Experiments in texture and posture in needle felting

This week I have been working on texture and seeing what different effects I could create with needle felting . The small guy is a ??? maybe a hamster or ground hog . Anyway, I sculpted him a few weeks ago but wasn't happy with the results . I think the problem is related to my battle with wanting to make fantasy creatures vs realistic ones and ending up with neither . Originally he was a Ninja but I didn't like his face black because his features got lost, so I laid on a layer of fur colored fiber on his body and face and left the black as leg and arm warmers...(planning on adding a ballerina tutu of silk eventually) . Still, his face isn't "cute" enough and I'm not sure why . My Bf says it is because you can't see his eyes well but I was trying to make the face more realistic and most animal eyes are not facing forward but on the side and small . Oh well .

Since I wasn't thrilled with this sculpture, I decided he would be a good subject for mad scientist experimentation . I recently bought some "fur like" yarn and decided to try and needle felt it down to make him "fuzzier" . I like the result on the tummy but over felted the face and lost the fur halo . Anyway, at lest I know it works and will probably play around with more of these fuzzy guys .



The monkey faced Dodo bird is mostly a fantasy creature . I didn't have a picture of a Dodo bird with me and was relying on my memory....(uhm, where did I put my keys again ?) Memory is not my strong suit .

I do love the color...I got the fiber from Smokey Mountain Fibers on Etsy and love her fiber...lovely colors and very soft and fluffy roving . I also bought some gorgeous dyed mohair from her that I hope to use on my sculptures soon .

I decide to try and get a more feathery look on the chest and left the roving a bit lose and then needled in some diamond shapes, subtle but I like the effect . I also put a lose collar of fiber around his neck, braided it and then felted down the ends but my BF says this doesn't look to good so will probably touch up that bit later . May use the effect on something else someday but I do think it's a bit distracting .

The wings were created from several layers of loser felted thin oval shapes folded in half, not sure how "wingy" they look but they sure feel nice .

Posture is something that I have also been paying attention to . Many of my sculptures are symmetrical, like traditional stuffed animals but I am trying to get a bit more movement to the animals and both of these are designed to be sitting slightly off center...(not like robots) .

Three more nights of work and still hoping next week will have some sunshine for photos and listing items on Etsy soon .