I like a wonderful novelty pincushion. We’ve carried out a whole lot of gratifying ones over time, nonetheless I’ve on no account gotten to attempt my hand at felted wool until this enterprise! Wool felting is a type of points that sounds and seems like a magic trick on account of it’s so crazy to have a look at one factor take type and can be found to life simply by poking a selected needle in and out of it. Principally, I’m saying that it’s as gratifying as a result of it seems! I assumed for my first journey into wool felting I might attempt a barrel cactus pincushion so I could be taught a few beginner methods in a single enterprise. I’ll current you methods I made it!
Gives:
–felted wool bundle with wool, needles, and foam mat (likelihood is you will need some further inexperienced for the cactus physique if making an unlimited pincushion)
–multi-needle punch system (optionally obtainable nonetheless may make felting go sooner)
–small planter for base of pincushion
-small flower-shaped cookie cutter
–pollyfill stuffing (you’ll solely desire a bit bit)
–cone of styrofoam
-hot glue gun
-small piece of brown felt fabric
First, you’ll want to take your pollyfill stuffing and make a ball that’s a bit greater than you’ll want your accomplished cactus to be when you squeeze the ball type gently. Pull off a little bit of your inexperienced wool (often called a weft) and unfold it out a bit alongside along with your fingers so it’s further skinny and wispy pretty than one big chunk. Wrap it spherical your ball of polyfill. Preserve pulling off sections of wool and wrapping the ball in a number of directions until it is about 2/3 of the way in which during which lined. Use your felting needle and start to poke the ball with the needle, in and out, pulling in and out on the same angle so that you simply don’t break the needle, and work in small sections at a time. The needle will start to combine the wool fibers collectively so merely maintain poking away at a bit until you presumably can inform that they are starting to grab a preserve of each other. Preserve working spherical your ball, turning it as you are employed.
Pull off some further wefts of inexperienced wool, spreading them thinner, and proceed wrapping them spherical your ball until the ball is completely lined in inexperienced wool. Proceed to keep up felting the ball by poking the needle in and out, rotating the ball, until you have received a relatively company sphere. The ball obtained’t be fully robust feeling since you have received the polyfill throughout the heart, so merely maintain going until you’re feeling such as you’ve received a wonderful open air ground texture that you just like.
It’s best to use a single needle like throughout the images, or you must use a multi-needle punch system for greater areas similar to the cactus ball. The multi-needle system may make felting greater areas sooner, nonetheless some favor using the one needle, so likelihood is you will want to attempt every and see which you need larger.
Upon getting your inexperienced cactus ball, take your needle and resolve the place you want the very best of your cactus to be. To make your barrel cactus half dividers, do a sequence of concentrated punches in that prime spot so that you just begin to make a dimple impression into the ball. Then, persevering with to punch in a straight line, switch your needle punches down the side of the cactus all the way in which during which to the underside. Go over that line a few cases until you have received a bit canal that runs down the side. Repeat on the choice side to divide the ball into two halves after which two further cases to divide the ball into 4 sections.
Pull a extremely issue prolonged weft of tan or brown wool and place that skinny weft on certainly one of many canals with the middle of the weft on the very best of the cactus. Use your needle to punch the tan weft into place down the canal line until it’s connected all the way in which during which spherical. Repeat with one different weft on the other canal half.
To make the little white spots in your barrel cactus, pull small wefts of white wool and roll them proper right into a ball alongside along with your fingertips. Place the ball on the cactus barrel and felt the white spot into place alongside along with your needle.
One tip that I noticed when doing this sort of type attachment with a model new shade is that it usually labored biggest to do a few pokes to attach the middle of the white ball first after which use the tip of the needle to swirl spherical and seize any stray fibers which have been hanging out open air of the required area so I’d pull these once more into the first type and felt them into the first white dot physique. So, the needle and wool fibers are type of like how a paintbrush pushes or pulls paint into the spot you want it to go if that helps … I moreover didn’t try to utterly join and flatten out these white dots in order that they’d nonetheless stick out a bit and have a bit texture.
As quickly as I had my dividing traces, and white dots, it was time to make my cactus flower! Using a cookie cutter is a fast and gratifying strategy to create a type and I found it pretty easy as a beginning felter. Put your cookie cutter down onto your foam felting mat and seize a few wefts of your required shade. Pull the wefts apart until they’re a whole lot of skinny wisps and push them down into your cookie cutter, spreading them spherical, until you’ve reached the very best of the cutter. As quickly because the cutter is “full,” use your needle to felt the wool throughout the cutter, going all through the sides along with the middle, and it will begin to take the type of the cookie cutter—cool! Preserve transferring the cutter and wool to a definite spot on the mat every 5-6 punches or so, so it doesn’t comply with the mat and swap it over every so often so that you could be felting it from both aspect.
As quickly because it’s packed down pretty successfully, take away the cookie cutter. You could depart the flower as-is, otherwise you presumably can define the sides further (will in all probability be a bit fuzzy throughout the sides for many who don’t) by felting immediately into the side fringe of the flower (watch your fingers on this one!). I did further aggressive punches the place the petal bases come collectively for further definition there and softer punches throughout the rounded edge of each petal. As quickly as your flower is completed, get a small wisp of your flower coronary heart shade and felt that into the middle the an identical method you connected your white spots on the cactus physique.
To attach your flower to the cactus, merely place it on prime of your barrel type and use your needle to poke by every objects in various spots in order that they’re connected and felted collectively.
To complete your base, decrease a bit of styrofoam cone to go well with inside your small planter and scorching glue it in place. Decrease a circle of brown felt fabric to go well with into the very best, glue into place, after which glue your barrel cactus on prime. Your felted pincushion is now ready to utilize!
Isn’t that merely cute? If you happen to’re enthusiastic about desirous to get into felting, this generally is a good enterprise to start with to be taught some basic skills and end up with a reasonably darn cute pincushion as successfully. If you happen to’re further of a sewing gal nonetheless love cactus points, do that DIY to make your pincushion, or you can even make an unlimited one for a kid’s room which is principally gratifying too. Hope this ends up being a gratifying journey into felting for you and I hope it’s a pastime that “sticks”… xo. Laura
