Needle-Felted Smoked Salmon High Tea Sandwich

Needle felting is the gentle art of stabbing wool until it gets so matted it creates shapes.

How matted is stabbings + times stabbed

What shape is stabbings + hand dexterity + time + tutorials like this one

Today you will learn how to create a somewhat life-like open-faced sandwich. This one will be part of my High Tea collection along with other treats. !Que rico!

1. needle for needle felting (has barbs down the sides to matt the wool with every stab) and spares just in case it breaks
2. wool roving (wool that has been cleaned and dyed but not yet spun into yarn)
   1. brown or natural to make the bread
   2. natural for the cream cheese and part of the salmon
   3. orange for the salmon
   4. dark green for the dill garnish
3. felting mat or kitchen sponge to protect your table or leg from #1
4. optional - leather or rubber finger protectors (worth the investment, especially if you get easily distracted or a bit clumsy)
5. bandaids if you don't have #4

Fold a handful-sized amount of the wool roving, tucking the end fly-aways under into a flat tube shape. The shape should be bigger than you want your bread to end up, as felting will reduce the size of the wool by about a 1/4. The more you stab, the more compact the wool will become and the harder it will feel to the touch.

Stab randomly to start matting the wool. Try not to bend the needle or it will snap. Turn the wool over and stab from all sides. Add pieces of wool as needed. It will eventually get more compact and start to take shape.

Tear off a flat strip of the natural wool roving and lay it in a circle so the ends are in the middle and can be hidden. Stab randomly to felt it to the bread. If all the ends are underneath, you won't need to do much before it looks like smeared cream cheese.

Take a small pile of the orange wool roving, scrunch it up into a random pile, and lay it on your felting mat or sponge. You want it to be larger than the bread so you can crease and bend it around in the next step.

Stab randomly, turning it over often, until it is a flat filet-like shape.

Tear off small wisps of natural roving and lay it across one side as pictured. Felt the natural to the orange roving. Tuck the edges of the natural wool underneath.

In this step, you want to concertina and fold the salmon as you felt. Start by stabbing one area to felt it together. Then fold a bit, and pinch and stab another area. Continue until it is bent and folded as pictured.

Roll small wisps of the dark green roving in the palm of your hands to start compacting the wool. Make about 4 rolled pieces about 2 in (5cm) long. Gather and fold in half at the middle. Poke into a crevice and felt to the salmon.

Marvel at how amazing you are. Well done!