What is Needle-felting?

I often get asked how my needle-felted pieces are made. It's very hard to explain without demonstrating the process; and hard to envision because it is like nothing else. You don't use a needle & thread; you don't use scissors; you don't use knitting or crochet needles. You use something called a felting needle, which most people have never heard of. I made this display piece to go alongside my work at the Graton Gallery.

It's a bit of a 3d display, as I actually stuck a real felting needle through the paper where the illustration is, and glued some fiber and felt into the boxes on the right side.

Click for larger view:

Russell

If you haven't seen "Up" yet, see it! My favorite Pixar film so far. There are lots of endearing characters in the movie, but Russell is the most adorable. I was compelled to make this needle-felted sculpture of Russell. He's about 8" tall and made completely out of wool fiber. For his base, I felted over a tree branch, leaving some areas of the wood exposed so the felt would look like moss.