Needle Felted Art by Robin Joy Andreae

Elizabeth, a Little Orphan Train Rider

2012-02-01T11:26:00.000-08:00

I named this little mousie after my Grandmother. She and her brother Frank were orphan train children sent from New York out to the Midwest farming communities. She was adopted first and her brother Frank was adopted 50 miles later. My Grandmother never knew his whereabouts and often wondered what had happened to him. Many of the orphan train children were little more than child labor used to work the farms and do housekeeping. Some were lucky and were adopted into loving families. I believe my Grandmother was one of the lucky ones. Grandma' Elizabeth passed away when I was five. I'll always remember her thick German accent and her wonderful windmill cookies. She also had a fondness for African violets. Another thing I remember is her fear of being sent to the poor house. As a kid growing up in the '60's, I had no idea that the poor houses were real. And that by being poor, your children could be taken away from you and sent to work. Or that like my great Uncle Frank you could be sent to the juvenile authorities for the simple act of trying to sell newspapers on the street. There are people in this country that believe they'd like to go back to the good old days with little or no constraints on business and no public assistance programs. I only pray they do not get their way. Someone who had seen my work on eBay recently sent me this poem:

Star Fish Poem

As I walked along the seashore
This young boy greated me.
He was tossing stranded starfish
Back to the deep blue sea.
I said, "Tell me why you bother,
Why you waste your time this way.
There's a million stranded starfish
Does it matter, anyway?"

And he said, "It matters to this one.
It deserves a chance to grow.
It matters to this one.
I can't save them all I know.
But it matters to this one,
I'll return it to the sea.
It matters to this one,
And it matters to me.

And the Winner is.........

2012-01-31T11:00:00.000-08:00

Kelly!

Little Posie should be very happy in her new home. Congratulations, Kelly!

Thank you all for you support :0)!!!!!!!

Bella, Bluebird

2012-01-29T12:05:00.000-08:00

Here's Bella. She will be up for auction on eBay tonight.

Sophia, a Valentine's Day Piggy

2012-01-23T09:54:00.000-08:00

I finished little Sophia a bit too late for listing her at my usual time. So she's going up for auction on eBay tonight at 6:45 PM PST. I hope you like her.

A Sea Dragon

2012-01-22T12:27:00.000-08:00

Meet Beardsley. He's my latest guy for eBay. His auction starts tonight at the usual time of 6:45 PM PST. He's made of both felt fabric and wool roving with polymer clay claws. I hope you like him.

The Poll Results

2012-01-17T10:03:00.000-08:00

The winner is a mouse! This is the third mouse for my annual give-away. It received 19 out of 66 votes. I'll start making the little mouse next and will post the pictures as soon as she's finished. Good luck to you all!

My Next Little Mouse

2012-01-17T09:47:00.000-08:00

This little one is my latest one for eBay. Her eBay auction starts tonight at 6:45 PM PST. It's a 5 day auction.

Roly' Poly

2012-01-13T21:05:00.000-08:00

Here's little Roly' Poly. I tried something different for this little hedgie's spines. I sewed cotton crochet yarn in. Each spine took two stitches to anchor it in. I liked the look better than spine of my other spine experiments. But it was way too time consuming. It took me twelve hours just to do the spines. little Roly' Poly's auction starts on Sunday at the usual time of 6:45 PM PST.

European Robin

2012-01-11T20:06:00.000-08:00

This is my latest one. She's available on Etsy now.

Here's Lucy

2012-01-10T10:04:00.000-08:00

I just finished little Lucy last night. She's a 5 day listing starting tonight a t 6:45 PM PST. I'm already into doing my Valentine's Day and Spring items. I think this is probably one of my favorite seasons to create. Spring is so full of new life.

Playing Catch-Up

2012-01-09T11:32:00.000-08:00

Pictured first is my latest creation, Ellie May. She was listed on eBay and has already sold. I like how her fur turned out. I first needle felted a dark layer of llama wool and then rooted the light grey alpaca wool on top. It gave the fur a kind of tipped look.

The second picture id my Trumpet. Way back on October 25, I won a pattern from Jenny Lee of Jenny Loves Benny. I've long been an admirer of her cute little poppets. I was so shocked to learn I had won one of her prizes. Her work is just so sweet! If you're not familiar with her work, you really should check it out!

Finally, my Molly, a needle felted bull terrier, placed first last year in the Teddy Bears and Friends contest. There were several really nice entries and it was a nice surprise to see that she won.

Annual Give-Away

2012-01-04T13:21:00.000-08:00

Wow! I can't believe it's been nearly 4 years since I first started felting and 3 years since I started this blog! So to thank you all for your support I'm hosting a give away. I just published a poll to see which little felted critter you would like as a prize. It runs starting today until the 15th at 12:28 pm PST. After the poll closes, anyone who comments on the posts following the 15th automatically receives one entry for each post. The names will be drawn from a hat and the winner announced on the January 31.

