdesigns.com/

Sharron's is supposed to be www.sharronparker.com

but her link isn't working for me so I'd call her.

Good Luck!!! Let me know what you find out and how your project turns out!

<font color="#33CCCC" size="1">[ March 28, 2007 10:40 AM: Message edited by: djsnjones ]</font>

[Em Are]

Okay, I talked to my mom and my DH today. They say you need to look for "batts" of wool and not roving (when it comes to white). My mom likes user id "abi66" on ebay. I was wrong that 5 lbs is 1/2 garbage bag. *ONE* pound is about 1/2 a garbage bag and 5 pounds is more than one garbage bag. They both felt like it would only take a few ounces to make a 12 x 12 square (my DH has done one tapestry before, but it was with a needle felting machine, so it is different than what you're doing. My mom said she would be happy to sell you a lot of mixed colors of wool for $3 per ounce. She needs all of her white, but she could put together a nice lot of colors for you if you are interested.

Em [img]smile.gif[/img]