Felting Mania!

I've been making some more needle-felted pieces!

My latest project: a felted bee ipod touch case!

The case has a strap to hang around my neck; I just flip the cover up to access the screen. I can also tuck my ear buds into a special little pocket on the inside of the flap when I'm not using them, and button the whole thing up when I'm not using it.

I love to listen to podcasts while I'm painting, working on a mural, or puttering around at home. There are so many great books you can get for free on itunes - I use a lot of podcasts from Librivox. It's a free, volunteer-read collection of books that are in the public domain. Even if you don't have an ipod, you can still listen to them on your computer. Check them out!

And yes, I nearly always feel the need to embellish. :o) Love those bees!

A friend came over the other day and wanted to learn how to do some needle felting....

She made a sheep, and while she was working on that, I made this little birdie...

 And I had so much fun doing that, I stayed up late after my friend went home and made this tiny terrarium! I'm infatuated with terrariums lately - I want to make a real one, but for now, this will do nicely...(and no watering required!)

 The mushrooms and the moss are felted. The tiny little wooden ladybug came off of a package that was wrapped for me in a cute little store in Athens, Greece when I was there in college. I had been saving it for something special, and this was perfect! The "cloche" is an old jelly jar! I may do something to the lid, which is now the base, to make it look less jelly-jar-lid-ish. Paint it black, maybe?

Hail, hail, the gang's all here!  (Well, almost - I forgot to grab Reepicheep for the shot. He was probably busy anyway - off fighting a giant or some such thing. The little rascal.)

Have a lovely weekend!

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Reepicheep Revisited

One of my favorite series of books is the Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis. My favorite book from the series is The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, probably because it showcases my favorite character from all literature: Reepicheep, the mouse. It inspired this painting when I was in college:

(Prints available HERE.)

Anyway, as you can see, I'm a big fan. I won't tell you why - you need to read the books!

Reepicheep appears in Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and The Last Battle.

Read the whole series though so you know what's going on - you'll love them!

Well, when I started creating little needle felted animals, I knew that Reepicheep needed to be on the list, right after Harvey.... So here he is, in all his rodent glory....

ON GUARD!

...complete with sword, sheath, and feathered headband...

Did I mention I'm addicted to this whole felting thing?

I will be listing some items like this in my Etsy shop very soon...

Meanwhile, if you're interested in commissioning a needle felted sculpture of a special pet (or character) in your life,

please e-mail me!

Hope you're having a lovely week!

Thanks for stopping by, and thank you for all of your kind comments on my last few posts -

I love hearing from you!

my new obsession and an old one...

I showed you my needle felted bunnies a few days ago - my first needle felting project. After making them, I knew I wanted to try to make a miniature schnauzer (since I have a real one). Here's my attempt:

 I made him last night while I was having a Monk marathon. (You'll thank me later).

 

 Forgive the excessive number of photos.... I have a soft spot for cute doggies.

 Harvey didn't seem to share my enthusiasm.

Guess who LOVES posing for photos....

Can't you see how excited he is???

He got a little bit interested when he thought it might be a new chew toy...

...but it wasn't, so,

"YAWN!"

"ARE WE DONE YET?"

If you are interested in commissioning a special little felted "portrait"

of your pet or another favorite little critter, please e-mail me!

I am linking this post up to "You Capture" over at I Should Be Folding Laundry. The challenge this week is "animals," so I guess my little felted guy AND the Hairy One are appropriate!

You Capture is a weekly photo challenge/linky. Check it out!

Hope you're having a lovely week!

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!