Needle Felting: Paint Portraits with Wool
A course by Dani Ives , Artist, Educator, and Author
Create highly detailed animal portraits that capture the story of your subject using needle felting techniques
Create highly detailed animal portraits that capture the story of your subject using needle felting techniques
Needle felting is a calming practice that allows you to portray colorful images using needle, fabric and an embroidery hoop. Dani Ives is a renowned fiber artist specialized in needle felting, who dedicates a great deal of her artwork to her favorite subject: animal portraiture.
In this course, learn needle felting techniques to create detailed animal portraits made of wool. Discover Dani’s creative process step by step to bring beautiful animal embroidery pieces to life.
What will you learn in this online course?
15 lessons & 9 downloads
- 100% positive reviews (166)
- 3,837 students
- 15 lessons (2h 16m)
- 9 additional resources (1 files)
- Online and at your own pace
- Available on the app
- Audio: English
- English · Spanish · Portuguese · German · French · Italian · Polish · Dutch
- Level: Beginner
- Unlimited access forever
What is this course's project?
Created a wool animal portrait using needle felting techniques.
Projects by course students
Who is this online course for?
This course is for animal lovers and fiber art enthusiasts who would like to learn new techniques for needle felting. Both beginner and experienced fiber artists are welcomed!
Requirements and materials
No previous experience is necessary since Dani teaches you the basics of needle felting.
To take this course, you need a felting work surface, embroidery hoop, fabric, felt, felting needles, an ink pen, wool, scissors, card stock paper, and hot glue gun or fabric glue. An iron is optional.
Reviews
Dani Ives is an American fiber artist, educator and author. The heart of her work comes from her love for animals and nature. At university, she pursued a degree in biology, which led her to become an animal and environmental conservation educator. After being introduced to needle felting by a conservation colleague in 2010, she fell in love with the craft and started sharing her artwork online. She soon grew a huge online following, with over 116K followers on Instagram, and by 2015, she dedicated herself full-time to needle felting.
In 2019, she published her first book, Painting with Wool: Sixteen Artful Projects to Needle Felt. Her artwork has been featured in exhibitions throughout the United States, and at a solo exhibition in the Historic Arkansas Museum. In addition to her online shop and commissioned work, she also teaches workshops on needle felting.
Content
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U1
Introduction
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About Me
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Influences
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U2
Preparation and Practice
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Supplies and Practice
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Basic Techniques: Sharp, Clean Edges
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Basic Techniques: Straight Lines
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Basic Techniques: Color Blending
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U3
Creating the Fox Portrait
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Sketching and Transferring Your Image to the Fabric
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Needle Felt the Eyes
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Needle Felt the Nose and Mouth
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Needle Felt the Ears and Forehead 1
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Needle Felt the Ears and Forehead 2
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Needle Felt the Final Sections
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U4
Finishing and Photographing Your Portrait
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Finishing Touches
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Lifting and Framing
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Photographing Your Fiber Art
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FP
Final project
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Needle felting portraits
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What to expect from a Domestika course
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Learn at your own pace
Enjoy learning from home without a set schedule and with an easy-to-follow method. You set your own pace.
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Learn from the best professionals
Learn valuable methods and techniques explained by top experts in the creative sector.
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Meet expert teachers
Each expert teaches what they do best, with clear guidelines, true passion, and professional insight in every lesson.
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Certificates
PlusIf you're a Plus member, get a custom certificate signed by your teacher for every course. Share it on your portfolio, social media, or wherever you like.
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Get front-row seats
Videos of the highest quality, so you don't miss a single detail. With unlimited access, you can watch them as many times as you need to perfect your technique.
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Share knowledge and ideas
Ask questions, request feedback, or offer solutions. Share your learning experience with other students in the community who are as passionate about creativity as you are.
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Connect with a global creative community
The community is home to millions of people from around the world who are curious and passionate about exploring and expressing their creativity.
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Watch professionally produced courses
Domestika curates its teacher roster and produces every course in-house to ensure a high-quality online learning experience.
FAQs
Domestika's courses are online classes that provide you with the tools and skills you need to complete a specific project. Every step of the project combines video lessons with complementary instructional material, so you can learn by doing. Domestika's courses also allow you to share your own projects with the teacher and with other students, creating a dynamic course community.
All courses are 100% online, so once they're published, courses start and finish whenever you want. You set the pace of the class. You can go back to review what interests you most and skip what you already know, ask questions, answer questions, share your projects, and more.
The courses are divided into different units. Each one includes lessons, informational text, tasks, and practice exercises to help you carry out your project step by step, with additional complementary resources and downloads. You'll also have access to an exclusive forum where you can interact with the teacher and with other students, as well as share your work and your course project, creating a community around the course.
You can redeem the course you received by accessing the redeeming page and entering your gift code.
mccurdy6337
PlusExcellent teacher, easy to understand. From basic to more advanced skill building
zephlin
PlusGreat instructions and easy to follow
a_human_seeing
Great pace and clear instructions. Very enjoyable and the instructor, with step-by-step guidance, makes a complicated picture seem achievable even as a beginner. Inspiring!
Do you think it's easier to learn when the instructor speaks in your native language? I know I do. (Maybe more brain cells can concentrate on the visual instead of the words. Weird, huh?)
isadorameira93
Ótima didática da professora. Curso bem explicado. Eu amei.
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melody_mccord
I love this course! It is very detailed and easy to follow.