As many of you may know from experience a needle will always break, just when you are really engrossed in a new felting project... it often frustrates us needle felters! Well here are some of my tips on how to avoid breakage.
1. Always work with your needle at 90 degrees to your work. For example if you are making a flat needle felt picture/shape, always hold your needle so that it is going up and down directly over the top of your work. This avoids pressure to the blade which is the most common breaking point. If you are making a 3D piece, remember that you can move the piece as well as the needle.2. Apply less pressure with each stabbing motion. Quite often as a beginner we forget that it is not how hard we poke at the fibres to get them to felt, but rather how careful we are to apply constant strokes on an area to allow the barbs along the length of the blade to grab stray fibres and interlock them into the ones below.3. Take more time. Especially on bigger projects our imagination and excitement carries us away and we always try to speed up our processes to be finished quicker. Unfortunately felt making is one of those crafts that is best worked with time! So try to slow down in your needle movements and instead concentrate on smaller areas of your project's surface at each sitting. By doing this it is more likely that you will learn a better felting motion and work the fibres into a better felt.4. Finally, think about where you keep your needles too. Needles are always best kept in a sturdy container that isn't moved about very often when you are routing through your needlework box. Also try to keep the container waterproof to avoid rusting, which can occasionally happen.
I hope this helps? Please feel free to view my shop here on eBay for the supplies you may need.
Sara.Sara's Texture Crafts.
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