Fred & Ginger, plus little Flurry

2011-12-30T21:49:00.000-08:00

I just finished Fred & ginger just in time to ring in the new year. Their auction will start tomorrow night at 6:45 PM PST. Little Flurry's auction will start the same time. He's kind of an orphan. While I was shopping at a local thrift store, I found this little guy all cut out and ready to be sewn. He seemed to cry out to be finished. So here he is. He's made from very fine rayon purchased from Edinburgh. I'm not sure whose design he is. But he's such a cute little guy. I hope he finds a home where he will be cherished. I have two other unfinished bears from the same person. One is a powder blue rayon and the other is brown upholstery mohair material.

Teaching and Tutorials

2011-12-27T11:04:00.000-08:00

From time to time I receive inquiries about whether I teach, have a book or offer tutorials. I am quite flattered by the requests. But I'm really not the best at explaining things. Also, it would be a shame see a bunch of students out there learning all of my bad habits. There are a number of great felting books and teachers out there that can explain things much better than I can. However, here are few things that I feel could help a would be felter on their way.

Never give up. No matter how ugly you think it is keep poking.
You'll get poked a lot in the beginning. But it gets better, I swear.
Study the subject you want to felt with fresh eyes. Don't just assume you know what a certain subject looks like. Look at it as if it were the first time you've seen it.
The library is your best friend. Next best is google. I do tons of research.
Find a good wool supplier and stick with them. I use weirdollsandcrafts.com for my core wool, needles and foam. Clover makes a great number of handy tools, too. I love my pink multi needle tool.
Don't be afraid to experiment.
Stay true to your vision. Although, there maybe others that inspire you, you have a unique voice to share with the world.

Here a few books and teachers that I think can teach much better than I could:

I Felt Awesome by Moxie
Animal Felt by Birgitte Krag Hansen
Barby Andreson's Glory Studio tutorials
Kay Petal's Felt Alive tutorials
Stephanie Metz classes offered in California
Felting Forum

Good luck & happy felting!

Giorgio & his Circus Peanut

2011-12-14T21:16:00.000-08:00

I just finished little Giorgio tonight. Although his circus peanut maybe as hard as the real thing, it was sculpted from polymer clay. Giorgio stands just 3 1/2 inches tall. Giorgio's eBay auction starts tommorrow night on eBay at 6:45 PM PST. I haven't decided about the duration. I'm thinking it may be either a 5day or 3 day auction. Thanks for looking :0)

Celeste, an Angelic Mouse

2011-12-10T17:13:00.001-08:00

I just finished little Celeste, this morning and her eBay auction will start Sunday night at 6:45 PM PST.

Inga & her Leafy Toboggan

2011-12-04T13:16:00.001-08:00

I just finished little Inga and her toboggan this morning and will have her listed on eBay this evening. Her little leaf toboggan was sculpted out of polymer clay with a white wool and glitter flocking. It really ended up looking just like frost. I hope you like her.

Snowflake

2011-11-28T20:23:00.001-08:00

Snowflake's eBay auction starts Tuesday night @ 6:45 pm PST.

Kris Mouse

2011-11-27T10:50:00.001-08:00

I just finished this little mousie and his auction starts tonight on eBay at 6:45 PM.

Santa & Dasher

2011-11-22T10:16:00.001-08:00

I just finished these two for a commission last night. I hope you like them. For those of you in the US have a happy Thanksgiving.

Baby Bullet Ready for Christmas

2011-11-09T10:43:00.000-08:00

So sorry I haven't blogged in a while. I've been waiting for my wool order and working on a few commissions. So I finally have one ready for eBay. I made him after Mr. Bullet when he was a pup. It seems that I start out with the idea of making an adult bully and I always find myself making a puppy. Baby Bullet's auction starts tonight at 6:45pm PDT.

Sugar and Cocoa

2011-10-23T16:52:00.000-07:00

Viola, Forest's wife

2011-10-21T13:33:00.000-07:00

I just finished Viola this morning. It seemed to me that Forest needed a wife. Plus I got to practice trying to hide the seams on the body. So far the best option is clothes (lol). But I'll keep working on it before I start putting skin to the angel. Before she had clothes, my son was a little freaked out with the creepy naked old lady laying on the kitchen table.

Viola's eBay auction starts tonight at 6:45 PM PDT.

Forest, Percy & Acorn

2011-10-15T20:52:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd experiment a bit before I started fleshing out the angel more. So I decided to try it out on a smaller guy. I made this little gnome by first needle felting him, then shading him and finally giving him a nylon skin. I made him a couple of pals, a life-size house sparrow named Percy and Life-size little mouse named Acorn. Forest, Percy and Acorn will be auctioned individually on eBay tomorrow evening. If you wish to purchase all three, I will deduct $30.00 from the final purchase price. Please wait for the invoice before paying.

Jose & his Sugar Skull

2011-10-09T13:59:00.000-07:00

I just finished little Jose & his sugar skull last night. I hope you like them. Their eBay auction starts tonight with 20% being donated to Bat Conservation International.

Progress on the Angel & Bullet Sleeping

2011-10-05T09:58:00.000-07:00

I had to snap a picture of what I've finished so far on the angel. While I had the camera out, I couldn't resist getting one of Bullet, too. He's all bundled up because in the last two days our temperature went from 90 degrees to 45! It's a little hard to get used to. The weather is even talking possible snow this evening. Life in the high desert can be a little unpredictable at times. The one and only thing you can count on is that Summers are hot.

