Needle felting is a fun, easy fibre art. It uses wool to create felt by pushing a special needle up and down through the fibres. The punching motion packs the fibres closer together and creates soft or hard 'sculptures'. The technique is simple - but time-consuming. It can take up to four hours to finish a small doll. But Zita Chan Sze-man just loves it.
After seeing some needle-felted dolls in a shop, Chan fell in love with the craft and began making her own sculptures, including dolls, animals and cartoon characters. But none of her products are for sale. 'They're too dear to me to be sold; I will send them to my friends as gifts as they're so special,' she says.
Chan says there are a lot of pre-packaged needle-felting kits with detailed instructions that can help you get started. 'It's easy to do; you just need a lot of patience. And when you see the final product, you will feel very satisfied,' she says.
Here, Chan shares the steps to a needle-felted miniature doll.
What you need:
Wool roving of assorted colours; foam pad; barbed felting needle; paper and pen for sketching. All available from art stores