Banner Sponsors
For artists and collectors sponsored by Intercal...your mohair supplier and Johnna's Mohair Store
Now that I am doing more needle felting (thanks to doing a class with Judi) I see that needles come in both the above mentioned shapes.
Besides the obvious what is the difference and why and when would you use one or the other, does it make any difference. i.e. you get a 36 S & &, and you get a 38 S & T.
Has anyone also found an easy way to identify the needles- in a way that stays put.
Thanks
Lynette
Dolls N DreamsHi Lynette, I just started needle felting also.
I asked this same question yesterday didnt get much of a response so did
some research on my own.
The S (star tip) has barbs closer to the tip of the needle---This needle is best for
your finished detailed work.
The T (Triangle tip) has barbs farther up the shaft of the needle.
Start with your lower number needles and work up to your 38 & 40.
My needles came with little tags on them, I am going to paint colors on them and
color code them that way.
Then I will know what is what!
Well that is about all I know about needle felting. LOL
LuxembearsTami you got it right. I can also add that the star tip also has a tip with more facets whereas the triangle tip has only three side. Both are very good . I use my 38 T the most. The next one I sue the most is 38 S. The mor eyou felt the more you will geta feel for hwat works best for you to get the results you want. For me. I like a very firm smooth finish so these wotk great.
I spent ALL day yesterday on a new bear head design(grizzly) with felted details. This is a big bear but it only took me about two hours to felt his muzzle. NOW, a few days ago, I worked on another new design( black bear) and his muzzle too me more tha SIX hours....the reason, Iused roving for one bear and batt for the other. Batt feltes up much more firmly, in less time, with no fuzzies!
Have fun!
Matilda Huggington-beareDrop by this site. I printed it out and found it invaluable to me.
http://www.wizpick.com/dynamic_needles.htm
. it will tell you everything you want to know and more.......
Wendy
Thanks for the help, I am finding that by using the needles more and more I am starting to get a feel for them.
I am now takaing some older bears and adding batt around the muzzles and needle felting them, it is giving them a new look.
I just cannot express my thanks to Judi and TT for getting me started on this, I had seen it done at shows while in Europe and had bought numerous kits at each show, but had never got into it till my class.
Lynette
Creative Design Studio (RKR4CDS)Hi, I’ve just found this thread and would like to input.
Nfers should know that there are literally dozens of felting needles for wholesalers and retailers to choose to carry. As the minimum order from the manufacturers is a full box of 1000 needles of each & every size they’d like to carry, this significantly reduces the styles that most will stock.
The gauge, styles and placements of the barbs is very varied, according to what the desired felting affect is expected.
For instance, this blurb from the Wizpick site:
Needle description: 36 gauge / 3x3x3 barbs / 3 inch / fast;
Use Green for early stages of felting coarse (cross-bred) wools. Green can also be used with medium wools such as Corriedale and Halfbred where the presence of pronounced puncture marks is not an issue. Green has close barb spacing for fast action.
While it’s admirable to give descriptions, Nfers must realize that this is the description of just this one needle from one manufacturer and doesn’t represent all.
1st – ‘most’ #36 needles are 3.5” long, but both lengths are available
2nd – 3x3x3 says that this is a Tri, with 3 barbs on each of the 3 sides. No explanation of what the numbers represent is given. This cloaks it in mystery and is a disservice to those wishing to become knowledgeable.
3rd – the close spacing of the barbs does not necessarily mean faster felting than other needles around this #36 size.
4th – Corriedale & cross breeds can be medium to a very fine (micron size) fiber depending on the breeder & the individual sheep; holes in the surface show up more on medium to coarse fibers.
And I could go on picking their descriptions apart. While their site appears to go into much detail on each needle and its uses/purposes, there are no hard & fast rules in Needle Felting!
It’s more important to think about what you’re trying to accomplish at each stage of your felting.
In the beginning you want to work very deeply, to completely bond fibers within the mass to each other (avoiding The Tennis Ball Syndrome) as well as deeply into the base if you’re applying the felting as a surface embellishment, as in a bear’s face or the back of a jacket. The needles that best serve this purpose have larger barbs (as in all of #36 styles as compared to the barb size of 38 and smaller needles), but begin close to the tip and continue up for most of the shaft’s working length.
After the base/core has been very firmly needled, and as you add more fiber to build your sculpture, you do not need to penetrate the mass as deeply so the barbs can be nearer to the tip and closer to each other.
Often you’ll find yourself backing up and using the larger needles again over work that has progressed down to #40 or 42 because you want to change a proportion or position of something and that’s possible only through redirecting the core.
