There are previous tutorials that walk you through many pieces of this bee.  They are as follows:

2  Wings(created the same way as these ears).
1  Heart
26 Beads
1  Ball

First take the wet felted ball and slightly needle felt it to create an oblong ball.  Then needle felt one end flat.  In the first image, take note of the paper template for the face and the straight pins that mark the stripes of the bumblebee.  I prefer to mark these important parts of the bumblebee before attaching any of the small felted pieces.  “Measure twice, felt once!”

The felted beads are strung together as follows:

4 tiny beads are strung together for each antennae. 3 small beads are strung together for the bottom four legs. The second picture demonstrates how to thread the beads so that the two ends remain on one side of the beaded string.  Thread the antennae and bottom four legs in this fashion.

3 small beads, one heart, and 3 small beads are strung together for the top legs/hands.The third picture demonstrates how to thread the top legs and heart.

After the beads are strung, it is time to attach them to the bee.  The antennae are attached right above the paper template.  The legs are attached in the middle of each stripe(between the rows of straight pins).

Now it’s time to add the stinger and wings.  Spread out the unfelted end of the stinger, place it on the body, and needle felt into place.  Be sure to remove any straight pins that are in the way.  Now do the same for the wings.

Needle felt a bit of beige wool around the very edge of the paper template.  This will create an outline of the face.  Then needle felt more beige wool on the inside of this outline.

Adding the stripes to the bumblebee is very simple.  Simply needle felt a black line along the top of each row of straight pins.  Then needle felt the head with black wool.  Add more black wool to the second and fourth stripe and needle felt into place.  Then, add yellow wool to the first and third stripe and needle felt it.  At this point, the whole bumble bee is “colored” in.

Now size down needles(larger number) and needle felt the entire body once more; this will give a more finished look.  Be sure to tack down the antennae and legs with a super strength felting needle until they are positioned as desired(a size 32 works really well for this).  The final step is needle felting a sweet little face.

Now the bumblebee is complete.  I’m sure you will have no problem convincing that special somebody to “bee mine” when offering this handmade gift for Valentine’s!!!  As always, good luck.  And Happy Valentine’s Day!!!

The washing machine works great for larger wet felted balls but tiny beads under 1/2 in. don’t really work well using that method.  Needle felting doesn’t work well either, unless you want bandaids all over your fingers!  So, wet soapy, possibly dishpan hands are necessary to complete this task!

Let’s Go . . .
First things first,  roll up some tufts of wool into loose balls.  Tie a knot in the wooly tuft, grab it by the knot, fold in half, and roll it up.  Then get another tuft, set the knotted rolled tuft on it, and roll that up.  When adding a new tuft turn the loose ball so that you are working it in multiple directions.  Keep adding tufts of wool until the loose ball is about twice the size of the wanted dimensions.  It takes some trials to figure out the right amount of wool to begin with!

Lightly needle felting the loose ball can help with the wet felting process; but it is completely optional.  I tried it both ways.  Needle felting it first avoids creating unwanted seams; but if you go slow and steady they shouldn’t happen anyways!

The small light green ball was needle felted first and the teal ball was not.

Once the loose balls are formed, prepare the necessary materials. . . a bowl of cold water with ice, a small dish of soap, and boiling water.  Set the icy water and dish soap on a towel because things are about to get wet!  Keep the boiling water on the stove.  Once it boils you can turn it off.  But when it starts to cool down, turn the stove back on for a bit.

Drop the wool ball into the boiling water, then submerse it with a spoon.  Remove the ball from the water and drop it on a towel for a couple of seconds.

Use HOT water not warm water.
The felting process is much faster with hot.

Get a small bit of soap on your fingertip, then place it in the palm of your hand.  Start working the ball between your palms.  Hold your left palm still and move the right palm in a circular pattern.  Do not apply pressure now or the wool ball will be squished!  Very slowly and carefully, continue to roll the ball between your palms.  Do this for about 2 to 3 minutes.

At this point, the ball should become a little more dense; now is the time to start applying pressure.  Lightly apply pressure at first and then increase the pressure.  You can go a little faster now that the ball is dense.  Eventually the wool bead will start to feel like a little rock in your hands.  The whole felting process takes about 4 to 5 minutes.  Now drop the felted bead into the icy water and submerse it with your fingertip.

