How To Make Needle Felted Bowls-Part 1

In this article I am going to give you the basic instructions for making a needle felted bowl.  Please feel free to email me or leave a comment if you have questions or need more information on any of the steps.

Materials
Wool- I recommend you have at least 8 ounces of various colors.
( I generally stay away from Merino as I don't want that really tight flat finish that Merino gives. I use Corridale or something similar. I am a handspinner so I often have stuff lying around. If you are not and are buying some wool, I would look for Corriedale wool for this project.

If you make more of these later on, you can experiment to see what fibers you like best. 

Additional optional embellishments that really make the bowls lovely if you have access or really get into it like I have and want to get more supplies.
pieces of wool or mohair yarn
mohair blend or fiber
Other feltable blends with wool, silk, and other animal fibers.
These will go on the final layers and you will not use them at the beginning.


Felting needles of a large or medium size or a felting tool like the Clover Felting Needle Tool


A foam mat

Something soft that you can put on the inside of your bowl as you shape to hold the bowl shape. I use a zip lock bag full of old yarn, or a smaller piece of foam cut and rolled into a round sort of shape.

Basic Steps
The Base
I start with basic felting wool for the first steps. The clover wool works well like the Clover Wool Roving Assortment B Lime Green, Teal, Orange and Violet)


I start shaping a round flat base of the size I want the bowl bottom to be. Keep felting and adding to it until it is starting to feel firm and solid.  In later steps, you can add decorative colors, but don't do this now if you plan to.  Just get a basic firm shape.

Adding the Sides
There are two ways to do it that I have found.  You are going to be shaping the bowl as if it were a piece of pottery.  You can use a coil that you keep wrapping around or you can make a flat side of the height you want for the finished bowl and attach it. The choice of method will affect the shape of the bowl.
The flat material side will give you a straight sided bowl. The coil method will give you a bowl that can turn in at the top.

This bowl was made using the flat method.
You can see that it has rather
sides.

 This second bowl is made using the
coil method. It has a much more
rounded shape at the top. I like
the artistry of the coiled ones. This one I left pretty thick. It really looks nice with dried twigs or bittersweet in it.

 

Once you have decided on your method, we can begin attaching the sides.  We will be working on getting the shape first, then adding fiber to it later on.  As you work, you will want your felt to be firm enough to hold together, but you don't need to have a finished look yet.  If you are coiling there will be spaces between the coils that you will have to go and fill in on a later phase. I will tell you more about this later on. If you are using the flat piece method you won't have so much filling in to do, just adding your final layers at the end.


How To Make Needle Felted Bowls Part -2 can be accessed here

Introducing My Needle Felted Bowls

I have gotten into making felted bowls.
Ta Da- Here they are photographed on my Coast of Maine Lichen covered granite rocks.
I got started making them one day on a whim. The first one I did was about 18 inches around and really colorful.  I wish I had saved a picture of it. I ended up selling it when a friend  asked it if she could buy it. 
The ones here in the photo are about 8 inches for the large one, 5 inches for the middle one, and 4 inches for the smaller one.  The middle one was made by my friend Eileen, when we got together to learn how to make them one day last winter.

I have to say it is very addicting.  People who see them often ask me to teach them how to do it.  I have shown lots of  non fiber types how to make them too. They are addicting to make for artist types, to say the least.

I am proud to say, I invented the ones I make myself.
I have seen lots of knitted or crocheted and felted bowls, but none like mine. I imagine there are people making them like I am, but I have just never come across any.

I like needle felting, but am not into gnomes and all the animals and things I see made with felt. I like things that are practical and usable like- uh, bowls.

They can be used for all kind of things. I use mine for rings, change, and all kinds of little things on the windowsill, and in the bedrooms. I also love to put dried flowers in them, or even real flowers. With the real flowers I insert a glass jar or bowl inside the felted one that you can't see and put the water in there.

The bowls are lovely, and if you make one, you will have them all over the house.
I use lots of leftover fiber bits and blends including silk, wool, even angora. Some things go in better than others. Wool is the best and wool blends. the angora tends to sit on as a surface decoration more. I like the effect and it gives the bowls a lot of luster and character.

I don't use a pattern for my bowls or a form. I just shape them as I go adding more colorful layers inside and out as I near the end of the process. I like to make my bowls fat. Unless you are willing to work at them a really long time, they do tend to be thicker than crocheted felt bowls that are washed in the washing machine.

They are also not as tightly felted. I love the fact that you can shape them like pottery as you work.
I am putting them here today as I wanted to show them to you. 

Later this week, I will take some pictures of the steps I use to make them and post them on the site so you can try to do one yourself.

I hope you have some fiber fun this week,
Debbie