If you want facts about felting needles, you can find lots of information here.
Thickness
The thickness of a felting needle is measured in gauge. The higher the G (gauge), the finer the needle and the smaller the barbs and the thinner the tip of the needle. For example, a 36 gauge needle is thicker and coarser than a 40 gauge needle, which is finer and thinner. Finer/thinner needle means smaller holes after the needle. High G is used for details and lower for coarser work, which is why the coarse needles are often used at the beginning of a project and the finer ones towards the end.
Shape of the needle
There are three main shapes for felting needles: triangular (most common), star-shaped, and twisted triangle. This refers to how the working area (tip) of the needle is shaped.
Moths
It is the barbs that make the felting needle special, the barbs pull the wool fibers with them and make the more you poke, the harder it is felted. A felting needle with more barbs makes the felting job faster, but is more imprecise compared to a needle with fewer barbs, these filter slower, but more precise to work with and thus fine to details. When working with details, and to get a smooth surface, we "catch" the wool fibers with the barbs and get the wool where we want.
The most common is 2 barbs per edge when hand felting. This means that on a triangle needle (which has 3 edges) there are a total of 6 barbs. On Ullnåla's needle packages it always says, for example, 333 which shows that there are 3 barbs on 3 edges, and 2222 for example shows that there are 2 barbs on 4 edges. When we felt, there are several times when we only use the first barbs, especially towards the end of the work.
All needles pull the wool together, except for the reverse needle which pulls the fibers out, so on the reverse needle the hooks go in the opposite direction.
Punch
The puncher is great for flat felting, such as clothes, ears, motifs on seat cushions and other 2D items. We recommend the puncher only for flat items. The puncher we sell has 7 needles and is therefore very efficient. It has a locking mechanism (can be set in the locked position when not in use) and if a needle breaks, it can be replaced, we also sell needles for these.
The angle of the needle when you filter
No matter what angle you filter at, the rule applies: "same angle out as in" to avoid the needles breaking. We recommend that you try different angles of the needle towards the work.
In general we can say:
90 degrees: Felt deeply to gain firmness in the work
45 degrees: Felts the fibers together crosswise and smooths easily
Less than 45 degrees: Smoothes, reduces the fibers. Catch the fibers with the needle to get it even. More as you push the needle into the fibers, while at 90 degrees you stick more.
Safety and handling
The needles are sharp and fragile, so be careful. Keep out of reach of small children. Felting needles can break easily. To reduce the risk of breakage, use the needle in a straight in and out motion. Avoid bending, twisting, or applying excessive pressure to the needle. (Do not use force, instead change to a finer needle.) If the needle does not go into the surface easily, do not force it, change to a finer needle, i.e. higher gauge, or fewer needles if you are using a needle holder with multiple needles. If a needle breaks inside a figure and cannot be removed, we strongly recommend discarding the work. It will break the most needles in the training phase, and preferably the thinnest needles. Always have needles in reserve.
Difference between high and low quality needles
A poor quality needle often does not have a stated shape and gauge (thickness), it often only says small, medium and large. It is blunt and some are a little crooked in the shaft, this makes them break more easily. The barbs can be large and shallow, if a barb is shallow it should be small and not large.
Buy quality needles, don't waste time, money and energy on poor tools!
You can manage to felt with just a few needles, but good and correct needles make felting prettier, more efficient and thus more fun .
Woollen needle needles, color codes
Our color-coded felting needles are highly efficient and precise tools used to entangle wool and other fibers to create images or 3D shapes such as figures.
The felting needles can be used with or without handles.
The examples below are just suggestions based on our experience, you will eventually develop your own techniques and find your favorite needles that suit different tasks. Even if you have a favorite needle, you may suddenly discover a new one that becomes your new favorite. That's why it pays to change needles often and try out different types.
Many of the needles can be used for the same purpose as other needles, so the same example of use is mentioned several times.
Good tools make felting easier, more fun and more efficient. With the right needles, you get prettier results and work faster. Over time, you will develop your own techniques and have favorite needles for different tasks.
Wool needle color codes:
❤️ RED 42 G, 222. For small, fine details and clean color transitions, e.g. on the face.
💙 BLUE 40 G, 222. Good for details and a nice all-round needle.
💚 GREEN 40 G Spiral, 222. Makes smaller holes than triangle needles and great for attaching details to the face (e.g. eyelids, mouth)
🤎 GOLD 40 G Star, 2222. This has four edges with barbs and filters therefore faster, but can be heavier to work with.
🧡 ORANGE 38 G, 222. Versatile for starting, shaping and creating relief and holes/pits.
💛 YELLOW 40 G Reverse, 222. Reverse needle that pulls the wool fibers out. If you want a fluffy surface, this is fine, but to get a nice result you have to felt very hard (with a single needle at the end) before using the reverse needle. If you use a reverse needle on a surface that is poorly felted, you will ruin the shape of the figure and it will not be pretty.
Single needle
• Use: Perfect for small details, finishing and to avoid visible holes. Used to get clean edges between different colors. Spiral needles make smaller holes than triangle needles and are ideal for attaching parts together and filtering well in the core. To get a smooth, well-felted surface, finish with a single needle, stitching close together. You can buy Ullnålas needles here.
Double needle
• Use: Ideal for details and smoothing surfaces. Double needles with close spacing between the needles give a smoother finish faster, while wider spacing is suitable for shaping, tightening and joining larger parts (e.g. attaching head/arms/legs to the body). You have more control on a double needle than a triple needle due to the narrower working area. The wool needle's felting needle holder can be used to insert two needles, then you get a double needle with spacing. See our separate blog post about our felting needle holder.
Triple needle
• Use: Used at the beginning of the work, e.g. smoothing larger surfaces and shaping larger 3D structures. Triple needles with close spacing between the needles are great for smoothing surfaces on sculptures or flat felting, but require fine-tuning with double and single needles afterwards. Triple needles with wider spacing between the needles are great for flat felting, tightening and shaping large 3D parts such as heads, arms, legs and bodies. The Ullnaåla felting needle holder can be inserted with three needles, then you have a triple needle with spacing. See separate blog post about our felting needle holder.
By varying between single, double and triple needles, as well as different distances between the needles, you can streamline your work and get better end results.
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