this is an easy and fast way to make felt candy canes, felting around pipe cleaners to create the shape. i first posted this tutorial on my blog, felt cafe; thanks gina for inviting me share it here!
no previous felting experience is necessary; this would be a lot of fun for older kids. for younger children, you could wrap the wool around the pipe cleaners and/or get them started, and have the kids do the last steps (roll them in soapy water).
this tutorial is a sneak preview of part of a holiday felt making kit that i will have in my etsy shop after thanksgiving. UPDATE 11/25: thanks to everyone who has commented, in response to popular demand, you can now purchase these felt candy canes from my etsy shop as a custom order. feel free to share this tutorial, i would like to please just ask that you credit me and the felt cafe blog, thank you!~
you will need some pipe cleaners (cut in half) and some wool roving. the amount pictured is about 1/8 of an ounce, which is enough to make at least 2 candy canes. you also need dish soap, hot water, a shallow waterproof dish, and a towel on hand.
take a strip of white wool. starting at one end, wrap the wool tightly around the pipe cleaner.
overlapping the wool, wrap the wool diagonally along the pipe cleaner, working your way to the other end.
make sure to completely cover the end.
wrap back in the other direction, making 2 layers. when you reach the first end, turn around and wrap a final 3rd layer of wool
completed 3 layers of white wool wrapped around half a piper cleaner. if you've wrapped it tightly, it will be easier to felt in the following steps. some unevenness in the layers of wool at this point will not be a problem.
take one strip of red wool roving, about 1 and a half times longer than the white wool wrapped pipe cleaner.
wrap the red wool once or twice around one end.
and then wrap the red strip diagonally along the length of the pipe cleaner, leaving white spaces that are the same width as the red spaces.
wrap the red wool one or two times around the end.
wool wrapping completed.
put a little hot soapy water in a dish, and roll the wool in it. using your fingertips or palms, roll the wool back and forth, as if you were making a clay snake.
the fibers will begin to join together. continue to roll the wool.
you can continue to work the wool: hold the stick in one hand as shown, and close your other hand around it. keeping your hands flat, rub it between your palms. you can keep working the wool as you gradually rinse out the soap.
your felt candy cane will probably have stretched a little past the wire and become longer. if you want flat ends, you can trip them off with a scissors, being careful to cut beyond the end of the wire.
bend to make a candy cane shape.
you can use the same process to make larger or smaller candy canes, or peppermint sticks (just don't bend them), or twist them into a circle for napkin rings or tiny decorative wreaths.
have fun, and i would love to hear any feedback!
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
felt candy cane tutorial
Thursday, November 13, 2008
SALE! Original Needlefelt Fiber Art 11/22 11/23
The Needle Felting Etsy Street Team is proud to host their first Holiday SALE Great discounts all weekend - Plus,***CONTEST***WIN A FREE NEEDLE FELTING KIT OR AN Original NUSHKIE Fairy Art Doll! No purchase necessary. Everyone is invited to enter! Stroll through the shops on this post to find the Needle in the Haystack! More details at the bottom of this post.
Holiday Sale November 22nd and 23rd - All day.
Find the Felting Needle in the Haystack
And win the Needle Felting Kit Prize!
Just visit the shops with sales and look for the letters
N - E - E - D - L - E - F - E - L- T
in the descriptions of items for sale.
When you've found them, email the shop names in order
(example: fufukitty = N) to our team shop via etsy convo 
http://Needlefelt.etsy.com
Correct answers will be placed in a pool and
Two winners will be drawn at random. Winners will be announced on this blog. So stay tuned!
Thursday, November 6, 2008
NFEST Oct08 Challenge "Things With Eyes"
October's "Things with Eyes" Themed Challenge Entries are in! Beautiful, creative, and diverse. Thank you to everyone who thought about it, created these entries and shared your creations. The Needle Felting Etsy Street Team is proud to present this gorgeous collage. (To see a larger view, click on the image.) If you'd like to see more of these artist's creations, please click on the links below and stop in to see their shops.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Fridays feature - ewesyourimagination
Todays friday feature is
From today onwards the friday featured NFEST artists will be cross posted in the NFEST blog.
Any NFEST artist wishing to participate please post in this thread
http://feltingforum.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2669&start=15
What got you started needle felting?
I helped during the shearing of a local Shetland ranch, and was generously given a LOT of free wool, so I bought some needles and stabbed away!
How long have you been needle felting?
Only since March of 2008...I've come a long way and get better every time I poke!
Describe your style of work
Most of my things have oddly turned out sorta cutesy....that's odd because I'm more of a creepy, weird minded person when I start out on something. I've also just discovered how much fun wool "paintings" can be.
How do you promote your items?
I chat as much as possible on Etsy, in the forums, labs, and chat rooms. Then here on the forum, Flickr gets a lot of views, and I started a blog for fun! I just listed some specials on IndiePublic's Gift Guide too. Also, there are going to be NFEST members who will all hold a shop sale on the same November weekend which will be promoted in various ways.
What/who inspires you?
The huge pile of wool and my husband saying "Thats an awful lot of wool." Well, that inspires me to keep at it, but I have a wild imagination anyway to come up with most of my things.
Can you remember what the 1st thing you made was?
A very primitive looking sheep. Then immediately a grizzly bear that looked waaay better!
What are you working on right now?
A very creepy macabre vase, black and white with crimson red locks. I wet felted the main vase, and have needled "faces" into places. Creepy.
If you could only save one of your items from a fire which one would it be?
Yikes. We just installed a small woodstove, so I better really think on this one. Well, it would have to be my "Harvest HoneyMOONers" painting, and the "Crimson Passages" (they only count as one, cause they're stored together right now
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