So a bit about the angel. The gold breast plate will have to be remade. It doesn't quite fit anymore since I bulked out his body to match his head. He's 16 inches tall and his head 2 1/2 inches long a bit too big for his body. But it's already rock solid and I don't know if I can get it smaller. It should be 2 inches tall. When I did the intial sculpt for his head it ended up being 3 1/4. He was the big head angel. I managed to shrink it down 3/4 of an inch. To match his current head size, he should be 20 inches tall. So I have a couple of choices either I try to scale his head down by 1/4 inch and stretch his body by two inches, remake his head to fit his current body size or just live with a slightly large headed angel. I'm putting him a side for some time before I make my decision.

Since I've been making so many skulls these days I thought I'd work on a Day of the Dead skull nextwith a Mexican free tail bat. I picked up a really good book on floral embroidery, "Floral Stitches" by Judith Baker Montano. I thought it might be kind of fun to to do some on the skull.

Inspiration & Buttons!

2011-09-30T13:44:00.000-07:00

I've been busy sculpting my cousin's angel. It's been a real process; one in which the sculpture is making itself, it seems. I start out with an expectation of how it's going to look and it decides differently. I had this idea for a seated angel, that would be first sculpted with paper clay and wire starting with the head first. It was nearly impossible to felt around the paper clay. So I had to scrap that idea. Next, I started with a wire form and started felting and before you know it my seated angel became a standing angel. He began to remind of one of my very favorite paintings, Marc Chagall's Juggler. I was both frightened and fascinated with that painting when I first saw a picture of it in my Childcraft encyclopedia. I think I was about 4 years old. I remember as a kid pounding out some horribly loud bass piano music as my ode to that bird man. And here some 50 years later the juggler seems to pop up in my angel. Lol. Hopefully, I will get his feet done today and will be starting on his head. Let's hope it doesn't decide to be a bird head. I don't think that's what my cousin had in mind.

I, also, wanted to share with you a recent thrift store find. Buttons! I bought 4 very big bags of assorted buttons for $6.00. I love the shapes, textures and colors. I could just spend hours sorting through them.

Buddy

2011-09-24T19:02:00.000-07:00

I'll be posting little buddy on ebay tomorrow night. He's just 4 1/2 inches tall and comes with his very own "gilded" polymer clay acorn and fall leaves to play in. I hope you like him.

Update: Buddy has sold.

Some Works in Progress

2011-09-22T10:33:00.000-07:00

First up, is the start of a chipmunk that I'm working on. Second is a skull base for a doll. My cousin after seeing Hailey, approached me about creating an angel doll for her sister. After giving it some thought and doing some research on angels, I decided to do Gabriel. It didn't seem fitting to do him out of sewn felt and I didn't like the way it looks kind of fuzzy. I wanted something between sculpted polymer and sewn cloth. I recently came across a very talented doll artist, Lisa L. Lichtenfels. Her work has inspired me to try something different. I'm going to needle felt over a wire and paper clay skeletal structure and then sew nylon over the finished sculpture. I first started to sculpt the head out of styrofoam and when I glued and sewed the felt base to it, the foam core just collapsed. I then tried sculpting the head out of paper clay around a foil ball, like I did for Haily. This time because I was so impatient, I added way to much clay and it cracked while it dried. Plus the weight of the clay smooshed his lower jaw too far out giving him a caveman appearance. Finally, I decided to try sculpting the foam base and then adding a layer of paper clay over it. It will definitely need some sanding. I've learned a couple of things with this. When working with large areas of paper clay, it's best do it in layers. Also a damp paper towel placed over the sculpture will help keep it from cracking while it's drying.

Pigling Bland inspired by Beatrix Potter

2011-09-20T20:01:00.000-07:00

I just finished Pigling Bland this morning and have him listed on eBay. I hope you like him :0)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Needle-Felted-Pigling-Bland-inspired-Beatrix-Potter-Pig-R-J-Andreae-/190579358389?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c5f6a3ab5

Little Autumn

2011-09-18T10:31:00.000-07:00

I finished little Autumn a couple of days ago and have her listed on eBay. Her auction starts tonight.

Pics of Wowl & Bullet Retry

2011-09-14T08:56:00.000-07:00

Here are the pictures. It's so weird how they didn't show up before. I had loaded them from my drive onto my blog using Picasa. I've had this problem before when I did that. This time I loaded the pictures into my web album.

Hailey & Licorice

2011-09-09T10:36:00.000-07:00

I just put the finishing touches on Licorice, the little black cat, this morning and snapped a few pictures of him and Hailey, my first ever doll. I had quite a bit of trouble turning those tiny fingers. She's 4 way thread jointed and was completely hand-sewn, save for her cape. I brought out the sewing machine for that one. I rarely use it as it usually devolves into ranting and raving and cursing at the sewing machine. When my sons were little, I would always sew their Halloween costumes. They both knew when to take cover when I brought that thing out. My youngest says that's when he learned his first cuss words. However, it went fairly smoothly, this time. I found that the more I did on this doll the more little props I wanted to make. She has a paper clay witch mask, a broom and a polymer clay jack-o-lantern treat pail with goodies inside. It's kind of funny, too, how I started with a pattern and ended up using none of it. I never was very good at following directions.

