Finished! Tree Stump WIP photos part 2

Yay! The tree stump and mushrooms display is all done and it shipped out today to go to its new home :) If you missed part 1 of this, you can see it here.

I took a few more photos this time than I did for part 1, you can click on them to make them larger. Here goes!

Here I'm starting to shape the base with core wool (this is where the tree stump will sit). I pretty much just make a coil and keep felting it together with the needle as I go, adding more wool until I think it's large enough.

Tree Stump WIP photos

Hello there! I'm up at 1:30 a.m. working on a custom order (I seem to work so much better at this time of night, I don't know why!). I'm making a needle felted tree stump with mushrooms growing from the side, and it's going to be displayed as part of an exhibit in a mushroom library. I've never heard of a mushroom library before...what a neat place it must be! Anyway, I thought I would take some photos of my progress; the photo quality isn't too hot since it was at my work table instead of in my fancy-schmancy (read: cheapie) light box, so please overlook that! :)

This is the tree stump I made from core (un-dyed) wool in all its nakedness. I start out by making a basic cylinder shape and then add bits of wool for the roots, and deeply needled lines to represent the texture of bark.

Here I'm putting the first layer of brown wool over the core wool stump.

Returning to Clay - making texture tools

It's been so long since I've really dug into my clay, aside from making tiny eggs for my bird's nests. This week I had a dream about adding some clay elements to my wool pincushions (don't you get the best ideas from dreams??)...so I broke out the stash of clay in my studio and have been having lots of fun the past few days :)

I wanted to make some tiny little cottages, and I wanted them to have a nice rocky or sandstone-type texture. Time to make some tools! I looked around the house and found several odd things to help me:

Wool Dyeing with Koolaid

Hi guys!

I've been dyeing wool with Koolaid drink mix for a couple months, and last night I finally took some pictures while making some new batches. My kitchen smells wonderfully fruity :) I use un-dyed wool, or what some refer to as 'core' wool, although any light-colored wool will take the dyeing process with varying effects.

Dyeing the wool with Koolaid is really simple and fun.

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

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)...