Happy Monday! Today I will be showing you how I make my little mushrooms. Please give me feedback and let me know if the directions are easy enough to follow.
There are some basic things to remember any time you are needle felting. Always be very careful of your fingers. The needles are very sharp. Always jab the needle straight in and out. If you change the angle while you are felting, you run the risk of breaking your needle.
Supplies needed for the project
These are the supplies that I used for this project: undyed alpaca fiber for the core, two colors of hand dyed alpaca fiber, a 38 triangle felting needle, and a foam pad on which to felt.
Roll tightly
Take the fiber that will be used for the stem and roll it as tightly as you can into a tube shape. The tighter you roll it, the faster it will be to felt.
Beginning the stem
Begin felting half of the stem into a nice even tube.
Top of stem
When you have finished the step, your stem should look like this. The part that has been felted should be firm, but not hard when squeezed. Begin felting the bottom half of the stem. Turn the stem felted side down and felt the bottom of the stem. This part should be wider than the top as it will make your mushroom more stable. After you have felted the bottom, start felting in the sides to form a nice base for your mushroom. Make sure that the bottom is as flat as possible.
Ready for color
Pulling the fiber out in thinnish sheets, begin to cover the stem with the color you have chosen for it. Continue to layer fiber on until the stem is well covered leaving loose fibers at the top to attach to the mushroom cap.
Stem ready to go
This is what the stem should look like when it is ready to be attached. If you have too much fiber at the top, you can pull some of it off. You want enough to attach firmly to that cap, but not so much that it will be bulky.
Starting the cap
Form the fiber for the cap into a ball with fiber left loose at the bottom. Felt the top part of the cap firmly.
Top of cap
Turn the cap over to felt the bottom part of the center of the cap.
Beginning the lower part of the cap
Felt the loose fibers creating a nice shape for your mushroom cap. This part can take quite a while. I haven’t found a way to compress the fiber in the right shape so that felting can proceed quickly.
Cap ready for color
Here is the cap ready to have the color felted over the top. Pull out sheet like pieces of fiber just like you did for the stem. Completely cover the mushroom cap with the color you have chosen.
Cap ready to attach
Here is the cap ready to be attached to the stem.
Attaching the cap
Fan the loose fibers out at the top of the stem. Place the stem at the center of the mushroom cap. Needle the loose fibers in toward the center. Some of the fibers should pass through the stem into the cap. Try not to jab your needle all the way through the mushroom. When the loose fibers have been felted in nicely, turn the mushroom right side up and felt through the cap into the stem. Make sure that your needle is going directly from the cap into the stem. If your needle goes from the cap through air into the stem you will have trailing fibers of the cap color stretching over that space.
Mushroom ready for spots
Here is the mushroom all ready for its spots.
All finished
Take a small amount of the stem color and rub it between your fingers into a rough circle. Felt the fiber onto the mushroom cap keeping the shape as round as possible. You can put as many or as few spots on your mushroom as you like. The sizes of the spots can be uniform or varied.
A kit with everything you need to complete this project is available here
https://www.etsy.com/listing/114119661/how-to-needle-felt-your-own-fantasy
woodlandwhimsy 