I'm out of Wool!

2011-09-04T10:54:00.000-07:00

I just finished this massive turkey. He's nearly 16 inches tall and 19 inches wide. He took over a pound and a half of core wool. He has 9 different hand dyed colors in him. He's so big that used up my entire supply of core wool and 2 ounces of brown llama wool. He cost over $60 to ship him to my customer in the states. I believe he is my largest felty to date. I named this fellow "Chief"/

Pictured below "Chief" is a doll that I've been working on. I wanted to learn how to do pressed and mo lded felt. I thought it might come in handy for chimp faces and a few other things. I checked out several books from the library on doll making by Susan Oroyan and bought a kit from Susan McFadden on ETSY. http://www.etsy.com/listing/73591500/vasalissas-doll-kit I promptly destroyed the paper clay mask and sculpted my own with the generous supply of paper clay included in the kit. It's also a good thing that she included more felt as I've destroyed a few body parts. A seamstress I am not! I've got her body completed and am working on costuming her. I thought I'd do a witch's costume for the Fall. We'll see how it turns out. I can't wait to get my core wool that I've ordered and get back to my comfort zone. Lol

Mrs. Thomasina Tittlemouse & Babbitty Bumble

2011-08-22T11:34:00.000-07:00

I just finished these two yesterday and have them listed on eBay. Mrs. Tittlemouse's little dress was kind of interesting to recreate. I had to paint white stripes on pink and blue fabric. At first, I thought I wouldn't like it. But I like the way it looks painted just like in Beatrix Potter's illustrations. I t hink next I'm going to make Mr. Jackson, the toad.

My Latest Creations

2011-08-18T12:26:00.000-07:00

Little Red Riding Mouse, Bullet & Wooly Thoughts

2011-08-04T11:52:00.000-07:00

I just finished this little mousie this morning. I revisited an idea that I had done about a year or so ago. I was inspired by a recent blog post from 1 Inch Minis by Kris. This blog has some very wonderful tutorials on miniature crafting. I wasn't too thrilled with the pine needle basket with my previous little red riding hood. And these little baskets were fun and fairly easy to construct and a whole lot better looking. Also my old red riding hood had apoxie sculpt feet. I really like the polymer clay ones better.

Finally here are some recent pics of Bullet in his favorite pass time, napping. He really has improved a lot. But his poor little feet are still very tender and recently had to go to the vet for an ear infection. He really hates the goop we have to put in his ear. He sees me coming with that stuff and he runs.

Thirdly, I recently found out about a practice used on Merino Sheep in Australia. It seems some Australian Sheep ranchers remove whole portions of skin on their Merino sheep without using any ansesthetic. The process is called Mulesing. The reason given for this horrendous practice is to prevent flies from laying their eggs in the folds of skin near the tail. But there are other solutions to this practice, such as breeding only smooth skin merinos, shearing twice a year and so on. So from now on I will only buy Merino wool where mulesing isn't used.

Abby

2011-07-31T19:19:00.000-07:00

Here's little Abby. Her eBAy Auction started tonight. She is weighted with steel shot.

Sabrina's Choice

2011-07-29T11:08:00.000-07:00

A meerkat!

Another Life-sized Fox Squirrel

2011-07-25T18:47:00.000-07:00

I just finished this commission this morning. He's a big fellow at 12 inches long and 8 1/2 inches tall. I tried something different with him. I put magnets in his tail and in his back so his tail could be posed either up or down. But the magnets weren't quite strong enough. So it's permanently attached in the position shown.

Two New Ones

2011-07-24T10:49:00.000-07:00

These are my latest little ones for auction tonight. The first is little Trina & her strawberry. The second is Utley, a little white tailed antelope ground squirrel. You can see them skittering around in the Mojave Desert, I have several in my yard. They're kind of fun to watch. They like to hop in and out of my Italian cypress trees and chase each other around the yard. They're kind of like the desert version of a chipmunk.

Found & Adopted

2011-07-17T20:04:00.000-07:00

This poor fellow looks to be abandoned. A local witnessed a person drop him off with a plate of food. He has managed to escape from everyone in town who has tried to adopt him. I'm guessing he's about 10 months old and is unaltered. He's kind of a tall fellow and probably weighs about 50 to 60 lbs. He was found 7/10/2011 on highway 395, 22 miles from Ridgecrest, CA. He's been adopted again by another local. I hope it works out. He's a wonderful pup. But definitely not to Bullet's liking.

And the Winner is...........

2011-07-15T21:12:00.000-07:00

Sabse (Sabrina)!

My husband, Dean, did the drawing

Sabrina, please email me with your address and preference of animal. I'll start making your felty as soon as I hear back from you :0) Thank you to all who participated. I host more give-aways at least once a year.

Life-sized Fox Squirrel

2011-07-14T16:48:00.000-07:00

I just finished this fox squirrel today. He's 12 inches tall to the ear.

Trouble Leaving Comments

2011-07-09T10:49:00.000-07:00

I recently had a couple of followers tell me that they were unable to leave comments in order to be included in the drawing. They have been added to the list. If there is anyone else who is having similar problems please email me at robinandreae@gmail.com and I will be happy to add your name to the list.

