Rustic Fiber Academy

Rustic Fiber Academy Learn how to needle felt with Rustic Fiber Academy. An online community, dedicated to teaching needle felting to anyone who wants to learn.

Courses for all skill levels and so much more. Rustic Fiber Academy is a learning platform for needle felting artists of all levels. With over 100 in-depth tutorials, we teach the fundamentals of wool sculpting—covering techniques like armature building, realistic detailing, and working with natural fibers. Whether you're just starting or refining your skills, our courses are designed to guide you step-by-step and help you grow with confidence as a fiber artist.

Yesterday was the last day of school.Jordan had a whole plan.When I picked him up, he was supposed to get in the car and...
05/29/2026

Yesterday was the last day of school.

Jordan had a whole plan.

When I picked him up, he was supposed to get in the car and yell, "I AM IN 4TH GRADE!"

Instead, he climbed in looking like he might cry.

Not because school was over.

Because it was over.

He wasn't ready to say goodbye to his friends for three months. Even knowing he'll see many of them over the summer, not seeing them every day felt like a loss.

And maybe that's what got me.

Not the tears.

The reminder that he's old enough now to have people he misses.

This photo popped up while I was thinking about it. Years ago, he was sitting beside me needle felting. Back when he was little enough that I thought these days were a long way off.

But somewhere between wool projects, Minecraft worlds, school days, and countless snacks, he grew up a little more.

I still see the kid in this photo.

Yesterday reminded me that everyone else sees a 4th grader.

And while summer vacation is officially here, I have a feeling he'll be counting down the days until he gets to see his people again.

05/27/2026

I’ve had the supplies for these needle felted cards sitting here forever. The idea too.

Apparently all I needed was two random days of ignoring other responsibilities to finally start making them. 🫠

So here we are. Needle felting directly onto paper and turning a morel mushroom into a card because apparently my brain said “yes, this is the priority now.”

And because I apparently don’t know how to do anything halfway, I’m filming the whole process and turning it into a course too.

Now comes the really glamorous part:
hours of editing footage of wool being repeatedly stabbed. Stay tuned.

05/26/2026

Just another completely normal day of creative problem solving.

I’m moving. Again.Every summer when school gets out, I move my workspace from the studio into the house. Technically my ...
05/24/2026

I’m moving. Again.

Every summer when school gets out, I move my workspace from the studio into the house. Technically my studio is close enough that I can literally see it from my living room window right now… but with an almost 9 year old home for the summer, “close” and “easy to work in” are not the same thing.

Usually I end up working at the kitchen counter surrounded by snacks, random Lego pieces, and someone asking me to come look at something every 14 seconds. But this year I decided he’s old enough that I’m finally claiming a real space downstairs for the summer.

I already started moving in this week so I can get settled before summer vacation officially begins on May 28th.

I’m pretty excited about it. Mostly because I may finally get to work somewhere that isn’t six inches away from a peanut butter sandwich.

There are two things in my studio that end up in almost every needle felt project I make.A heat gun and a glue stick.Nei...
05/22/2026

There are two things in my studio that end up in almost every needle felt project I make.

A heat gun and a glue stick.

Neither are tools most people associate with needle felting, but both completely changed parts of my process.

The heat gun has become one of my favorite finishing tools for helping smooth things out and clean up fuzz.

And the glue stick ended up being useful for far more than wrapping wool around wire. I use it constantly for flexible details like claws and feet that need durability without becoming stiff.

These chameleon feet are one of the best examples of that. They still bend naturally while holding their shape.

And yes, this Panther Chameleon is a full course inside the academy. 🦎

05/21/2026

I have three and a half days, after today, before summer break officially starts over here.

I made myself a whole list of things I wanted done before then. Clean the studio. Finish courses. Get things ready for all of you for summer. And I actually have gotten a decent amount done. More than I keep telling myself.

But instead of finishing cleaning the studio like I should be doing right now, I’m over here working on this red tailed hawk and magpie piece because the idea got in my head and apparently that became the priority.

The studio is currently sitting half cleaned while I stab birds.

