Hoodoo voodoo???

You might think that's what I've been up to if I told you I'd been stabbing dolls with needles this week...

                                        ...but you would be wrong if you made that assumption.

Nope, no Voodoo dolls for me, thank you very much. Just my latest addiction hobby - needle felting! I saw it on the Martha Stewart show a few years ago and have wanted to try it ever since. So, for my birthday, I received a couple of kits like these, except my kit from WoolPets was for a bunny (can't seem to find the bunny link on Amazon today - this sock monkey is super cute though):


Anyway, I had a blast learning how to needle felt. It's pretty simple, really. You take a ball of wool or any other natural fiber (some people use their cat or dog's fur!), roll it into a ball, and start jabbing it with the needle.

The felting needle is not a regular needle. It's large, long, has a bend in the top end to grip it with and tiny little barbs on the edges of the pointy end. These barbs catch the fibers and shove them down into the center of the ball of wool. You're basically creating a big, matted knot (in a deliberate shape, however). The more you jab it, the firmer and more compact the wool becomes. You can "shape" it by jabbing more in the areas you want to indent. You can add on tufts of fiber to create protruding areas, and you can add on smaller pieces you've already felted to make arms, legs, ears, etc. It's a lot like modeling in clay or playdough, but you're using the needle to shape it rather than your fingers or clay modeling tools. I've got so many things I want to try to make now - the possibilities are endless!

I also received this book for my birthday, which makes me want to try making a little schnauzer, just like on the cover. Isn't it cute? It looks just like Harvey!

I think that will be my next felting project....







I took my kits up to the lake where I spent a couple of days this week and made my first attempt at a needle felted piece. Here's the first bunny I made:

It seemed a little lonely (and I had some leftover wool), so I made it a baby bunny from my own design....

And my Mom made them a carrot...

 

Another idea for my Etsy shop - little felted animals (maybe even personalized pet portraits?) .... What do you think?

And is it just me, or are bunny butts one of the cutest things ever???

Hope you're having a lovely week!