My felting needles are breaking. What am I doing wrong?
- Be sure you are using the right size needle. If you are punching through a fabric, stick to the larger 36 needles. Use the finer, 40 point needles only for detail finishing, these needles are not intended for use with dense fabrics.
- Be sure to punch directly up and down. If you are making a flat piece, go straight up and down. If working on a 3D piece, make sure your needle is perpendicular to the surface you are punching into. Sideways pressure on the tip will break it. Do not try to move a color into place by by pulling it sideways with the needle tip and punching at the same time. This creates pressure to the blade which is the most common breaking point.
- Make sure you are using a felting pad underneath. The soft foam or brush is designed to protect your needle tip. If you punch through to a hard surface, it will break your tip off.
- Don't use a lot of force with each punch. It's not how hard you poke that creates the felting action, it's the repeated stroke that allows the tiny barbs along the needle edge to pull fiber down and interlock them together.
- Take your time. Needle felting takes some time to do, and it's so easy to want it done NOW! Slow down and work on small areas.