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 .