NFEST Team News

Hello! We have some team news to announce.

Orit started a new forum thread over on etsy to promote needlefelt items. If you get a chance, head on over to http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5932318 share your needlefelt creations and check out what our team has been working on.

Congratulations to our two winners of the NFEST "Find a needle in a haystack" Contest! AlpacaFarmGirl and Rosapatientiae successfully submitted correct entries and were the two winners in our drawing. A big thank you to everyone who participated. We hope you enjoyed the needle hunt.

We have a lot of new members signing up almost daily. Welcome to all you needlefelting newbies!

felt candy cane tutorial

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!

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!

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.

Coraldee

Creations By Corina

Cutting Edge Creations

Felt Mates

GFelted

Motivated Motion

My Favorite Shop