I usually felt for hours at a time, most of the day, everyday so finding a comfortable needle felting tool was a top priority! I felt with a single needle and up until a few years ago I didn’t use anything other than the bare needle. The needle wasn’t comfortable and my fingers ached after hours of felting. I tried several ways to make the needle more comfortable to hold. I tried dipping the end of the needle in plasti dip, which did help a tiny bit for comfort but the plastic soon fell apart and came off the needle. My husband made some wooden ends for me and they were awkward no matter what size he made them. I have purchased holders that are hard to hold in my hand and I have always gone back to using just the needle. I finally found the perfect solution and have been using it with complete comfort ever since.
Have you ever noticed how natural a pen feels in your hand? Well, that is how I came upon this idea. I will show you how I take a pen and turn it into the most comfortable felting needle holder you can find. You will need a pen, wool and your felting needle.
1st find a pen you are ready to discard. Not all pens work, so you will have to try a few. My favorite is the one shown in the picture below. You will want to choose a pen that screws together.
Take the pen apart and discard the spring and pen part.
Insert the needle into the pen so that it comes out the end. It should come straight out the end, not at an angle. If the needle comes out at an angle you need a different size pen.
Take a small amount of wool roving and jab it down into the pen to hold the needle in place. You will need to pack the wool into the pen firmly, I used a wire in the picture below.
Screw the top back on the pen after the wool is packed in tightly and your new felting tool is finished.
Find more great tips on needle felting!
- Successful Needle Felting Projects for Beginners
- Needle Felting with Jacob Wool
- Needle Felting with Armatures
- Top 10 Needle Felted Sculptures of 2015
- 4 Needle Felting Secrets to save you time, money and headaches.
- 5 Common Needle Felting Mistakes
- Teresa Perleberg’s Needle Felting Academy
Very helpful can’t wait to try it
I have just discovered needle felting, and have purchased some basic supplies. I really admire your work. You certainly have an accurate eye for realistic detail. This is a fantastic and obvious tool so simple yet perfect for the job. I have only used needle on its own without any holder so far. Thanks for the tips and advice here. I’ve pinned this tip as I think it’s genius.
I’m an artist working mainly in pencils, pastels, watercolours and acrylics, though I have had fun creating character cakes a few years ago, I guess this would be the nearest thing to creating sculptures I have done before. I also work with paper craft card making, and working in mixed media, on canvases, recycling, creating 3D projects and love creating paper flowers. Sorry to go on so long.
I live in Scotland so international shipping may be an issue with the additional costs, to get your felting packs and projects delivered here, more’s the pity.
Thanks for sharing.x
This is an exellent tip. It works for me fabulous!! Thank you for sharing!
Fantastic idea, thank you for sharing.