Needle felt "furring" new and old critters

 These are my only new critters for the past week . They are both experiments in layering fibers and then using the reverse barb needles to pull the inner layers to the surface . The core sculpture is a medium wool then a thick layer of alpaca and a top layer of either alpaca and silk (larger critter) or brown bamboo fiber(smaller brown guy) .

I think there is a ton of potential in this technique allowing for even more diversity in color and texture combinations . I'm not bored yet : )  Some fibers matt up a bit and give a wooly feel to the animal and some look like more natural "hair" . After each section that I reverse needle, I stop and pull out any small loose hairs and then do another section . The more reverse felting. the denser the fur but you can give it the "worn mohair teddy bear" look by randomly pulling out small section . I like mine as fuzzy as possible .

 Of course, the longer hair sections are pure bamboo silk tacked into the wool . I also groom these areas by pulling out any loose fibers but don't advise combing or pulling to hard but it is a good way to find and reroot any loose area .

 Most of the past 5 days have been "furring" the animals that I made before I got the reverse barb needles . These 4 are a combination of wool base fiber and mohair,wool and alpaca blends on surface . It's hard to see much detail of the individual hairs in these dark pictures but you might get a better idea of the texture if you click on the pictures for close-up .

 The surface feels really soft now, even with those with mohair, it's very velvety .

 The two above are even softer with merino fiber on the surface of each .The only issue with merino is that it tends to eventually pill and is a much shorter fiber when pulled to the surface .

Above is the random gathering of old and new with different "furring techniques" I have been trying in the past year . I'm pretty happy with what I have learned so far and plan on spending some time refurring more of my older animals . I don't know how much it adds to the look of the critters but they feel wonderful .

Needle felt animals ....reversebarb fuzz

 Above are my two newest from largest to smallest (the little guy is sitting on the big guys paw) . I'm the first to admit that I'm not great with miniatures but this guy turned out kind of cute .

 My cat gives a bit of a size perspective and you can see last weeks critters in the background . The larger ones do take about 5 days of full time poking but part of that has been an extra day of using the reverse barb felting needles to give them that furry texture and the rooted in fur of bamboo fibers for longer hairs . I am in love with the reverse barb needles and having fun playing with different layers to see what makes the best fuzz .

 SO that is how I spent every hour not sleeping or working . pokepokepokepoke(ouch)pokepokepokepokepokepokepoke($%&^%)pokepokepoke

Happy felting !