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Post by annageckos on May 22, 2018 12:44:47 GMT
I am very new to needle felting but having a lot of fun with it. I bought a starter kit online that had ten needles, a pad and a variety of colored wool. It is really working out well, I bought some more wool that I am trying out now. I know I'll need more needles, I've read that they can break easily. I currently have three different sizes, but I am not sure the exact gauge. Looking at listings there are so many different types of needles, gauges and types. Star, spiral and others. I understand the gauges but not the shapes. Can someone explain that to me please. What is a star felting needle good for? Is the spiral better? I am going to mostly be doing 3d animals. Thanks for the tips. Links to websites that have info work too.
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Post by lyn on May 22, 2018 13:19:20 GMT
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Post by Shepherdess on May 22, 2018 14:09:59 GMT
when I was needle felting ther were on 3 gauges and stars or triangles. Stars have an extra side so you have more barbs. There are lots more now that make some things easier to do. in the link above she says crowns are not for felting but I know people tat use them for fine details onthe surface.
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Shana
Full Member
Posts: 108
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Post by Shana on May 22, 2018 14:50:12 GMT
Gah!! I must admit, my biggest pet peeve with needlefelting is when people say there are "barbs" on the needles.
There are no barbs! There are notches! <end rant>
Anna, there are many sizes and options, obviously. My go-to needle is a 38 spiral and that's what I teach my classes with. It's good for most core wools and will easily handle Merino wools as well.
Why the spiral? Imagine a little notch on the side of the needle shaped like the number "7". The "7" grabs a fiber or two and pushes it down to tangle with other fibers. With the spiral, the "7" not only pushes down but gives it a rotation as well. So a fiber at 12 o'clock will end up at 6 o'clock and that increases the tangle of fibers. Make sense?
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Post by lyn on May 22, 2018 15:46:45 GMT
Guilty as charged! I still call them barbs because that's how they were introduced to me (and barbs hurt so the name is fitting).
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Post by annageckos on May 22, 2018 15:57:16 GMT
Thank you for the link and info. It does help. I'm not sure the type of needles I got in my pack. It was a cheap starter kit out of China and didn't specify the type, but there are three sizes. So far they seem to be working for me, I just wanted to order more but then got a little overwhelmed with the choices. So I guess the best thing I can do is order different types and try them all out to see what works best for me.
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Post by lindsay on May 23, 2018 6:37:47 GMT
Hello annageckos & welcome to the forum. Your reply made me laugh as you’re so right - the answer to most questions so often seems to be ‘make a sample’ or ‘have a try’.
I don’t do a lot of needle felting projects (almost exclusively Christmas decorations) but I do needle felt onto wet felted pictures and have stumbled around the needle minefield too. In practice I find most needles work well for most things so I don’t worry too much about which type I’m using but the thing that really does make a difference is that they get blunt. So my take-home message is keep the ones you’ve used separate from new ones and occasionally try a new one to see if it’s noticeably better than the one your using. If so, you may have to throw the used one away, or save it for something ‘risky’ like fluffing something up, which doesn’t require such sharpness and has a high breakage rate.
Look forward to seeing some of your creations.
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Post by RovingOne on Jun 11, 2018 19:33:30 GMT
I've just been reading through Heidifeathers comprehensive info. Needlefelting is a bit of a mystery to me as I've only ever used it for adding detail to wet felting or attaching bits that didn't get properly attached during the wet felting process.
But something doesn't add up. She says "The gauge of felting needle refers to the diameter of the needle. The higher the gauge the finer the needle and the smaller the barbs." Surely if the gauge refers to the diameter of the needle, the higher the gauge (diameter) the thicker the needle? As higher numbers are finer this can't be right.
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Post by felicity on Jun 12, 2018 5:39:59 GMT
The statement "The higher the gauge the finer the needle and the smaller the barbs" is correct, I know it from experience. So may be "refer" means "connected with" in this case, not "equivalent"
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Post by Shepherdess on Jun 12, 2018 23:01:42 GMT
Yes with wire and steel rod and medical needles, higher numbers(gauge) means finer. I was told it was because smaller wire needs to be drawn( stretched) more times. so 30 gauge needs to be drawn out 30 times. 10 gauge 10 times.
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