I checked with Blogger help to see if there is anything I can do to fix this. It was mentioned that it could be a problem with my widgets. I reset them to the default. Hopefully that has fixed it. My apologies to any of you who maybe having difficulty posting. I hope you will please try again.

Pickles, the Ticklish Piglet

2011-07-08T16:46:00.000-07:00

I just finished little Pickles this afternoon. He's about 9 inches long to his tail. He's my first ever open mouthed piggy. Pickles was inspired by the scene in "Babe" where Mrs. Hogett is measuring poor Babe to see if he will fit in the roasting pan. Babe looked so cute giggling, that I had to make a giggling piglet. Pickles is truly happy because he isn't destine for the oven.

Sunset on the 4th and Sam, Born on the 4th of July

2011-07-05T10:49:00.000-07:00

I finished Sam, a comission, just yesterday and wanted to share the beautiful sunset. Sam's a big fellow at 13 1/4 inchestall and 17 inches long. His tail and wing feathers were hand-embroidered. They were painted with heat set dyes to give them a subtle purple and green cast. His legs are a bit thin and it took a bit of work to get him to stand on his own. He probably would be best supported to help him to stand. I can imagine him on a stack of books. I've also included an old skeleton key that my husband & I found while out hiking in the desert. There on the ground among the creosote bushes was a whole key ring full of skeleton keys. It's strange what you can find sometimes.

Give-Away

2011-07-01T10:39:00.000-07:00

I know it's a bit early. I had intended to host one when the blog had reached 300 followers. But 298 is enough. Two other fellow artists and bloggers, Helen Priem of Pip's Poppies and Joanne of Desert Mountain Bears, inspired me to host mine a bit early. I don't believe that I could state my reasoning any more eloquently than they have. So those of you who post a comment will have a chance at winning a small custom felty of their choice. The drawing will be held July 15. Good luck to you all & thank you!

Magda, the little Hedgehog

2011-06-29T20:51:00.000-07:00

I just finished little Magda this evening. She took quite a bit of time to create. Each one of her little spines was wet felted, hand painted and then rooted in. I initially intended to da a larger hedgie. But after all the work it took to get this much fur, I deceded small was better. Next I'm wet felting some black and purple merino wool for the crow.

A New Commission & a Week Break From eBay

2011-06-27T10:56:00.000-07:00

Well Sunday has come and gone. As many you may have noticed, there wasn't any eBay listing for this week. I decided that since this next Sunday is July 3rd and many people will be off vacationing for the 4th, it would be a good idea to give my sales a bit of a break. But I will still be working on a few things. I'm presently working on a hedgehog. It's been a real challenge for me to create realistic hedgehog fur. I know that you can buy hedgehog mohair fabric. But it would feel like I gave in. So now I'm wet felting little merino ropes that will be needle feted in, painted at the root and then cut. It's a good thing this one is going to be small. I thought of doing a little hedgie when I purchased a small picnic basket. I could just imagine one peeking out from the lid.

My next project is another commission piece, a life-sized crow. The wool that I ordered for him arrived today. I can't wait to get started on him. Pictured above is my standing hare that I just finished for a client. The hare is 12 inches tall, ears included.

Bald Eagle Commission

2011-06-21T10:54:00.000-07:00

Happy first day of Summer everyone! It's been over 100 degrees here. I put the finishing touches on this commission piece this morning so he'll be ready for the 4th of July. He's kind of a big guy at 10 3/4 inches tall and is my first ever bald eagle. He's also the first I ever used heat set silk paints on. I used a bronze paint which looks very subtle in indoor lighting. But it really sparkled when I got him outdoors. It also has hints of blue which I didn't notice until I put him outside. His head & tail feathers are a mixture of angora rabbit and Merino wool. His brown feathers are Merino and he has a eco-corriedale wool batting for his core. He's both needle felted and wet felted. His eyes are polmer backed german glass.

Joplin in a Mushroom Forest

2011-06-19T11:43:00.000-07:00

Here's little Joplin. His eBay auction starts tonight at 6:45 PM PST. He's just 4 1/4 inches tall, ears included and come complete with the hand-sewn mushrooms pictures above. I created them from bits of an old wool blanket, some glass globs to help them to stand and various trims I had. They were kind of fun to create.

Little Harpo

2011-06-11T21:53:00.000-07:00

Here's little Harpo. He stands 5 inches tall and 8 1/2 inches long. His soft fur is gray alpaca.

Two New Ones, on the Tiny Side

2011-06-07T21:42:00.000-07:00

A Little Mouse meets a Bumble Bee

2011-06-04T14:07:00.000-07:00

Here's my next little mousie for eBay. Her auction is scheduled for this Sunday . She comes complete with her bumble bee friend. He is a combination of flocked polymer clay and needle felted, hand-dyed mohair. the bee's wings are liquid polymer coated vellum paper.

I Need Your Input

2011-06-01T19:29:00.000-07:00

I just purchased a new to me flat screen monitor and haven't figured out if the display is correct. Consequently, I'm not sure how my pictures are turning out and whether they need some adjustment in regards to their brightness. Your opinions would be greatly appreciated. So here's little Timmy the hamster. His eBay auction starts this Sunday.