Your hands should get a little sudsy while felting.
If it’s so soapy that it is difficult to roll the ball smoothly, wipe your hands on a washcloth.

Apply pressure when your bead resembles the 4th picture.
Or about 3 to 4 minutes into felting.

Set the soggy bead onto a towel to dry.  It will take up to 12 hours to completely dry.  The beads will harden up a bit after drying.  If they are completely dry and still not dense enough, just repeat the entire process again.  More than likely if that happens, you did not apply enough pressure in the final step!

Test your wool to see if it is colorfast.
If not, do the beads in batches of similar colors.

These little beads can be strung together rather easily and you can even embroider embellishments on them.  My felted beads will become beady legs for a felted doll and a felted bumblebee.  Just remember getting that perfect felted bead will take a bit of practice!

Anyways, when I started to “color” in her face, I realized that I was using tea colored wool for her skin.  I thought that perhaps other felters could benefit from this.  I follow the same method that I use for dyeing wool with food coloring and substitute brewed tea for the food coloring.  It creates a very soft beige that is hard to produce with food colors.  I will have to find some time to research natural dyes and experiment a little.  But for now,  I will just be happy that I can make more beige with a little bit of tea whenever the mood for felted baby dolls hits me!  Give it a try.  I wonder if different kinds of tea produces different shades of beige?

This needle felting tutorial is a very colorful one . . . a felted rainbow.  I designed this rainbow when coming up with different charms to hang from a mobile; however, you could hang it from just about anywhere!  I was a bit intimidated by the rainbow part of this rainbow, but it is actually easier than it looks!

First, draw and cut out a rainbow template.  Place it on a tuft of spare wool(it will be covered later) and needle felt around the outside of the template.  This creates an outline on the tuft of wool.

Next fold the extra wool towards the center of the outline and needle felt into place.  Between the bottom of the arc, the wool needs to be carefully pulled apart before pulling it to the center.

Flip the felted piece over; then needle felt the back.  A clover pen speeds this part up a bit.  Then take a single felting needle and reinforce the edges.

Switch to a smaller needle(larger number) and needle felt the entire rainbow, the front, back, and edges.  Continue felting until the shape is solid.

Here is my little “helper” handing me my paper template.  So cute . . .  Now on with the tutorial!

Remember ROY G. BIV, for some reason I can’t forget.  Simple needle felt a line of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple onto the felted rainbow.  These will be our “coloring” lines.

Next add a hanger, if you would like.  My hanger is a constructed from twisted embroidery thread.  Pull it up through the center of the arc, back down through the center, and tie it off on the bottom of the arc.

Start coloring in your rainbow.  Make sure that your felting needle remains vertical, so that any wool pulled through to the opposite side is lined up with the rainbow design.  Carefully felt over the knotted embroidery thread; you don’t want to break a needle!

Flip it over, the opposite side has a hint of rainbow.  Simple follow this “hint” and needle felt the rest of the rainbow.  Keep the felting needle vertical so that the colors don’t become mixed on the finished side.

Two small balls are used for the clouds.  Wrap the unfelted wool on one side of the rainbow around a ball and needle felt it.  Continue until the ball is secure.  Repeat with the other side.

Next clean up the clouds a bit.  Add some white wool to the base of the rainbow and needle felt it into place.  Keep adding white until no color is peeking through.

Add some cute faces if you would like.  And the felted rainbow is complete.  This rainbow will take around 3-4 hours to create.  Be patient with the rainbow stripes and all will be well!  Good Luck.

This sun is a basic design made from a wet felted ball and a grip of needle felted triangles.  It is a pretty easy project, but the triangles are a bit tricky to get just right! Here it goes . . .

You need: Wool roving/batting, felting needles, felting pad/brush, and embroidery thread.

A wet felted ball is used for the base of this sun toy.  Follow my tutorial on wet felted balls and then move on to the triangles!

Needle felted triangles will represent the rays of the sun.  A triangle template will help ensure that all of the triangles are roughly the same size.  Just cut a triangle out of a piece of paper; use the wet felted ball to estimate the appropriate size of the triangle/ray.

I like to place a piece of paper between my wool and felting brush; it creates a smoother finish. Place the template on a tuft of wool.  Then needle felt around the edges to create an outline of a triangle.

Take the extra wool from a side of the triangle, fold it to the center, and needle felt it down.  Do this on one more side.  Do not felt the third side of the triangle; the unfinished side will be used to attach the triangle to the ball.

