Needle Felting with Blue Faced Leicester Wool
When I began my Needle Felting Through the Sheep Breeds series, I was trying to answer a question I had been asked many times:
What breed of wool is best for needle felting?
For years, most of my experience had been with Romney wool because that was the foundation of our flock and the fiber I used for most of my sculptures.
I loved Romney—but I realized I couldn't really call it my favorite until I had seriously worked with other breeds.
So I started felting my way through the sheep breeds, using wool from each breed to create a sculpture of that same sheep.
One of the breeds I was especially interested in testing was the Bluefaced Leicester, usually shortened to BFL.
A Little About Bluefaced Leicester Sheep
Bluefaced Leicester sheep have a very distinctive appearance.
They have long upright ears, a prominent Roman nose, and blue-toned skin visible on their faces and legs. They are polled, meaning they don't have horns, and their faces and legs are free of wool.
BFL belongs to the longwool family and produces a lustrous fleece with a characteristic curl or spiral.
That luster is one of the things that makes the fiber especially beautiful for spinning and dyeing.
And if you're wondering how to pronounce Leicester, think:
“LESS-ter.”
Why We Added BFL Sheep to Our Flock
Our flock originally had a strong Romney foundation, but eventually we added Bluefaced Leicester genetics.
One of the reasons I was originally attracted to BFL was the wool.
I loved spinning it.
The fiber was soft, lustrous, springy, and completely different from the Romney wool I was accustomed to working with.
Then I discovered I liked the sheep themselves too.
The BFLs I knew were attentive and expressive, with those big eyes and ears that always seemed to be watching what I was doing.
Their lambs were especially adorable.
But loving a wool for spinning doesn't necessarily mean I will love it for three-dimensional needle felting.
So I put it to the test.
My Experience Needle Felting With BFL Wool
Compared with the Romney wool I normally used, BFL felt noticeably smoother.
That smoothness was wonderful when spinning, but under a felting needle I found that the fiber didn't grab and firm as quickly.
I could absolutely felt with it.
It just took me longer.
The legs were especially challenging. Legs are never my favorite part of a sculpture to make, and with the BFL I had to work harder to get the firm, defined shapes I wanted.
Creating a Smooth Surface Took More Work
I also noticed that the carded BFL tended to show lines where I added wool.
With Romney, I could usually blend those additions into the surface fairly easily.
With the BFL I was using, I found myself repeatedly laying thin layers of wool over areas to make the finished surface look smoother.
That doesn't mean the wool couldn't produce a nice sculpture.
It could.
It simply required a little more patience and surface work than I was accustomed to.
Dense Areas Became Harder to Work
The face taught me something else.
I spend a lot of time refining facial features, working from different directions to create the mouth, eyes, and expression.
As some areas became very dense, I noticed that continued needling seemed to have less effect.
The wool had already become so firmly compacted that I wasn't able to move the fibers around as easily as I wanted.
I've experienced that with other wool too, including Romney, but I noticed it sooner with this particular BFL fiber.
It reminded me that there is a point where continuing to poke isn't necessarily going to improve an area.
Sometimes it is better to add a very thin fresh layer of wool and work from there.
But the BFL Locks Were Wonderful
This was my favorite part.
For the body structure, I used carded BFL wool.
For the sheep's fleece, I added natural BFL locks.
And I loved them.
The locks were soft, springy, lustrous, and already had exactly the texture I wanted the finished sheep to have.
Rather than trying to make carded wool look like fleece, I could let the natural structure of the locks do the work for me.
They attached easily and gave the sculpture a beautiful realistic coat.
This is one of the things I love about working with wool from different breeds: sometimes the characteristic that makes a fiber less convenient for one part of a sculpture makes it perfect for another.
What I Like About BFL Wool
For needle felting, I especially appreciate:
- Its beautiful natural luster
- The spring and texture of the locks
- The ability to create a firm finished sculpture
- Its usefulness for realistic fleece and surface texture
- The way the natural locks can become part of the design rather than being completely carded
And outside of needle felting, BFL has always been a fiber I enjoy spinning.
What I Find Challenging
For the kind of firm, detailed sculpture I make:
- The smoother fiber took longer to felt than my Romney wool
- Small shapes such as legs required more work
- I noticed surface lines that needed additional blending
- Very dense areas became difficult to continue refining
- I wouldn't choose it over my preferred wool for every stage of a sculpture
But those aren't necessarily disadvantages for every felter or every project.
A fiber that isn't my first choice for building a firm body may still be exactly what I want for a beautiful outer coat.
Is Bluefaced Leicester Wool Good for Needle Felting?
Yes.
But for my style of three-dimensional sculpture, I especially like BFL for texture and surface work rather than as my first choice for every part of the sculpture.
The carded wool eventually became nice and firm, although it took more work than the Romney wool I was accustomed to.
The locks, on the other hand, were a pleasure to use.
And that became my biggest takeaway from working with BFL:
You don't necessarily have to choose one wool for an entire sculpture.
Different fibers have different strengths.
Sometimes the best results come from using each wool for the job it does particularly well.
That is one of the lessons this whole breed experiment has taught me—and one of the reasons I continue to enjoy learning about wool almost as much as I enjoy sculpting with it.
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