Carrot Magnet
Before you start, you need to know:
Felting needles are sharper than the sharpest sharp thing you can think of. While felting, always watch your hands and fingers to avoid boo-boos. Make sure your pokes are gentle, too.
Ready? Ok!
Materials and Tools:
Foam, 1 felting needle, wool fiber (colors: Tang, Apple, Black, and White) and 1 magnet. You’ll also need some strong fabric to metal glue.
1. Pull the fiber
Start with a tuft of your base color about 4” long. (The fiber pulls apart more easily if you place your hands about 4-5 inches apart and pull gently.)
2. Loosen the fiber
Loosen the tuft a bit, pulling the sides to flatten the fiber and make it wispy.
3. Fold and the roll fiber
Fold the fiber and roll loosely into a not-at-all-perfect log, approx. 2″ long.
4. Start your poking
Place the log on the foam and gently poke the needle into the fiber.
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Bonus Tip for The People: Gentle pokes work best. The business end of the needle is only an inch at the tip. Poke any further than that and it’s a waste of your efforts.
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5. Poke it all over
Use gentle pokes to form a carrot shape, rolling it along and moving it around the foam. (Moving it helps keep the log from permanently sticking to the foam.)
7. Carrot top (heheh)
Continue gently poking the carrot from all sides. If it’s about the right size but not as thick or as strong as you’d like, pull a little more roving, loosely wrap it around the carrot and keep poking. Repeat as needed..
8. Add fiber
Gently poke the top of the carrot to form the head. Add a small tuft of fiber to the area if needed to round out the shape.
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Ooh, Look! A Tip!: Even when you are poking at an angle, make sure your needle goes in and out in the same direction. Otherwise, it could snap.
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9. Work that carrot!
Gently poke the carrot all over to refine its shape. (Repeat step 8 as needed to make the whole carrot thicker.)
10. Carrot eyes
Use a small wisp of white fiber and gently poke it into place to start the eye.
11. Shape the eye
Gently poke the edges of the eye towards the center. This will make it even more secure while creating a puffy shape.
12. Eye see you!
Take a teeny-weeny bit of black fiber and poke it into the center of the eyeball. Repeat steps 10 & 11 to make the second eye.
13. Carrots say what?
For the mouth, roll a very thin wisp into a log approx. the thickness of a toothpick.
14. Make a mouth
For the mouth, roll a very thin wisp into a log approx. the thickness of a toothpick.Gently poke the thin log into place. When your carrot has a face, make sure you tell it “hi” for me, ok?
15. Leafy greens
Take a very small wisp of green fiber, and use tiny pokes to anchor the leaf stem to the carrot head
16. Work that green
Poke the green fiber gently from all sides, making it more secure and shaping it to your desired look.
17. Stick it!
Add some glue to magnet. Follow the instructions on your glue because, like snowflakes, all glues are different.
You did it! You totally felted, so… that means you’re a felter now! Sweet.
Downloadable Carrot Magnet PDF | Show me your projects!