Willow, a Little Deer Fawn

2011-05-27T20:21:00.000-07:00

I'm not overly thrilled with these pics. I tried different color backgrounds and the color was off on all of them. Blue came the closest to the real color. I'm trying for more pics tomorrow. I don't think these do her justice. if it's not too windy I'll try for some outdoor shots in lawn at the park across the street. Little Willow's eBay auction starts this Sunday.

These are a bit grainy. But they are true to the color. It's too windy for outdoor pictures today. The winds are 37 miles per hour and gusting to 50 mph!

Blinken, a Life-Sized Western Screech Owl

2011-05-21T17:05:00.000-07:00

I just finished this guy this morning. The weather was perfect for some outdoor shots. It wasn't too windy for a change. He's named after a little screech owl at the bird rescue where I used to volunteer. There was actually quite a little crew of these guys, Winken, Blinken, Nod & Owl Jolson. Blinken was my favorite little guy to take to the school talks. The others weren't quite as calm on the fist. My little guy is true to life size at only 6 inches tall and 9 inches long from the tip of his beak to his tail. He is both wet felted & needle felted.

A new Little Flutter Mouse

2011-05-18T09:33:00.000-07:00

I Just finished this little wee one last night. I hope you like her. Her eBay auction is scheduled for this Sunday.

I recently received some unsettling news. Our post office maybe closing and there is no home delivery here. The nearest P. O. is 22 miles away. I'm going to a meeting this afternoon and will hopefully know more. My only hope is that we can reach some kind of solution to keep it open, if only part-time.

Tiger

2011-05-14T10:42:00.000-07:00

Here's little Tiger. He stands 6 1/4 inches tall to the ear and comes complete with his blankie and toy felt mouse. I put a jingle bell and some lavender inside the mousie. Little Tiger's eBay auction starts this Sunday @ 6:45 PM PST.

Stella, the Barn Owl

2011-05-07T21:32:00.000-07:00

I just finished Stella, this afternoon. She's both needle felted and wet felted. And she has polymer clay feet and beak. I also added tiny pearly white seed beads to her white spots. I learned a few things about the the brands of liquid polymer. I found that Sculpey liquid polymer binds pieces together better than Kato liquid polymer. Kato is much clearer while Sculpey is a bit more opaque and has a satiny finish.

Tinker

2011-05-05T15:17:00.000-07:00

Here's my latest little flutter mouse. Her eBay auction starts this Sunday at 6 :45 PM PST.

Kiki

2011-05-01T18:36:00.000-07:00

Kiki was quite a bit of work. She has hand rooted fur and her eyes were sculpted from polymer clay. I added several layers of liquid polymer to her eyes and they were hand buffed.

New Little Butterfly Bunny

2011-04-27T09:50:00.000-07:00

I just finished this little bunny. She's a commission piece. She ended up being quite a bit different from my previous butterfly bunny. It seems that I can't do the same thing twice. I played around with trying to make the outside of the wings look different from the inside the way real butterfly wings look.

Flutter Piggy

2011-04-22T21:29:00.000-07:00

Squirrels!

2011-04-21T08:59:00.000-07:00

The undyed wool roving

The squirrel before the dyed roving has been applied

Onion skins & tumeric

The finished dyed wool

Using my DollarTree find to dry the wool

The finished Squirrel

The two together

My Bavarian Brown Squirrel

Annie Mae in her Easter Bonnet

2011-04-14T10:21:00.000-07:00

This little girl was inspired by an old victorian Easter card that I had once seen. She's probably my last Easter inspired piece for the season as Easter is only a little over a week away! She stands at 5 1/2 inches tall, bonnet included. And her little bonnet is removable.

Durer's Little Owl

2011-04-12T10:58:00.000-07:00

Durer is again the inspiration for this piece. It's of his drawing entitled "Little Owl". It has been a favorite piece ever since I first saw it as child in a book. I had some fun trying to find the species of owl in the drawing. I finally decided that it was most likely a tawny owl. Although, I would hardly think of them as little. The only little dark eyed owl that I could think of was the Flammulated owl. But it has ear tufts and is from North America, not Europe. And the European species known as the Little Owl has yellow eyes. This little guy stands at 6 1/2 inches tall and has German glass eyes. I did something a bit different with his feet. I wanted them to feel a bit fleshy. So, I mixed my Sculpey molding media with some Premo. They both bake at the same temperature and time. Then, I flocked them with finely chopped alpaca wool. I like how they turned out. But because they're so rubbery, he has a hard time standing. I think next time, I would use a thicker gauge of wire. He does stand on his own but it would be best if he had something to lean on. I hope you all like him. It seems I'm kind of on a Durer kick and am thinking of felting his squirrel pair. Although, I'd change the eye size a bit as they seem a bit too small.

Albrecht, a Spring Hare

2011-04-09T21:08:00.000-07:00

I just finished this guy tonight. His name is Albrecht after Albrecht Durer. His drawing of a young hare was the inspiration for this guy. Little Albrecht is 7 3/4 inches long and 6 inches tall to his ears. This one is a bit different for me as he has no wire frame. He's needle felted densely and has a bit of heft. He has gently combable llama fur that was hand rooted in. He is adorned with a removable sheer lavendar and white polka-dot ribbon that has a hand cut felt flower permanently attached.

