Roanoker Jody Lunsford brought her Wonderful World of Needle Felted Animals to the Roanoke Main Library last week. She won the Martha Stewart “Simply ReMarthable” contest last year which jumpstarted her passion of making these crafts to sell. Lunsford says of Stewart, “She’s a brilliant woman and I adore her.”
While Lunsford has been crafting her entire life, she got the idea for needle felting from the 2009 Christmas issue of the “Martha Stewart” magazine, which featured a picture of a needle felted polar bear. After working to perfect it, she sent one to enter the contest.
Lunsford says needle felting is “the meshing of fibers.” She uses the “raw natural wool that has been sheared from the fiber animal, and processed through a fiber mill. This process cleans and straightens the wool into different forms. Most of the wools are blended wools meaning the fibers come from different species of fiber animals. I use wool batting which is thick and also wool roving processed into a cylinder form. The wool can be dyed or left the natural color of the fiber animal. . .Wool has many scales on each strand. When punched by the barbed needles they mesh together almost like glue.”
She uses sharp needles made of carbon steel to punch together the little barbs from the alpaca fiber. “The harder you punch, the more you can shape it.” Lunsford uses pictures, rather than patterns, to make her creations and the only sewing she does is for the eyes. “I use glass eyes with loops and they are sewn into the wool to hold them in tightly.”
She feels one of the reasons she won the contest was because of the support from fellowRoanokeresidents. Lunsford says traveling toNew Yorkand being on the show was “the most exciting time of my life.”
Her prize for winning-a $60,000 BMW.
It’s been a whirlwind year since winning the contest. “I’ve gotten a lot more attention from the people ofRoanoke. I’ve been asked to do a lot of events, and I’ve tried to do everything that everybody asked. I’ve been asked to do pieces for benefits and that sort of thing. It’s been quite busy.”
She’s also been busy incorporating her signature into a logo and putting a website together, www.jodyswoolery.com. She’s exhibited her creatures at the Pet Expo and will be at Olde Salem Days next month.
Her creations are even gaining international attention. “I have had a girl fromCypruscontact me.” She also has a Facebook friend fromBrazil, “and another lady inHawaii, so yeah, I’ve had a lot of contacts from all over.”
Her plan now “is to do some craft shows and try to sell some pieces on the side and do some commission pieces and . . .attend some fiber shows.”
As for Martha Stewart’s contest-would she do it again?
She laughs. “Oh, yes, in a heartbeat.”