What is Needle Felting?
Needle felting is something artists have been doing for years, yet most of us have never heard of such a thing. When we think of felting, we think of flat felt pieces and hats. From now on - think sculpture; think one-of-a-kind; think bears, animals, fairies, dolls etc.

We start with a piece of carded wool, such as might be used for spinning, a foam block for working on and one or more felting needles.
Felting Needles are straight needles with barbs cut along the shaft. When repeatedly pushed into a tuft of wool fibres, the barbs pull the fibres down, compressing and locking them together. The barbs are cut in one direction so that felting or matting together of the fibres will occur when the needle is pushed in and not when it is pulled out.

This matting/felting process makes a large ball of fluff condense down into a denser mass of wool. Poking more in one spot will depress that area creating a dent or depression in your sculpture to make, for example, an eye socket.

Eventually you will end up with with a recognisable part of a bear. Only the body and limbs to do.

The last stage is to set the eyes, embroider the nose and thread joint the pieces together.