A Needle For Doctor Bunny: Essential Tools for Needle Felting

*Doctor Bunny is now accepting new patients.*

I recently worked on this simple needle felted figure, and I thought it was a good opportunity to do a rundown of my go-to tools, materials, and techniques. Vince and I put together an accompanying video (bottom of the post) and I’m dropping a list of my supplies here with links for anyone interested in trying needle felting.

Needle Felting Mats and Pads

One thing you’ll need when you start needle felting is a surface to work on. Sure, sometimes you can hold the wool in your fingers and play reverse-mumblypeg as you felt, but sometimes you’ll need to put the wool on a flat surface to work it. Some people use a needle felting brush while other’s use blocks of foam.

I’ve used both brush mats and foam pads in the past, but I find the brushes too small and, while the foam block is still a good choice, the needles can really chew up the foam. So a few years ago I decided to try this wool mat system and haven’t looked back since. The wool mats are more durable, and the fibers from the project don’t stick to it as much as they do with the foam. And that makes it easier to flat felt (the way I’m forming that ear in the photo below)

*Flat felting wool into the shape of a rabbit ear*

You can find all of the above-mentioned types of felting pads (brush, foam, or wool mat) at this link: https://feltingsupplies.livingfelt.com/needle-felting-foam-pads

Needle Felting Needles

Now, with a surface ready to go, the next thing you’ll need is needles. I have a small set of needles I’ve put together over the years, each with a different name, shape, and purpose. I’ll list them below to give you a better idea of how to use them.

Purple-40 T Spiral The T stands for Triangle Tip. The Spiral is because the triangle shape is twisted all along the length of the needle. That spiral twist is good for shaping core wool and firming it up quickly.
Orange-40 Star (short) Named for the star shaped tip and its shorter length. This needle is good for beginners because it doesn’t break as easily. Great for shaping core wool, getting it firm, and attaching pieces together.
Red-38 Star Named for the star shaped tip. This medium gauge is a good all purpose needle. It can be used for shaping, detail, and taming fuzzies.
Blue-42 T Named for the triangle shaped tip. A finer gauge needle that is good for detail work and cleaning up fuzzies. It also doesn’t leave behind holes in the surface as much as a thicker needle.
Yellow-40 T (double needle) Named for the triangle shape of the needle. The 40 T is a great all purpose needle, but the double needle is really good starting a project and getting those loose core wool fibers felted up fast.

If you’d like needles like the ones in the photo above, with a protective grip on the handle, I order all of mine at the following link: https://feltalive.com/felting-needles/

And while the needles listed above are perfectly fine to start and finish just about any project, there are some other, finer needles that can help you smooth out the surface of your project in its final stages.

Felting wool can leave a lot of flyaway ends. And that’s fine, if it’s the surface texture you’re looking for. But if you’d like to rein in some of those flyaways and fuzzies, a finer needle can grab those fibers on the downstroke, and not pull many out on the upstroke.

Pink-38 Crown Named because the barbs are close to the tip of the needle and it has only one barb on each side of the needle. The 38 crown is good for felting in fur and smoothing the wool. These needles are good to use with finer, smoother wool like merino.
Brown-40 Crown A fine crown needle that is good for detail work, smoothing out the surface, and rooting fur or hair.
Yellow-42 Crown A fine crown needle. It’s great at rooting fur and hair, smoothing out the surface, and for fine detail.
White-46 Crown The finest of the crown shaped needle. The 46 crown is great for the tiniest detail , smoothing fuzzies, and rooting fur and hair.

I’ve always purchased my crown needles from this one shop in the UK — so consider shipping before you order — but I am never disappointed.

https://www.heidifeathers.com/ourshop/prod_7799185-Crown-Mix-4-Different-Types-of-Needle.html

Needle Holders

The needle I used most for this project was that Blue-42T. It’s a workhorse. But unless you purchase your needles from a supplier who coats the ends in plasti-dip, the needles are just narrow metal shafts and are a little difficult to get a grip on. But there’s a workaround for that issue.

*Single needle holder and multi-needle holder*

These are felting needle holders. They give you something to hang onto as you’re pounding that needle into your project. One is designed for a single needle, while the other can hold multiple needles at once in order to felt more wool faster. They’re not too expensive and they can make the process feel a little more comfortable. However, I don’t use these much as I prefer the plasti-dip coated needles.

I get many of my supplies from Living Felt, and these needle holders are no different. You can find items like them at this link: https://feltingsupplies.livingfelt.com/needle-felting-tools

Thimbles

Have I mentioned that there is a bit of a risk to your hands and fingers with the craft of needle felting? Ouch!

Felting needles are sharp. And you’re tap-tap-tapping them over and over toward the hand that’s holding your wool project. Eventually, no matter how careful you are, you will stick yourself.

In most cases, this wouldn’t be a job for Doctor Bunny. Maybe just a band-aid. They do make leather thimbles to shield your fingers from injuries like this, so you may want to try them. I did, but I thought they felt a little bulky and can make needle felting feel slightly awkward…like using chopsticks while wearing heavy winter gloves.

Thimbles like these can be found on Amazon or Etsy, but I don’t have a current link for this at any of the shops and sites I prefer.

Wool (Core, Batts, and Roving)

I dropped this photo to point out the wool. It’s the warm tan color we wanted to use, but it’s not the type of wool I prefer to work with. And if you’re just starting out with needle felting, you should be aware that, while there are many colors available, the selection is limited. And the available color may be dependent on the type of wool: batts or roving.

What you see in the photo above is a batt of wool (green) and wool roving (light tan). I prefer working with the batts of wool, as they’re easier to felt. The batts are a shorter staple (the length of the wool fibers) and so it’s much easier to tear apart. The fibers of batts are oriented in random directions, and so less prep work is needed.

But with the bunny? The only wool available in bunny rabbit brown was roving. It’s not impossible to work with roving, but it’s a longer staple, and it all runs in the same direction — like a long mane of combed hair — and so it takes a little extra patience to get it to do what you want it to do. But that’s the thing about needle felting. With a spoonful of practice and a dose of patience, you can make just about anything you can imagine.

There are a few places to order wool. And I’ve had my favorites over the years. Keep in mind, though, that wool suppliers can go out of business just like any other shop, so you should always have a backup supplier just in case. I’ve ordered my wool from Living Felt for years, and they seem pretty reliable. So here’s the link to their wool: https://feltingsupplies.livingfelt.com/wool

And since we’re talking about doses and patients and practice…here’s Doctor Bunny, captured here in his natural habitat, the doctor’s office.

*“No, that isn’t a cottonball…that’s my tail!”*

I hope this helps explain things to anyone who’s interested in trying out the craft. If you’d like to see the video where we made Doctor Bunny, it’s available at the link below.