How to Needle Felt a Figure

Over the years in this blog I have shown how I make a fabric figure and how I make a bottle doll but not how I needle felt so I thought it was time to remedy that. Yesterday I made the harbor seal shown above; I plan on making his partner today and then offering them as a pair. This picture shows all the material I used when creating him.  Should you like to try your hand at it you will need the following:

1.Piece of foam (mine is green) to prevent stabbing your fingers with needle..or maybe I should say to limit number of times you stab yourself with the needle. 

2. Felting needles..there are different sizes..some for core felting and some for finishing work

3. Wool roving- for this seal I used white, grey, brown and black. Usually I make my figures with white core wool roving then layer on the color at the end.

4. Pair of eyes, nose- sometimes I make the eyes/noses out of wool but since for this figure I am inserting plastic eyes/nose I have included them. You will also need white glue which I forgot to include in photo.

5. Pipe cleaners- I use Dill brand. They work perfectly for my fabric figure fingers as well as for needle felting. This seal’s body supports itself so pipe cleaners for neck and fin support is all that is needed. If I was making a figure that actually stood on legs I would use wrapped wire instead for strength.

6. And finally I use both dark and light horse hair for the whiskers in any figure that requires them. It easily threads using a beading needle and holds in place with a tiny bit of glue.

And that’s it for supplies. The next step is to research the actual animal you wish to create. I will bring up a multitude of pictures on my tablet, choose the pose I want to replicate and keep that image close as  reference when needle felting.  Now all you need is time and patience!

Time to add the nose.

And here they are..two adorable harbor seals

Marine Animals

Walrus

Humpback Whale

Hermit Crab 

Sea Turtle

Blue Octopus

Stingray 

I let this blog go a few years ago but decided to restart it today. I found I like looking back at a record of my figures. Currently I have been needle felting sea animals. I live at the coast so I guess it is natural for me to be attracted them them.

Baby Cora

I am expecting a granddaughter any day now so to get my mind off waiting for the phone to ring I knit her this little dress.

This is the front

And this is the back

It is 0-3 months size, knit in the round on circular needles. It is not a difficult pattern but it did require concentration when working on the skirt. I may add a little ribbon bow on the front - haven't decided yet. Anyway, it was fun to make and finished in a weekend.

Dog Tired

One last dog to add to the current mix- an old hound.

Woof Woof

A new batch of dogs.

West-highland Terrier

Dachshund

Airedale Terrier

Pug

Poodle

Little Fox

I made this little red fox yesterday. This time I actually kept track of how long it took me from start to finish- a bit over 10 hours- yikes! 

That's either dedication or I need to get a life!  

 He is just 6 inches tall and quite cute I think.            

Peregrine Falcon

May I introduce Peregrine Falcon my most recently completed needle felted wall figure. Often I am inspired by music and that was the case for Peregrine. The piano of David Lanz  "The Enchantment" from his Painting the Sun album started this journey and along the way I was accompanied by other pianists- Michelle Mclaughlin, Rick Seaton and Joe Bongiorno to name but a few.

She is approximately 27 inches long from the top of her antlers to the tips of her toes.
She is my first forest creature but certainly not my last- so fun to create!
Her antlers are made from paper clay which I painted some brown highlights on and then varnished. Her head and arms are needle felted wool, her torso is stuffed cotton and her legs are stuffed cotton skinned with needle felted wool.

I picked up the material for her skirt at my last Tart's meeting. Often members will bring fabrics from their stash to put out for the taking. I picked up this piece and a second somewhat similar piece that I plan on using for a second forest character in the future.  I think it is a polyester blend but it has the feel of velvet. Her cowl is actually a piece of velvet. Her blouse is sheer nylon that frays very easily making it quite nasty to work with but I wanted to give her a bit of a frayed look which is very difficult for me as I tend to tailor everything- even when I don't want to somehow it ends up tailored.
Her hair is  pure wool yarn that is loosely felted. The falcon is perched on a black leather protector made from part of an old glove. All the ribbons are pure silk. Her satchel is wool with a rawhide strap. Inside it I've enclosed part of the poem- Walking Through the Woods on a Snowy Eve by Robert Frost.