10 Reasons Why I Love Needle Felting

Ever wondered what attracts someone to a certain craft or skill? Here are 10 reasons why I love felting.

1.  I love to paint and for me needle felting is just like a different type of 'paint'. You can mix and layer colours like you can with an paint, the good thing is you can remove the colour and start again!
2. I love the texure and tactility of felt! You can manipulate it to create a texture, it does not always have to be placed flat on to an image. Wool is just crying out to be touched, it is almost a shame to put pieces in a frame with glass (though of course it protects the image).
3. I love colour and the endless colour options available. You can mix colours together using cards (which are like grooming brushes) or you can dye your own wool. I love how when dying wool you never know exactly how the colour will turn out. Experimenting with natural dyes was fun and I know I will do more of this in the future. I also love using wool in its natural colours, creams through to deep browns.
4. The versatility! You really can make anything out of felt.....well almost. I create mainly felt paintings and jewellery, though I have plans to make various other items. 3D needle felting is pretty amazing and I have seen many artists create animals and I have had to look twice thinking it was real!
5. I love being able to use needle felting along side machine embroidery! Machine embroidery was always my 'thing', but I have found I can marry both skills together. Adding embroidery to the felting gives it another dimension.
6. I love the fact that I can start with a raw fleece and end up with a finished art piece, doing each part of the process myself. I use a lot of commercial wool roving, it is available in a beautiful selection of colours but I have also bought a raw fleece which I washed, carded and dyed. There is something very satisfying about doing every element of the process.....well almost,I never sheered the sheep! Maybe I need to sheer a sheep!
7. I love that no two pieces look the same. I do not like to create multiples too much but when I do they never look identical and I think that is the nature of the craft as well as the nature of how I work.
8. I love that needle felting allows me to grow, I am always learning and improving.
9.  I love how a needle felted picture/piece grows organically or maybe this is just how I work?! I start off with sketches but the wool often dictates how the actual piece progresses.
10. I love the creative freedom of needle felting, I do not feel restricted as to what I can create. There are no patterns, no rules to break, no limitations to size.

I could easily make a longer list! I really do love needle felting.