Now, needle felt the 2 edges of the triangle.  Then needle felt the top of the triangle.  Flip it over and needle felt the opposite side.  Size down a needle and needle felt the entire triangle once more.  Compare the completed triangle to the template as you go, making sure that you do not change the overall shape and size too much as you felt.

Take the wet felted ball and a piece of paper.  Draw a circle around the ball.

As the triangles are created, lay them out along this circle.  Keep making triangles until the entire circle is outlined with them.

If you would like, now is time to attach the hanger to the felted ball.  Follow my tutorial on this, if you need a little help!  The tutorial will give similar results to the hanger on the sun; the only difference here is that I am using twisted embroidery thread to create the hanger!

Next pin the triangles to get an idea of where they should be placed.  I made three sets of three colors and decided to felt them into place in a pattern.  First I placed the three bright yellow triangles equally around the ball and needle felted them in place.  Then I did this with the orange and finally the golden yellow.

Next, needle felt the main color onto the ball.  Felt the front and back side of the sun making sure that the core color does not peek through.  A good light is necessary during this stage!  Use a smaller size felting needle(a larger number) and felt it again; this will help smooth out any lumps and bumps.

The final step is needle felting a sweet little face.  Again, I have an easy tutorial for this if you need a bit of explanation!

The smiling  sun charm is now complete.  This toy sun is sure to brighten any child’s nursery!  I’m excited to get started on more baby mobile charms; they are such fun and adorable too.  Good Luck!

These mobile charms could also be used as “adult” decorations as well.  I already imagined hanging this cloud from a cork board as a way to liven up the push pins and papers of “adult” life!

Supplies:

Gingerbread Man Cookie Cutter
Felting Foam/Brush
Felting Needles
Wool Roving/Batting
Embroidery Thread and Needle
Ribbon and Yarn Needle

Ready, Set, Go!

First, set a paper on top of your working surface(the felting foam or brush).  And place the cookie cutter on top.  Then pull off pieces of wool and lay inside of the cookie cutter.  Pay close attention to the corners.  Keep adding wool until it fills the entire cookie cutter to the brim!

Needle felt, with a large needle, inside the cookie cutter until the wool is laying flat.  Then peel the gingerbread man off and flip him over.

Place the felted gingerbread man inside the cookie cutter and needle felt the other side.  Use a single felting needle for the very edges; be careful not to break the fragile felting needle on the metal edges.  Go slowly!

Using a smaller needle, a larger number, needle felt the gingerbread man again.  Flip him over as before and needle felt the opposite side.

Size down felting needles again, an even larger number, and needle felt the front and back of the felted gingerbread man.

The gingerbread man should be firm and maintain its shape at this point.  Make 2 gingerbread men in this fashion.  Then needle felt the face and little details as desired.

The reason for the two gingerbread men now becomes apparent.  The gingerbread man with the face is messy on the backside.  To hide this simply make a gingerbread man sandwich and blanket stitch around them.

The final step is adding a ribbon to hang it with.  This step can be omitted if desired.  With a ribbon it’s an ornament and without the ribbon it’s holiday play food.  Win, Win!!!

This is a fun way to practice needle felting.  Try using different cookie cutters that you have around the kitchen.  A heart ornament, a Santa ornament, a snowman . . . .  Just imagine your holiday cookies in felted form!

Happy Holidays.

Today’s needle felting tutorial involves a little bit of sparkle!  Felted ornaments don’t typically add much glimmer to the tree and I came up with an easy felted design that will add just the right amount of “twinkle”!  It would be fun to make a set of these in a few different colors.  Each ornament takes around 1.5 to 2 hours to create.

Let’s Begin:

Begin by attaching a ribbon hanger to a felted ball and then needle felt the chosen colored wool onto the top half of the ball.  I have two previous tutorials that will walk you through the felted ball and ribbon hanger steps!

Now, it is time to create the stars.  These stars will be felted onto the top, colored portion of the ornament!  Grab a small tuft of white wool roving.  Stretch it between your fingers, so that a thin strand is formed.  Needle felt 5 thin strands, one line at a time, to create a star.  Just “draw” it as if you would on paper!  Then needle felt inside the “drawn” star so that it is “colored” all in.  Create as many stars as you like, in slightly different sizes.

