fuzzy feathery fur in needle felting

This guy reminds me of something you might see in Seussville . He took 4 days of felting, mostly because of all the Ingeo(white silky corn fiber) and alpaca/silk blended "fur" that I needled on the surface . I recently bought some alpaca roving and some golden dyed silk roving but don't own anything to blend them so just tried to take thin sections of each and layer them . The resulting "fur" reminds me more of feathers then fur but feels absolutely heavenly . I'm hoping that the thin layer of silk between the alpaca, will keep it form matting up over time .

I'ld be glad to do a tutorial on this if anyone is interested in trying it , just let me know in comments section .

new Fulji camera for needle felting photos...(thanks santa)

 Two new critters both with outer coats of alpaca and silk . Love the texture and have some more roving on the way . The smaller figure is 8" and his brother is 10" and wearing some fluffy leggings of Ingeo .

 These are my first pictures with my new Early Christmas present, a Fuji camera that I got for a great price during the cyber marathon shopping spree . I'm just playing with it for now but have ambitious plans to read the instruction book for it ....(that would be a first, I hate reading instructions since I learn better by watching someone or at the least observing pictures of the process .) I was impressed with the cameras tolerance of the low lighting night pictures .

 I also bought Coral paint shop photo editing software but still haven't learned to use it so these are still edited with the Picassa which is just such a simple and intuitive photo program .

That's it for now, been slowing down with the felting the past few weeks as I am literally running out of places to put my felting . I'm hoping this week will be a chance to get some descent pictures and list a few items on Etsy . Wish it had been in time for Christmas but maybe next year ?

Happy Holidays and good felting to all .

I'm driving myself nuts with these huge needle felt animals

This guy is eight inches high about 12 inches if he was standing . The frustrating thing is that I began him with the full intention of going back to my smaller (and less time consuming and less wool hogging), small animals . I really can't figure out why I keep making these larger ones when I am running out of places to put them and they would be so much harder to sell (and make over $2 an hour) . I also managed to make his checks and eyes uneven and am not sure if I will be able to fix it ...... so time, wool and oops .

and after all that, I managed to make the next one twice as big .  I obviously needed a break from felting until I can regain control over my needle, so......

I spent the past 4 days on line shopping for some Christmas presents for my BF and myself .....and not a scrap of wool amongst the gifts . (Though..... I did get a good deal on a large foam mattress topper that I will probably end up cutting up for felting mats ....and a couple of huge pasta pots that I bought from Herbergers to use for dyeing wool BUT they emailed and said....sorry but we are out of those !!!!!(I'm so mad at them I could spit fire and wont be shopping there again...don't mess with a wool addict, says I )......and a new camera that I am writing off as a business expense so I can list my stuff on-line for sale...HAHAHA, (Been saying that for  years and my shop on Etsy is still empty ) .

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed your crafting, Holidays and or shopping . I think I need to go back to felting before I end up bankrupt . (Idle hands are the devils playground, indeed ).

Giving thanks for some weird new needle felt friends

I don't know "what" he is but I bet he would give good hugs with such long arms . He has a deep purple bottom and lots of super soft light brown alpaca and silk "fur" which takes forever to root in but feels so good . As you may have noticed, I also bought some giant eyes . He's about 12 inches tall and a pound or so of wool . (Not sure how accurate my scale is right now . )

It's not easy to tell from this picture, but this is my largest sculpture since my dragon . I think he would be about 3 feet tall if he were standing and is over 2 pounds of mixed wool, alpaca and of course Ingeo for the white hair rooted in . He took a little less then a week to make which is kind of ironic? because I always thought that the longer I felted the faster I would be able to make animals but it seems like I have just started making larger, more complex animals resulting in longer felting time .

This guy turned out a bit like a goatish troll with really long arms and fat little toes . His bearding and hair is the alpaca and silk blend that I have fallen in love with....(and will need to restock soon.)

 Above the below are my "normal" size critters with a mix of wool and alpaca . Again, I seem to have reverted to my psychotic and moppy looks on these .

 All the gang wishs you happy Thanksgiving and happy felting !

Baby Chupacabra has no spikes !

Well, that's what my BF said when he saw my latest felted critter . After googeling images of Chupacabra,  I can see that mine is not nearly ferocious enough looking .I'm considering adding fangs and spines but right now this guy looks more like he would cuddle up to a goat, not suck it's blood . This is actually another do-over of one of my first felts.I think it illustrates how you can "save" a poorly done sculpture by felting over it .

Other then the raised paw, there is little left of the original design . I removed the eyes and covered over the base sculpture with some much better wool . Luckily, many of my first critters were not felted stone hard so are easier to felt over . Here are a few more pictures of the end result....(I'm practicing some photography so pardon the extra pics but I wanted to see what they look like off Picasa .....

Something else new for me, but barely noticeable in these pictures, is a needle that I purchased from Woolgatherings , It has reverse barbs on it that pulls the fiber out and gives a fuzzy halo to the firmly felted surface , (it only works if you felt things firmly). My results were mixed as it's a new tool for me but it does give a softer feel to the surface but the hairs are pretty short, at least with the Merino I use .

My second do-over for the week is another that is barely recognizable from the original ......

This is the original cartoonish dog with some very weird proportions and here are several shots of my Chewbaca type puppy do-over with some lovely alpaca and silk fur felted in ......

I've always been bad at making realistic animals but this guy almost look like a real dog to me (with just a pinch of a pink nosed Chewbaca thrown in . )

It;s been a slow week of felting with only these two guys being completed but  I'm enjoying doing the felt "do-overs", it's fun watching something transform .

Happy fall and felting to all

Happy Birthday Wool from Detta's Spindle

I just turned 48 a few days ago and with generous birthday money gifts from my parents and my Mother in Law I got to stock up on more felting supplies . Above and below are some of the wools I bought from Detta's Spindle . After a year of buying form her on-line, I actually got the privilege of meeting her and her beautiful Standard Poodles and handpicking some of the "animal fur colored" wools . If you click on the pictures, you might be able to read what kind of wool is which but it is mostly colonial and merino with a bit of coopworth and a lovely alpaca/silk blend

I highly recommend her Mill Ends and other fibers as I have always found them a great quality for the price . Thanks again , Detta for sharing you dogs, wool and hospitality .

Standing and sitting Yeti and a couple more do-over felts

 Here's my latest large Yeti with corn fiber felted in as fur . I still need to do a few small touch ups that I didn't notice until I took the picture....one nice thing about checking results with photos is that I seem to find the flaws easier then looking at the 3D in front of me .....weird but true .

 Below looks like a Yeti had a baby with a hamster ?

 The last three are felties from my first year of felting that I needed to "do-over" . I think it takes almost as long to try and repair an animal as it does to just start from scratch but I really hate to just throw away something with out at least trying to fix it . None of this critters would be on my personal favorite list but perhaps they can be sold at discount and still find homes .

Happy felting .

Are We There Yet (i) Needle sculpted Yeti

As a fan of all things fuzzy, Yeti have always had a place in my heart . These are two Yeti babies I worked on this weekend . I tried a bit different style with each but they are each made with a base of merino covered in Ingeo(corn fiber) . I think this stuff is the best for creating a nonclumping rooted in hair .

My attempt at a Bigfoot...Northern hemisphere style Yeti.... was less successful . He just looks like a monkey . (A base of merino with alpaca locks .)

Happy felting !