Butterfly Bunny

2011-04-06T21:55:00.000-07:00

This little bunny is just 4 inches tall. He comes complete with his little spring flower base. I tried something new for his little wings. They were first drawn on to velum paper. I next glued floral wire to the wings so that I could affix them to his wire frame. After they were dry, a coat of liquid polymer was applied to the painted surface. After they were completely baked, I fipped them over and applied a coat to the un painted side and sprinkled some glitter before baking. They were a lot simpler than my old method and I like how they turned out better.

Baby Robin

2011-04-04T15:38:00.000-07:00

Gilding the Lily

2011-04-02T15:34:00.000-07:00

I just finished this little Lily this afternoon. She's only 2 1/2 inches tall ears included and her egg diorama is 4 inches tall. I created the egg out of paper mache. After it had dried I sanded it and painted it with a glittery blue paint. I then affixed german glass glitter over that. It has a flower shaped button glued to the bottom to help it stand. I hope you all like it.

A Little Titmouse & Tiny Bunny

2011-03-31T21:02:00.000-07:00

Little Azure, a Baby Blue Jay

2011-03-25T21:11:00.000-07:00

Spring is in the air and it's baby bird season. I just finished little Azure tonight. He's scheduled to go on eBay this Sunday. But I'm giving all of my blog followers first chance at buying him. He's $115.00 shipping and insurance included. Just let me know if you would like to purchase him and I will invoice you through PayPal.
Update 3/26/2011: He's now sold :-)

My Latest Guys for Spring, Plus a Great Dollar Store Find

2011-03-25T11:30:00.000-07:00

I found these mesh bags at the Dollar Tree. They come three to a pack. These mesh bags really do come in handy for drying my dyed wool items like this carrot. The really fun thing, especially in the hot Summer months, is swinging the bags around to spin out any excess water.

This is Mr. Jingles from "The Green Mile". He was a special commission piece. I order the wooden spool from a wonderful seller on Etsy, Simply Suzula. She has lots of cool vintage sewing supplies.

Here's my latest little Dwarf Netherlands Bunny. His eBay auction starts this Sunday. The carrot pictured above is the one drying in the bag. He comes complete with the carrot and a blown & decorated egg. I had a lot of fun doing the egg. First I tried dying it with Kool-Aid. I thought since it works so well dying wool, it would be great for egg shells, too. Not so. It just coated the outside and barely penetrated the shell. So I went with the old stand-by of food coloring and vinegar. I next used artist markers and acohol to do some muted swirly designs and glued acrylic gems to the shell. I can't wait to do more. Sold 3/27/20011

Last is little Buttons. Like Peeps, he's only 2 3/4 inches tall. I did him to give people another chance at one of my little ones since Peeps sold so quickly. He's for sale for $60.00 (free shipping & insurance). So if you'd like to purchase him before his listing starts this Sunday, please drop me an email & I'd be happy to invoice you through PayPal. Also if you'd like to purchase the bunny, his price is $200.00 (free shipping and insurance). Buttons just sold.

I hope you are all having a wonderful first week of Spring. It's been pretty cold & raniny here. But the desert flowers are starting to bloom.

A Baby Robin, Peeps, Jingles & Millie

2011-03-20T14:08:00.000-07:00

Jay Jay, the Chimp

2011-03-13T15:43:00.000-07:00

Here it is another Sunday and another listing. This is little Jay Jay. He stands 7 inches tall. I hope you all like him.

New Little Sleepy Bunny

2011-03-09T12:18:00.000-08:00

I just finished this little guy and will list him on eBay this Sunday. He comes complete with his up-cycled wool felt blankie.
Update: The little bunny is already sold :-)

Sir Reginald E. Frog & Miss Millicent Mouse

2011-03-06T14:34:00.000-08:00

Here's my rendition of "Froggy went a Courting". I usually don't do too much costuming. This pair were quite a challenge. I started by wanting to make their clothing removable. The frog's clothing is. But the mouse's seemed to be more difficult to do that way. So hers is not. I hope you like them. It's always nice to do things that make you stretch your abilities.

Opie, the Baby Opossum

2011-02-20T16:51:00.000-08:00

I just finished little Opie this morning and his eBay listing starts tonight at the usual time of 6:45 PM PST. He's life-sized for a baby opossum. Little Opie is 9 inches long to his tail and 3 1/2 inches tall to the ear.

Tildy, the Hedgehog

2011-02-19T09:41:00.000-08:00

Here's my latest little one. I've been trying to find the perfect way to do hedgehog spines and tried something a bit different. For this little one I used some faux fur for her back. I like the fact that the fur is blonde tipped and I think it comes rather close to the coloring of some hedgies. But it's still not exactly what I want. It's not quite compact enough and isn't really spiney. In the past I've wet felted spines to insert in. However they looked too large and were too few. The search continues. But I'm still pretty happy with little Tildy. I hope you are too :-)

Keiko, the Jerboa

2011-02-17T10:39:00.000-08:00

It's kind of funny when you get stuck for an idea on what to create next. I was talking to my son in Oregon and asked him what I could do next. He said a Jerboa. I'd never heard of them before. So I googled jerboa and found that they have become a really popular pet in Japan and that they're cute as can be! Little Keiko's auction starts this Sunday the usual time :-)!

