Needle Felted Artwork by Debra Poth (Deebs)

Debra Poth creates needle felted artwork, and has been making them for two years. She lives in Redmond, Washington, and describes herself on her Flickr page (with updated info here) as, "Only child syndrome, little bit older lady that loves fiber, paper, scissors, threads, canvas and almost any craft object around. I have been 'taken' for 32 years, have two sons out of college, one daughter in college, and the last son who is a freshman in college this year. We have 3 dogs, all black labs and a Bengal cat. Oh, and my son has a snake which I get to feed ‘gourmet frozen rodents’ to while he is away! I love wool and love needlefelting artwork, cross stitch, needlepoint!"

She got hooked after searching for ideas for her needlepoint bracelets. After buying a small needlefelting kit from a craft shop, she fell in love with the technique and began teaching herself and creating larger pieces, up to 11" x 14" in size. Her inspiration comes from her daughter, who "takes some wonderful photos." "I get ideas from those, or from other family photos. Many times just getting some new wool batts in the mail is enough to come up with something. When I first started this, that was my biggest worry….coming up with new ideas. Oh, and I have plenty of feltings that did not live up to my expectations too! "

Her process involves using a 2” dense cushion foam for her base. "I lay a heavy wool felt blend on top and lay out my wool or silk. I poke it in with a two needle felting tool to tack it in place. I make any changes in wool at that time. Then I go over the entire piece with a 3 needle tool. After that I do the entire piece with the 2 needle tool until all the wool is poked down into the felt. Then I pull the felted piece away from the foam and trim the back. I then add embellishments such as art yarns and embroidery on top." Debra finds her craft very relaxing, but admits to getting a sore arm from all the poking. Visit Debra's Etsy site to see more of her works HERE. And, her Flickr page HERE.

Images used with permission from Debra Poth.