The Green needle described above seems to be working against itself – a larger/beginning work shaft but barbs placed close to each other. Sometimes it’s in un-knowledge (a word???) that advertising like this exists and sometimes it’s through lack of experience/analysis that leads to requoting what has been previously attributed elsewhere to each needle style.
The needles I use and stock have barbs placed farther apart and throughout the working area in the larger sizes, going right down to extremely close (to the tip & to each other) placements on the 42 and the Crown – 1 barb placed adjacent to each other on each of its 3 side, resembling a Crown – for extremely shallow penetration or needing all of the fiber to be attached with one thrust, like bonding longer locks into the head for ‘hair’ and adding additional colors onto thin pieces like bunny inner ears, with no bearding of the color through the first.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg for needles!
Creative Design Studio (RKR4CDS)Lynette,
To answer your original questions:
what is the difference and why and when would you use one or the other, does it make any difference. i.e. you get a 36 S & &, and you get a 38 S & T.
Has anyone also found an easy way to identify the needles- in a way that stays put.
The width of the Tri and the Star are the same within each size. With the 4 sides on a Star and the 3 on the Tri, the individual surfaces of the 4 sided needle would necessarily be slightly narrower than those comprising just 3 sides. There is also a concave groove formed between each barbed outer 'corner' on the Star, while the Tri has a flat surface. (If you're ever in doubt about which shape you're holding, roll it between your finger; light will reflect off a Tri like you're holding a knife blade and there'll be no light reflected off a Star.)
As we always work from larger to smaller, a Tri would be used first and when penetration becomes more resistant, you move down to a Star. Whether or not you choose to use all of the styles in every size is a personal choice - it's not necessary to use more than about 3 - 4 different needles in each project. As I use many many different breeds of fiber, I find myself using 6 or so of the 9 styles I stock. They each have their own place in my work.
If you color code your needles by painting the crank end, be sure to with them with alcohol first to remove the manufacturers' rust-preventing machine oil. This keep the paint or nail polish from rubbing off. Many ppl create a ball top with an oven baked polymer clay or use Crayola's air-drying Model Magic to mark the tops and make it more comfortable to hold. You can assign a different color & shape to each size & style or they can be written right onto the tops.
Keep on Needlin'!
Creative Design Studio (RKR4CDS)
Thx Quy & Shelli for the technical help!
Creative Design Studio (RKR4CDS)Guess I'd better type the description now! As there are 2 ways to upload an image and neither was showing a fait accompli - I hit Submit to see if it appeared - it did! (I'm never sure which system to use!!)
If you mark your needles with any type of polish or paint, remember to use alcohol to remove the rust-preventing machine oil first. Otherwise the bond is not good and the paint will wear off.
I use Crayola's air-drying Model Magic; it says dries in a day but I wait nearly a week.
Those #40 needles are all marked with yellow.
Oval shaped tops mark the Star needles, in every color. The round shape tells me that these are Tri needles, with barbs in all 3 'zones' - my word for the barb placements along the working shaft.
These start at the tip, are in the center as well as all the way up the shaft. Some are in 1 & 2 and some in only 2 & 3.
The last code tells me the supplier or manufacturer: if I like them I want to knowe where I got them and if I don't like them I want to remember whare to avoid!
Phew,
Thank you so much Bobbie for all the information.I really appreciate it. It will be printed out( I need to study it!!!!!) and kept in my needle felting file).
I will stocking the needles in SA and will be an agent (wholesaler for the Wizpick needles here) We have a craft show end of July and I will introduce them then, so I need to learn and "poke" as much as I can to get the feel.
As I said I first saw this craft and imported some wool and kits a few years ago from Switzerland, just never got into it, until I did the class with Judi and found out how popular needlefelting was.Like any craft, it takes years of experience, and like my bear making, I still learn every day, which adds so much more to my bear making.
Today I discovered that here in SA we do not have Lincoln, Leicester or Romney , but we do have Corriedale- yesterday if you asked me what this was- I would have said "uhhhh :crackup: " today I learnt that it is different wool producing sheep , and it is a cross bred wool- 
if I get any smarter I will fall off my chair.
Anyway its learn learn learn, and how nice to have a place like TT to do it in.
Many thanks for the help and advice.
Lynette
Matilda Huggington-beareYes they are all varied. 'wizpick' was to be a guide only.
I have many different styled needles made by different manufactures.
I've found them all to be different AND have found a job for each of them to do.
Experience is the best teacher for needle felting. But if you are a novice wanting more information.............
