Homemade Needle Felting Tools

I've been playing around with needle felting a little bit. It's been fun making little eggs. Holding the needles is a bit wearing on my hands, though. They are so thin!

I decided to make a few handles with things I had around the house. It took me a while to come up with something that I liked.

I had 4 separate needles and wanted to make a handle with a single needle, and a handle with 3 needles. One needle is great for doing little details, three needles are great for larger areas.

Because I can be a little clutzy from time to time, I taped the protective covers on the needles while I was working.

The first handle is two craft sticks with some J-B Stik, which is an epoxy putty. I've used it for all sorts of things. I mushed up a piece, rolled it into a little 'snake' and put it on one craft stick. Then I placed the needle in the middle. I left the little hook-handle on the needle because I thought the putty would hold it tighter and longer. You can see the little hook end in the first photo.

Same handle as above, but I took the protective cover off the needle. After the putty hardened, I wrapped the outside of the handle with some athletic tape. Duct tape would have worked, too. It makes the handle smoother and more comfortable to hold.

This is my finished second handle. It holds three needles. I used an old foam paint brush handle and drilled three holes in the top. It was really tricky to get the holes to go in straight!

I cut off the hook ends of the needle so they would slide into the holes. Yes, I left the protective covers on the needles while I was working! Next I put some wood glue in the holes and pushed the needles gently into the holes. I made sure that the needles were even at the tips.

Bad photo, sorry. Point and shoots are sometimes hard to focus. After I got the needles into the holes and even, I mixed up a little more putty and put it around the tip of the handle and between the needles for a little more stability and security.

My first project with my new homemade tools!

KnitPicks has a video on how to make this little lamb. It is soooo cute and easy to make. It was my first project after making the new handles.

Here's the link so you can make your own needle felted lamb:
Make Your Own Needle Felted Sheep

Vet2Be decided that needle felting looked fun. After all, it involves wool AND sharp, pointy tools! Just like a boy..... gotta be creative..... but it's gotta be a little dangerous!