Review: Wyoming Wildlife Felting Kit
I’m reviewing the Wyoming Wildlife needle felting craft kit from Bear Creek Felting in today’s post.
Disclosure: I received a complimentary kit for review from Timberdoodle. All views expressed are my own.
Needle Felting
A while back, I posted about learning the art of needle felting. The first method I learned is referred to as painting with wool. Today’s project also involves needle felting, but it’s a different technique. Rather than creating a picture with various colors of wool roving, I’ll be sculpting little animals by forming the wool into balls and building from there.
What’s Included
The Wyoming Wildlife Felting Kit includes all the supplies and tools you need to make three adorable animals: a bear, a rabbit, and a bison. Generous amounts of wool are included for each animal, so you may even have enough left over to make a second set.
Also included: a foam felting pad, six felting needles (because they do tend to break occasionally), a needle grip, tiny button eyes for each animal, and a detailed instruction manual with lots of color photos.
Getting Started
Each animal begins with a ball. You simply roll a small piece of the wool roving into a roundish wad between your hands until a loose ball is formed. Then, place it on the foam pad and start jabbing it with a needle, rolling it around and around. The more you jab, the tighter and firmer the ball will become as the fibers interweave and cling to each other. It takes a lot of jabbing to form a nice, tight ball.
The bison is the largest animal in the kit. It includes three pre-formed balls to get you started. The balls are slightly different sizes, helping ensure that the body and head of the bison are proportioned correctly.
The Process
When the balls are the appropriate size, you join them together by wrapping wisps of wool roving around them and continuing to jab with the needle.
Some of the features, such as the ears, are formed by felting roving into a flat piece of… well, felt. Then, with scissors, cut out two ear shapes and attach with more needle jabbing.
Voila!
My Thoughts
The overall process was not as hard as I thought it might be. If you compare my finished critters with the pattern picture (below), you can see they don’t look the same. That’s okay, though. Just as no two animals are exactly the same in nature, the same is true in crafting.
I thoroughly enjoyed this art form and expect I’ll do more in the future. This project is recommended for ages 12 and up. It includes very sharp needles (which can and will prick to draw blood) and requires fairly good hand-eye coordination and manual dexterity.
Just for fun, I entered the rabbit and bear in the county fair where they took a blue ribbon! That right there is worth $2 in prize money! How ’bout that?
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One Comment
Janet
So cute!