It’s time to add some SPARKLE!!!  I used tiny metallic, jewelry beads and some sparkly, silver embroidery thread.

Attach the beads, somewhat randomly, across the top portion of the ornament.  To do this, simply insert the threaded needle into the uncolored portion of the ball and up through the colored top half.  String a bead onto the needle, insert the needle next to the bead, and push the needle out into the unfinished portion again.  Tie a knot and repeat. Using the unfinished side of the ornament this way allows the knots of the embroidery thread to be felted over and hidden forever!

The next step is embroidering a silver “drawn” star over the felted white stars.  This is a bit tricky to put into words, but the pictures should help out a lot!  Basically, start the needle in the unfinished portion of the ball again and pull it out at the very tip of one of the stars.  Then begin to “draw” the silver, sparkly star with the embroidery thread.  Again, finish off the thread on the unfinished portion and tie a knot.

Finally, needle felt color onto the bottom portion of the ornament.  A clover pen will make a bit quicker work out of this.  Use care when felting over the knots!

The ornament is complete.  This design is so easy to be creative with.  Yellow stars on a red ball with gold beads and embroidery thread?  Different colored stars on a white ornament, and multicolored beads?  The very best thing about these ornaments is that they are virtually unbreakable, unless a dog or cat is prowling underneath the tree!  They are great for small toddlers to hang and are guaranteed to not crush into small bits in their sticky hands.

Happy Holidays!!!

The blue ornament below has a small, cute bow on top.  And the purple ornament has a simple loop.  Both of these looks are achieved using my “hidden” method with very slight alterations between the two.

For both looks, the first step involves hollowing out a small hole on the underside of a felted ball.  This is achieved with a small pair of scissors.

First,  I will demonstrate how to achieve the “simple loop” look and last I will demonstrate the “cute bow” look.

The “Simple Loop” Ribbon Hanger

Thread a decorative ribbon on a large yarn needle.  Push the yarn needle into your felted ball through the hole in the bottom.  Then, pull the yarn needle through the top, center of the felted ball.  If the ribbon offers resistance, grab a pair of pliers for some extra force.  Now the felted ball should have the ribbon going straight through it.

Next, push the yarn needle through the top of the ball and pull it out through the bottom.  Both ends should be on the underside of the felted ball and a loop should be on the top.  Tie a knot with the ends of the ribbon.

Almost Done!  Simply trim the ends of the knot, and pull the knot firmly inside the hole.  Now the simple loop hanger is complete.  The only thing left to do is use some imagination and decorate the ornament!  Use care while felting over the “hidden” knot; you do not want to carelessly break your fragile felting needle.

The “Cute Bow” Ribbon Hanger

Thread a decorative ribbon on a large yarn needle.  Push the yarn needle into your felted ball through the top, center of the felted ball.  Pull the yarn needle out through the hole in the bottom.  If the ribbon offers resistance, use the pliers once again! Then push the yarn needle up through the bottom hole and pull the yarn needle out of the top, center of the ball.

Now the ribbon loop is on the bottom, and the two ribbon ends are on the top.  Pull both ends, so that the loop becomes embedded in the bottom hole.  Make sure that the ribbon ends are even, then tie a cute bow leaving enough space between the ball and the bow to create a “hanger”.  The final step is decorating your ornament.  Once again, be careful while felting over the “hidden” loop!

Now it’s time to get busy creating your felt ornaments.  Happy Felting!

Now, that we have a felted ball for an ornament blank, we can begin!  Grab a tuft of wool in the main color that will be used.  Lay the tuft flat.  Starting from one end, roll the tuft up into a soft log.  Then needle felt the log, turning as you go to maintain roundness.  Be sure to felt only the middle of the log and leave both ends unfelted.

To attach the log to the blank ball, simply spread out one of the unfelted ends and felt it onto the ball.  Then do the same thing with the other unfelted end.  Now the felted log has become a tab which can be used to attach ribbons and such.

Once the tab is firmly attached, wrap the blank ornament with the main color and felt it into place.  Attach a decorative ribbon and your ornament is ready to go!

I was inclined to add a bit of adornment to the front of my ornament.  These ornaments are relatively quick and easy to make.  And handmade ornaments add so much charm to an otherwise “commercial” time of year.  So get creative and get felting!

I will shortly have a follow up tutorial on an alternate way to add a decorative hanger to your felted ornaments.  So check back in a few days, if you are interested.