Working over wire is a whole ‘other side’ of needle felting for me. I work with small jointed creations for the most part, so I don’t really use an armature. But for those who do, what is the right way? What is the Best way? What wire should you use? What are the limits of working with wire and how many needles will you break? Well I’ve done all the hard work for you to create a round up of information around making and using wire armatures for needle felting! These are all varied skill levels, styles, materials so that you get to check out a bunch of ideas and decide what might work best for you!
Whether you are working small or huge, armature can work for many different kinds of creations and it’s another way to make the things you dream of creating come to life!
The Makers give you a simple tutorial which includes extra pages of info should you choose to go read them, and a video as well. A great resource.
Lincolnshire Fenn are a great resource for all things needle felting. They give you some great info about wire in general at this link, but also a neat mini tutorial for making parts of your creation with a wire base!
Sarafina Fibre Art. If you have been in the needle felting community for a hot minute you are sure to have come across Sarafina, she has many videos on youtube but I came across this post on her blog which gives you some quick info about what gauge of wire to use for your projects which is great! And then she has links to her videos etc at the bottom!
Instructables.com has this cute project for making a realistic Ermine which has some basic instructions for the beginner. You will want to have some armature experience before trying this one perhaps, it does just show you the basics but it’s very cute!
Pam Duthie takes you through making a wire armature small enough to make realistic dogs. I’ve found that there are a number of creators who do stick to dogs and cats so if that’s something that interests you then this basic tutorial might open the door for you. Watch the video at the top as well, and use this starter tutorial to create any breed of dog you like!
Bears and Buds has a great little tutorial on making a very realistic armature for a larger project, and uses traditional wire with floral wire tape. A great tutorial with good tips for you!
I hope these tutorials will be super useful for you in your needle felting journey! You can also check Youtube and find plenty of resources there for felting over wire if this has peaked your interest in working with this medium.
Happy felting!
