:: March 2004 
Feature
The Art of Needle Felting
While attending the Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair (SAFF) in Asheville, NC last October, CyberFibres noticed the lovely fibrework of fibre artist, Christina Parker-Darish. Ms. Parker-Darish lives in Highland, Michigan and sells her fibrework through her business, "Shepherd's Gate" featuring handspun yarns and felted folk art.
At SAFF, venders' booths abound with bins of wonderful fibres, spinning wheels and other fibrework equipment, and items of handcrafted fibre clothing and home furnishings. Amidst all these displays, Ms. Parker-Darish's fibrework was eye-catching in its use of color and soft detail (see photo).
Ms. Parker-Darish's work is an example of needle felting. Her work, "Mother and Child," depicts a ewe with her newborn lamb. The background fabric is a 3/8" thick piece of brown felted wool. The design is created by placing small amounts of wool on top of the background felt and using felting needles to work these wisps of wool fibres into the base fabric.
When interviewed by CyberFibres, Ms. Parker-Darish explained that she first became aware of needle felting through a spinning class that included sessions on related fibre crafts. She has also taken classes in 3-D artwork to enhance the realism of her needle felting projects.
In "Mother and Child," Ms. Parker-Darish used several shades of brown and cream within the ewe's face to create depth and interest. The interior of the lamb's ear is defined by a tiny wisp of pink wool fibre.
CyberFibres asked Ms. Parker-Darish what advice she would give to others interested in needle felting, and she replied that a common tendency in working with felt is to use large areas of a single color. While this may be desirable in some scenes, it can quickly become uninteresting to the eye. "Using small wisps of wool for shading creates more appealing results and a less primitive overall effect," she explained. Ms. Parker-Darish can be contacted by mail at PO Box 621, Highland, Michigan 48357