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Needles and Tools

Just like with knitting or crochet, needle felting has its own set of needles. Unlike the other two, though, needle felting needles are SHARP! The tips of needle felting needles are not like sewing needles either. Sewing needles poke straight through fabric, but needle felting needles have barbs towards the tips, which catch the fibers of the wool and interlock them. That is what causes the fluffy wool to become dense and form into shapes. 

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Needle felting needles come in a variety of tip shapes and sizes, but maybe not in the way you are thinking. The shapes are triangle, swirl, star, or reverse, and the sizes are 32, 34, 36, 38, or 40 gauge. The higher the number, the smaller the thickness of the needle. 

99% of the time, I use a 36 gauge triangle needle. I call it the number 2 pencil of the needle felting world. The 36 gauge triangle needle is a work horse and can be used for any type of wool and design. While I haven't tried the reverse needles yet, I have used different gauges, but personally I did not have much use for anything besides the 36 gauge. I like to keep them on hand, just in case though! 

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As far as tools, I do have a couple that I love. The first one is the single needle wood holder and the second one is the pen tool. Both are explained in the video below. There are a variety of other holders that can hold between 1 and 20 needles! A common tool is the punch tool that holds 8 needles. The pen tool in the video holds up to three needles, but I usually only keep two in it, which makes felting go faster.

I get my needles from Purple Moose Felting on Etsy. Click HERE for a link to the shop, which is also where this image came from. They do a great job explaining the different kinds of needles.

Types of Needle Felting Needles.jpg
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