felting needles | Fit to be loved

Felting Needle Holders – A Quick Guide

Posted on February 16, 2022 by Amanda Adebisi

Needle Holders – why would I use one? what do they do? and which should I get?

Here’s a quick overview for you about them with a few recommendations from my own experience. Please do let me know if you have any questions 🙂

SINGLE NEEDLE HOLDERS

You can just simply hold a needle between your fingers and thumb and stab away for hours sculpting your wool, but it can get a little uncomfortable after a while. So it is well worth getting a needle holder which has been designed and shaped for you to grip it easily and with more comfort.

You may only need the one, especially if you have a favourite go-to needle (for example I love the 38G star needle and can pretty much do most if not all of an animal with that one needle), but as you experiment and come to like other needles too for the different stages of your piece you may want to buy a few holders.

I think it’s a good idea to buy a set (which works out cheaper per holder) so you don’t have to keep changing the needle in the holder each time you swap to a new one.

There’s so many holders out there to choose from. You can buy wooden ones, rubber moulded ones, plastic ones, or you can even make your own if you wanted to.

Keeping your needle in a holder can make the needle last longer especially if it’s a holder where you can insert the needle the other way inside the handle when not in use. Also if your holder is a certain colour or pattern which is different from the others you’ll hopefully not forget which needle you are using.

5 Wooden Handles (click image to buy)

I love these wooden ones by Heidifeathers.

You can keep them plain, or you can varnish, paint or even decorate them with decopatch paper (hmm…that gives me an idea for a future tutorial!).

You can keep the needle inside the handle when not in use for safe keeping or for travelling.

MULTI-NEEDLE HOLDERS

For times when you want to speed things up a bit and hold more than one needle at a time, a multi-needle holder is perfect for this.

My absolute favourite is the Clover Needle Felting Tool. It’s a bit like holding a pen and it has a lid to protect your needles when not in use.

It can hold one to three needles at one time but with 3d animal sculptures I often just like to use two at a time for firming up wool, adding long fur, and attaching limbs.

Clover Needle Felting Tool (click image to buy)

I will use three needles if wanting to make small flat animal features e.g. ears or feathers. Then when I want to really get going at pulling out fibres for a fluffy look, using 2 or 3 reverse needles at a time in my Clover tool really does the job! – have you ever tried it?

If you want to use even more needles for larger flat pieces for example bat wings or when making lots of leaves (I made leaves for a dormouse nest) then I would recommend the Heidifeathers wooden multi-needle tools (there’s a 4 needle handle or a 6 needle handle) or the Clover 5 needle holder. (click the image to purchase)

Wooden 4 Needle Handle

Wooden 6 Needle Handle

Clover 5 Needle Holder

Do you like using needle holders? If so which do you prefer the most?

I have included links for where to source these needle felting tools. Please see Links disclaimer in the right side panel for more details.

My Top 15 NEEDLE FELTING TOOLS & MATERIALS [& How to use them Explained]

Posted on December 6, 2021 by Amanda Adebisi

So you’ve got your felting base, some needles and some wool, BUT what about a wooden letter opener? or some hair straighteners? ..(huh? I might hear you say..)

The video below walks you through my top 15 favourite Needle Felting Tools and Materials and I explain how I use each of them to create detailed and realistic animals. These take you beyond the beginner basics so if you are looking for the best felting equipment to advance your skills then I hope this list will help.

I include felting tools (like needles and their holders, scissors and my favourite felting mat) as well as materials like wire, clay and wax. There are some supplies you may not have thought of so I hope to inspire you.

My demonstrations feature a range of felted animals such as my sparrow, cat, dog, bumble bee, hare, bunny and more.

I hope you enjoy it 🙂 Let me know which was your favourite?

I’ve included the links on where to find the supplies below the video too.

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Here is more info about the Mr Bumbley Bee PDF Tutorial.

Here is the Earth Mat full written review.

Here are the UK links to some of the tools and materials I mention:

*** NEEDLES – Best for quality are from Heidifeathers

Well worth getting a set of 30 Mixed Felting Needles – 10 Colour Coded Different types – Triangular, Star, Reverse and Twisted Needles here

Or you can get them by needle type:

– 38G Star Needle -10 needles here

– 38 & 40G Twisted Needles – 5 of Each Needle here

– 10 Reverse / Inverted Felting Needles here

*** NEEDLE HOLDERS

Keep your favourite felting needles in holders

– Heidifeathers 5 x Long Wooden Needle Felting Handle – decorate them? here

– Peacock patterned needle holder (they have a variety of gorgeous colours) here

– Clover Multi Needle Tool which holds 1 to 3 needles: here

– Heidifeathers Wooden Multi Needle Tool (holds 4 needles): here

*** EARTH MAT here

*** WOODEN LETTER OPENER here

*** KNITTING NEEDLES

This bamboo set is a budget way to have a range of sizes to choose from (18 Sizes from 2.0mm to 10.0mm) here

*** WIRE & PIPE CLEANERS

Hamilworth – Paper Covered Wires – White 22 Gauge – 25 Per Pack – here

1mm armature wire x 30m – here

2mm PVC Coated Garden Wire Coil, Green x 30m – here

100 Pipe Cleaners 29cm x 6mm Brown, White, Black, Flesh and Grey – here

Just black – x50 – here

Just white – x100 – here

*** Flat nosed PLIERS:

Draper Flat Nose Mini Pliers with Soft Grip, 115mm – here

*** STRAIGHTENERS

I would go for this more budget version of the ones I have if buying some just for needle felting, very similar to mine in what they can do but less pricey – Remington Ceramic Straight 230 Hair Straighteners, 15 Seconds Heat Up Time with Variable Temperature Setting – here

*** SCISSORS

Professional Thinning Shears Hair Cutting Teeth Scissors – here

Professional Hairdressing Scissors – here

Nail Scissors – here

*** AIR DRY CLAY

Set of 6 Skin Colours Silk Clay Pots – here

*** BEESWAX BALM here

(For the Amazon affiliate links I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. This supports my art and enables me to continue to provide valuable content and for that I am so very grateful to you – Thank you!!)