Needle Felted Wool Angel How-to

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Undyed wool lends itself to natural airy angels. Since I have one pictured up top, I wanted to do a quick tutorial. I weeded down the 47 pictures I took while I was felting, and they should give you a pretty good idea of the steps I took. I love needle felting, it's like working with clay but not as messy. I'm also loving that felted sculptures are more full-figured, a refreshing change of pace from the body images we see every day in the media.

Undyed and dyed wool roving, along with needles are available at Weir Dolls and Crafts. A multi-needle holder isn't necessary, but is nice if you enjoy felting.



To start, I grabbed a big handful of wool. Mine is leftover from making waldorf dolls.
To start, I rolled the wool firmly into a cylinder. We'll mold the body and head out of this. I find it's easier to start all with one piece than try and work multiple pieces together, for the most part (you'll see the wings are a different piece)
With 3 needles in the holder (I find it easier to manage this way), I firmed up the entire thing
Then using the C shape of the three needles, I'm able to easily go around a neck and form the head
Poking up into the head from the body (hmm, this sounds rather graphic, doesn't it?)
I look around and see which side lends itself to the front. I can already see where I'll make the arms here, so this is the front
Again with the C shape, forming the line of the arms

They're enthralled with whatever I'm doing, which I adore. You can see my basic form here, with the two arms. I try to just get it into the rough shape with coarse needles and the multi needle holder.
Flattening the bottom, checking after felting to make sure she stands straight
And a bit of wool for the wings. I use a felted oven mitt to felt on. I'm into the simplicity of making do with what you have.
Firmed up the wool a little, and molded it into a loose heart shape
Attaching the wings right down the center
Now, with a coarse single needle I go around my 'edges' - the neck, arms, wings and give them a little more definition.

And then go around the whole thing wherever there are any rough spots, with a finer needle. I'm actually hopeless at keeping my needles labled, so I just poke one at a time in til I get the fineness/coarseness that I want. I think I have 36, 38, and 40s
Firming up the wings a bit. I left them pretty airy though.
And decided to give her a star. The points on the star are kind of hard to do, flowers or hearts are easier