Making fuzzy Mohair critters and needle felting with reverse barbs

 All my favorite fibers in one giant needle felt critter . Ears are white bamboo and pink merino . The core is a blend of med fine wool with a nice thick layer of alpaca and mohair .

 This was the first time I have tried the reverse felting with mohair and I have to say that it looks pretty bad after you first felt the mohair down . However, as soon as your reverse felt the area it becomes a nice shaggy coat of shiny bliss . You do lose some of the fiber as it is being pulled back out but if you lay down a nice layer it doesn't matter . All the animals have been brushed and any lose fiber removed but they are still nice and bushy .

 I do trim the alpaca face on the top of the nose but left the rest because I like the shaggy look .

 This shows the length if the white mohair fiber which works great for my large animals but would probably have to be trimmed for smaller animals .

This is an attempt to take a picture in my living room during the after noon and with the sliding door shades open....(still looks like a cave) . The metal ruler shows the height of animals, each about 12 inches of leg and 10-12 inches of body and head .

 This is my second mohair animal in a rather unusual posture ., A bit like a runners stretch .

 MY BF found it to be confusing to the eye , as if one leg was shorter then the other rather then just tucked up and bent . AH well, can't please everyone .

Look who appeared in the middle of the photo shoot . Max is really jealous of all the hours I spend making my animals .

 Above and below are the medium size critters I made this month....I really can't understand why I seem to be felting so slowly lately . Only 4 animals this past month ? Am I being abducted by aliens because I seem to be losing hours .

Having fallen in love with the mohair, I ordered some on-line this past week and .....am now very confused . Below is a picture of two different sellers fiber....both are marked 4oz 100% mohair .and could not look or feel more different .

The one on the left is a beautiful blend of fall tones and is really soft but unlike alpaca, also has a nice shine . The one on the right looks like human hair, ( and all the mohair I have bought in the past ). It is very long, thick, shiny and makes a beautiful coat of fur on my animals but I couldn't believe that it was actually 4 OZ as it is so much denser and heavier by size then most animal fibers . Perhaps the left mohair is just smaller broken bits and that makes it seem  fluffier ? Anyone care to way in I would love your opinions . Without a DNA test I could not swear that the one on the left is not pure mohair and without a scale could not attest that the one on the right is not 4oz but....I do wonder .

Last and least, (to everyone but me), I fixed my multi-needle tool dilemma .

 Above is my solution to a more comfortable felting tool . The part on the left is the aluminum base(covered in leather) that holds 4-6 needles . The middle bit is something I picked up at AXman just a bit of plastic with a hole in it to hold the needles in place and the top on right is the old bottom for my red handled felt tool that wore out . This fits much more comfortably in my hand then the original metal top .

 Below is the little Tupperware of my needle essentials.....multi tool "re-vamped" and  tube with extra needles in different sizes to fit in tool . I also have several individual needles that I wrap in old pieces of leather that I have put two sided tape on . I get the tape at Axman and I think it is used for sticking carpets to floor and not the thinner tape used in sealing windows . Anyway, it works great and I always carry extra strips incase I need to wrap a needle and it also works to protect your fingers . I also carry a fingernail file because my fingers get rough from all the needle pokes and it drives me nuts to work with fiber and rough fingers .

That's it for the month . Another one that just seemed to fly by getting little done .