Introduction: Needle Felt a Painting
Hi all,
Here follows a step by step of what I do. I saw how needle felting and felting has exploded in popularity, but I wan't more detail than wet felting could supply and I am a 2dimensional artist, so I adapted some techniques.
First you will need some..
Pre-felt (flat purchased pieces of felt)
Wool Tops/ Fibres
Needle felting needles and handle
A marker and pencil.
Here follows a step by step of what I do. I saw how needle felting and felting has exploded in popularity, but I wan't more detail than wet felting could supply and I am a 2dimensional artist, so I adapted some techniques.
First you will need some..
Pre-felt (flat purchased pieces of felt)
Wool Tops/ Fibres
Needle felting needles and handle
A marker and pencil.
Step 1: Step 1
Lightly draw out your design.
For this piece I used a vintage illustration for my design.
When you are confident in your drawing, use a fine marker to make it easier to see.
Avoid detail and shadows. It'll get difficult to cover otherwise.
Needle felting time
pluck a small tuft of fibre from your wool tops. Lay onto pre-felt
Using the barbed needle, secure the tuft into place using a repetitive poking action.
As you can see in the image below, start with the darker areas/ outlines.
For this piece I used a vintage illustration for my design.
When you are confident in your drawing, use a fine marker to make it easier to see.
Avoid detail and shadows. It'll get difficult to cover otherwise.
Needle felting time
pluck a small tuft of fibre from your wool tops. Lay onto pre-felt
Using the barbed needle, secure the tuft into place using a repetitive poking action.
As you can see in the image below, start with the darker areas/ outlines.
Step 2:
Coloring In
Limit you colour palette to tones, such as autumnal browns, yellows, greens.
Fill in large areas lightly.
Stretch the wool tops/roving so it isn't too densely packed.
Over felting will weaken the pre-felt and stretch it out off shape
Use darker shades of the color to achieve tonal range and depth.
For background I mix and layer colours and spread thinly leaving the color of the pre- felt show through
Limit you colour palette to tones, such as autumnal browns, yellows, greens.
Fill in large areas lightly.
Stretch the wool tops/roving so it isn't too densely packed.
Over felting will weaken the pre-felt and stretch it out off shape
Use darker shades of the color to achieve tonal range and depth.
For background I mix and layer colours and spread thinly leaving the color of the pre- felt show through
Step 3:
Refine and Finish
Once all the piece has been colored in and some tones and highlights have been built up...
Stand back from you piece, hang it up on a wall and decide which areas need some contrast.
Using the darkest brown and the lightest yellows and creams for this piece, I rework areas to create stronger contrasts.
For more details on pieces like this, difficulties i had and dying wool tops please pop over to my blog
http://haveeweanywool.wordpress.com/
Once all the piece has been colored in and some tones and highlights have been built up...
Stand back from you piece, hang it up on a wall and decide which areas need some contrast.
Using the darkest brown and the lightest yellows and creams for this piece, I rework areas to create stronger contrasts.
For more details on pieces like this, difficulties i had and dying wool tops please pop over to my blog
http://haveeweanywool.wordpress.com/