05/21/2026

I have three and a half days, after today, before summer break officially starts over here.

I made myself a whole list of things I wanted done before then. Clean the studio. Finish courses. Get things ready for all of you for summer. And I actually have gotten a decent amount done. More than I keep telling myself.

But instead of finishing cleaning the studio like I should be doing right now, I’m over here working on this red tailed hawk and magpie piece because the idea got in my head and apparently that became the priority.

The studio is currently sitting half cleaned while I stab birds.

I keep getting shown this AI needle felting page.Not because I follow it. Apparently Facebook just enjoys emotionally te...
05/20/2026

I keep getting shown this AI needle felting page.

Not because I follow it. Apparently Facebook just enjoys emotionally testing me for sport. 😅

But the wild part is not even the fake images anymore. It’s the comments.

People are amazed.
“Your talent is incredible.”
“How long did this take?”
“Do you teach?”

And yes… apparently they do “teach.” With AI generated tutorials.

As someone who actually teaches needle felting, that part gets under my skin a little.

Because students trust us. They spend their money, their time, and honestly a lot of vulnerability learning a craft that can already feel frustrating enough when you’re starting out. There’s a responsibility in teaching. You actually have to know why something works. Or why it failed. Or why your bird suddenly developed one giant leg and an identity crisis halfway through the process. 😅

Meanwhile the AI version skipped the entire part where reality exists.

No snapped needles.
No rebuilding crooked armatures.
No stabbing yourself repeatedly while trying to attach tiny feet.
No rotating the sculpture 47 different ways trying to figure out why it suddenly looks taxidermied from one angle only.

Needle felting is one of the least cooperative crafts on earth. Wool has moods. Gravity exists. Sometimes your sculpture looks beautiful until you turn it slightly and suddenly it resembles a haunted potato.

That wrestling match IS the art.

And I think that’s the part bothering so many real artists right now. Not jealousy over likes or views. It’s watching people connect emotionally to the appearance of handmade work while completely missing the years of problem solving, failure, persistence, and actual human hands behind the real thing.

Anyway. Back to my studio where I’ll continue aggressively stabbing wool into submission while AI creates another “masterpiece” in 4 seconds. 🫠

What did I do yesterday, you ask?Apparently I decided to engineer bird combat. 😅I spent the entire day building these tw...
05/20/2026

What did I do yesterday, you ask?

Apparently I decided to engineer bird combat. 😅

I spent the entire day building these two from scratch. Bodies, structure, attaching them together, figuring out how in the world they were actually going to hang suspended from the ceiling without becoming a tangled wool disaster. And somehow… it worked.

This red tailed hawk and magpie piece has been living in my brain for the last couple months, so I went into yesterday with at least some kind of game plan. But now that I’ve gotten this far, I’ve realized the only way this is going to work is if I actually keep it hanging while I finish all the details. Otherwise I’m pretty sure future Christie is going to regret every life choice she’s ever made. 🫠

But here they are. Mid fight. Mid chaos. Finally existing outside my head.

Spike time.🦔
05/18/2026

Spike time.🦔

A sneak peek at June’s course.Still need a name for this one.When I first explained the idea to my husband he looked at ...
05/13/2026

A sneak peek at June’s course.
Still need a name for this one.

When I first explained the idea to my husband he looked at me and said, “That’s morbid.” Which immediately made me spiral a little because that was not the feeling I wanted from this piece at all.

I wanted it to feel quiet. Natural. Almost innocent.

This piece is part of the impact study I’ve been working through surrounding grizzlies and the reality of what happened to them in so many places. They weren’t just “driven out.” They were hunted, trapped, poisoned, and killed because they were seen as threats to livestock and settlement.

That’s why I chose the lamb.

The second you see a lamb your brain already picks a side emotionally. But the grizzly isn’t evil here either. It’s still just an animal being what it was made to be. That conflict between the way humans see predators versus the reality of nature is really what this piece ended up becoming about.

I genuinely was not sure I could make this concept come across the way I saw it in my head. But somewhere along the process it stopped feeling harsh to me and started feeling peaceful.

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