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| Make a Needle Felted Alpaca! |
Needle felting has gained enough popularity in recent years to have encouraged craft supply companies to create easy-to-complete kits. Dimensions kits, available online and in craft supply stores, has several kits available, including kits for making animals in molds or without molds.
Included Needle Felting Supplies
The alpaca kit by Dimensions comes with everything a crafter needs to create a finished felted animal without a mold. I chose this kit because of its reasonable price and because the supplies were all included. I was able to get started without worrying about whether or not I had purchased all the right supplies or the right amount of wool: The kit includes just the right amount of wool, a felting needle, a small piece of dense felting foam, an embroidery needle and floss, and basic instructions with measurements.
Basic Instructions Included
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| Needle Felting Measurements |
As a complete beginner, I was able to successfully complete the project in about four hours. I found the instructions sufficient for making the alpaca, but I did read a few "basics of needle felting" posts online
after starting. I recommend anyone starting any kit read ahead
before beginning a sculpture. Some of the great tips I learned could have helped me ensure my centers were well felted and I was using my needle properly, pushing it into the sculpture far enough to use all of the barbs on the needle; slowly, but surely, wins the race when needle felting.
One excellent benefit of the instructional sheet was the included measurement charts. I was able to compare my shapes to the 1:1 shapes in the instructions to be sure I was on the right track.
Dimensions Needle Felting Kit Pitfalls
The most difficult part of the process was making and attaching the ears for the alpaca. A very small amount of wool has to be folded into shape and felted for quite some time. Because the ears are flat and the foam is dense, I was not able to take advantage of all the barbs on the needle as was recommended. Honestly, the ears seemed to take forever, but I persevered . . . after a long break and some more online reading about how to make ears.
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| The Finished Felted Alpaca |
Most importantly, I only stabbed myself with the felting needle once. However, because of the danger involved (I did bleed copiously), I would not recommend this project for a child unless the child wears finger protectors of some sort. As a matter of fact, because I enjoyed this project so much and plan to do more needle felting, my next order from Amazon will include a needle felting tool kit that includes finger protectors, a nicer felting mat, and additional felting needles of various sizes. Having these tools ahead of time may have made my project go a bit more smoothly, but I still had an excellent, successful afternoon with this kit, and in the end I made a brand new felted friend.
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