Pansy & Hank

Here's two that I used the reverse needles on.  I first found out about them through Joanne's blog Desert Mountain Bears. She does the most amazing Teddies. If you're not familiar with her work, you really should check it out. Since then, I have found two other felting friends using them, Helen Priem and Victor Dubrosky. They both do amazing work as well. It's interesting how differently we all work using the same supplies and tools. I found that I like rooting the hair in as I used to and then using the reverse needles to help further lock it in.  By using the reverse needles alone I found the fur to be a bit wirey looking.  It could work rally nicely for some animals and effects.  For the bunny, I first felted him with my core wool. Then I added a layer of dark brown wool on top.  Next I felted a wirey llama wool of it. Then I next felted some light fawn alpaca.  After it was all finished I used the reverse needles to pull out the fibers. I really liked how it mixed the colors. But I'm not to sure I like the texture.  For a Hank, the Guinea Pig, I used a black romney wool for the core and felted mohair into it. I then used the reverse needles to pull wool through. It worked really well for locking in the rooted mohair.