New fiber sculpture series: Fantimals! More pics added-

What is a Fantimal? It's simple....Fantasy + Animal = Fantimal. Ok, yeah, it's a bit silly but it seems to be the perfect name for the things I'm working on.  Needle felted fiber goodness with no restrictions :)

I've been having a lot of fun making the Costume Kids and various little animals...but lately my imagination has been getting restless. I want to make animals that don't exist!

They will most likely be loosely based on a dinosaur/dragon theme, but I want to mix things up and add whatever features pop into my head. Could be cat ears...a mohawk...horns...

I have really been stifling my creativity by sticking to how things are "supposed" to look, so I'm really looking forward to seeing what happens when I just let imagination completely run the show.

The first one has already been started...I've taken a few work-in-progress photos. I'll take more pics as I work on him, and I'll keep adding them to this post.

Have a great day!!

Ok I got more done! He has legs, feet and a tail...here he's just waiting patiently for his toes, which are being held captive by the evil felting needles:

 

Ahh, that's better! You can see in the pic above that I had originally made six toes, but after putting only two on each foot, I decided I really liked how they looked with just two! So that's how it shall be, because there's no right or wrong with animals that only exist in my head...I'm liking this more and more.

Next I'll be adding the base color to his body...it's a soft sage green that I dyed last night. You can see a little bit of it up there on his head...see that little stripe? I was impatient and had to test it out :)

♥

Needle Felting Tutorial: Using glass eyes with loops

A reader asked for tips when using glass eyes with wire loops on a needle felted face, so I decided to write a tutorial. This is probably not the only way to do it, it's just how I do it :)

This is my first actual tutorial (as opposed to work-in-progress pics), so bear with me. ♥ You can see larger photos if you click on them.

What you'll need:

• Glass eyes with wire loops - mine are 6mm eyes from glasseyesonline.com
• A long doll needle - mine is from JoAnn Fabrics, about 5 inches long, sold in packs of two
• Thread (preferably button/carpet thread for strength, but any thread will work)
• Exacto knife
• Your needle felted head shape - a simple ball is fine

More Costume Kids :)

Hello! It's been a couple weeks, but I finally got time to make a couple more little cuties....a skunk girl and a dinosaur boy. Click on the links below if you want to see their auctions.

Auction for the little skunk girl :)

       Auction for the dinosaur boy :)

I was able to take some silly pictures of my (real) fatcat Leo over the weekend, I'll get them posted as soon as I get them arranged in some kind of order. Bye for now!

♥

Another Costume Kid

I've been busy today!

The fourth in the Costume Kids series is a 3-inch little girl dressed as a bluebird, and she comes with her own nest. She's up right now looking for a new home; wish her luck!



♥

Costume Kids newest addition

Last night I finished the latest in the Costume Kids series, and this morning I did his photo shoot. This pumpkin baby is 3 inches high, has glass eyes and little leafy feet :) Here are a couple of the shots; he will be listed on Ebay later this afternoon and I'll update this with the link. <-- Updated with link :)
The more of these I make, the more fun I have ♥

Looking for a home :)

The photoshoots are done! The editing, cropping and uploading is done! I decided to list both the bumblebee and the bunny on Ebay. Clicking on the photos will take you to their listings if you'd like to see them :)

Please wish them luck in finding a new home!

♥

Needle Felting - A work in progress Part 3 *Done!*

The final set of progress pics, I think he's done! This cutie will be entering the world of Ebay soon...I'll post a link when I list him.




As promised in my last post, he's getting a nose :)

Needle Felting - A work in progress Part 2

Ok I finally got some time to do some more work on this little guy! Click on the pics to see them a little larger. Here we go:






I decided he's going to be dressed as a bumblebee, so here ^^ I'm using black wool and needling it into somewhat of a cone shape for the body.

Needle Felting - A work in progress Part 1

Hi there! I'm going to show you how I made this little guy:

One of my all-time favorite ways to create things---by using super-sharp, barbed needles, repeatedly stabbing into fluffy wool until the fibers interlock and form shapes. Ahh...definitely a great stress reliever, and FUN.

It had been a while since I'd done any needle felting and I was really starting to miss it. Then the other day an idea popped into my head to make some tiny little art-dolls...but different than anything I've seen done anywhere else in needle felting. Cute little kid-faces peeking out of hooded costumes...I've got so many ideas swimming in my head with these, I'm having a hard time concentrating on anything else.
I've already finished a "practice" one (or prototype if I want to sound all fancy) so I could get a feel for how to approach it, what to do and what to avoid. Now I'm making one for REAL :) Here are a few photos taken at my worktable tonight (click on any photo if you want to see it a little more closely)...