Above is most of what I have done for this month . A few needle felted pin cushions. a freaky Valentines present for my BF= the hybrid baby doll ......(it's OK, my bf likes weird things ), needle felt animal , a large playscape/table topper, and several nuno felt cape/skirts using some new "cool synthetic" material . I don't usually use those two words in the same sentence but I like how this felts and will blog about it in the next few days .
This is the present . To start, this began as a traditional needle felt animal but I didn't like the body so I decided to Frankenstein him....awwww, that's creepy . After cutting the felted head of the wool body, I yanked the baby dolls head off and wedged the felted head firmly into the neck hole....perfect fit . Not satisfied with this small amount of gore. I cut open the belly and replaced the invisible baby innards with a needle felt mushroom, tiny cave with bunny and larger bunny in Kung Fu pose . I have several ninja's that I bought for my felted playscapes so borrowed one for the tummy diorama . I then spent another 5 hours, using my permanent markers to make a full body suit tattoo . All in all, about 15 hours went into this present . I "think" he likes it but ....he might just be afraid to tell me that he doesn't....he did watch me decapitate a felted animal and a baby doll with a very sharp knife : 0
Back to more traditional felting ..... I began this as a needle felt cuff but it was turning out to thick and bulky so I decided to stick a felted ball into the middle and felt it all into one piece to use as a pin cushion. It's large enough for my 4 needle felting tool and several individual needles for easy access . I added a lot of needle felt detail on this and decided to keep it for myself. After spending a total of 8 hours on it....I didn't think anyone would want to buy an $80 pin cushion .)
The above one is much simpler and small enough to make into a wrist pin-cushion .I used bits of yarn, mohair for the grassy knoll <------not hiding the guy who shot Kennedy, and plain wool for the lady bug . I added some metal flowers, much girlier then my usual tastes but I do try and consider what other people may like once and a while .
I think this would also make a nice decoration for one of my playscapes or work as a pin cushion .
(This is just another side of the neelde felt cushion)
Above is a very dimensional needle felt cuff , a bit out of focus but it's both firm and texturally soft .
The above and below are needle felt silk and merino over a needle felt wool core . I was playing around with using silk fiber, caps and fabric to add some shine and texture . I also really like the mohair curls but some people might find them a bit tickly ?
One thing to keep in mind when needle felting silk fibers or fabric into wool is that silk is amazingly strong stuff and can easily break your needle if you hit it at the wrong angle . It works best to lay the fiber on small bits at a time . You can't just throw it on the wool rope and start poking but felt in one tiny area until it feels secure then move to the next inch , sort of feeding the silk fibers under the needle like you would feed fabric under a sewing machine foot .
Sometimes after hard felting something, I like to poke some of the fibers out the other side. creates a really velvet feeling surface .
Well, this doesn't really go with the others but I will blog about my new playscape and bear tomorrow . One last necklace using the silk caps and fibers over a wool rope . Click on the picture if your interested in seeing more of the silk texture detail .
You have been very busy! The pin cushion is great!
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