Bullet Takes over my Work Chair

2011-02-13T20:26:00.000-08:00

This guy sure knows how to relax!

The Robin Charity

2011-02-09T16:23:00.000-08:00

Cheapie is a big fellow at 4 1/2 inches tall

This is my first auction without a donation. My propane is at 5 % and I need to raise enough money money to buy more. I debated pretty hard about this one. I can handle a cold shower or two until I can get the funds. But I don't want to do it to poor Bullet. He suffers enough already with his baths. So this one is 100% to the Robin charity. My propane company makes me buy 100 gallons at a time because I live so out of the way. I'm also figuring that the next two will also be the same as propane is over $3.00 a gallon. Gulp.

So here's Cheapie. I named him after my little sister's Easter chick the grew up to be a very fiesty rooster. He used to chase the dog around the yard!

His fuzzy down is Merino wool hand-rooted in

His feet and beak were sculpted from polymer clay

Tiny Little Piglet

2011-02-05T21:39:00.000-08:00

This little piggy's auction starts tomorrow @ 6:45 pm PST.

Benny, a Sleepy Little Mouse

2011-02-05T09:25:00.000-08:00

Here's little Benny. I just finished him last night and took pics of him this morning. It's kind of a funny thing with pictures. I tried all different colors of backgrounds and white seemed to look the best. I used to use craft foam sheets and cloth for the backgrounds and have now figured out that poster board works the best for me. The cloth showed to much texture and the foam sheets weren't quite big enough and the colors were a bit too bright.
Little Benny comes with his cushion, pillow, blankets and wooden shoe. His little blankets were cut and felted from some wool scarves that I had found at a thrift shop. I really liked their texture. I boiled and dyed them the green color shown. Little Benny's auction starts Sunday @ 6:45 PM PST.

Violet

2011-02-04T10:48:00.000-08:00

I just finished little Violet last night. She's one of my furry ones. Rooting the fur in is quite a bit of work. But I like the way they turn out. Her auction will start Sunday @ 6:45 pm PST.

Little Tater meets the Frog

2011-02-01T09:41:00.000-08:00

I just listed this little guy last night on eBay. His starting bid was only $0.95. The lowing starting bid was to give everyone a chance at winning him at a lower price. As with all of my bully felties, 20% from his sale will be donated to Bull Terrier Rescue, Inc.

And the Winner is

2011-01-31T12:50:00.000-08:00

Jeanie!

Thank you everyone for your comments and interest in my blog. I wish you all could have won!

The Little Give-Away Mouse is Finished

2011-01-28T11:54:00.000-08:00

So far we have 157 entries and 3 days left to go until the drawing. I finished the the little give-away mouse today. She/he will come with the polymer clay piece of cheddar cheese pictured. The little mousie is 4 1/4 inches tall to the ear. I'll announce the winner on the 31 at 1 pm PST. Thanks :-)

Pip's poppies: an Amazing Felt Doll Artist

2011-01-27T11:09:00.000-08:00

I'm amazed with this woman's felt work and hope you will be too. She just started blogging a couple of months ago and it is definitely one worth following. Here's a link to her blog and some pics of her work.

Bullet's Bathtime

2011-01-24T18:33:00.000-08:00

Bullet's giving a big yawn. But it looks like he's eating the faucet.

He didn't quite care for the flash

or the bath!

Double B Day

2011-01-24T11:13:00.000-08:00

Today is one of Bullet's favorite days and not-so-favorite days. It's bone day and guess where the first palce he headed off to was. You guessed it....my work chair! It's also one of his not so-favorite days, Bath Day. He gets a bath every other day. The poor guy has to endure 10 minutes of soaking his feet, a first shampoo and rinse, then a second shampoo, another 10 minute wait and a final rinse. He gets towel dried and if he's really soaking wet, blow dried. He thinks the blow dryer some kind of evil monster and will try to attack it sometimes. I guess you could've called it a triple B day. Because instead of his usual lunch of chicken, brown rice & veggies, he got a brunch of a poached egg and oatmeal with dried cherries. He ate the egg and picked out the dried cherries and left the oatmeal. Who could blame him though. Oatmeal with no salt, butter or sugar is pretty yucky stuff. But luckily for him, dinner is grilled pork loin, broccoli and sweet potato.

Baby Duck

2011-01-21T14:21:00.000-08:00

I just finished this little duckling this morning. It was quite a chore to get her to balance after I added his final layer of wool. I then realized that I added more wool to his chest and unbalanced her.Her eBay starts Sunday at 6:45 PM PST. This little fuzzy one is yet to be named. Any suggestions would be welcome.

A New Little Valentine's Day Piggy

2011-01-17T19:14:00.000-08:00

Herere's my latest little felty. She's only 1 1/2 inches tall at the shoulder.

Baby Bullet ~20% Donation to Bull Terrier Rescue, Inc.

2011-01-15T18:48:00.000-08:00

Baby Bullet's kind of a bigger fellow at 12 inches long and 5 1/4 inches tall. His listing starts tomorrow night at 6:45 PM PST. It will be a full price listing at $245.00 with a 20% donation to Bull Terrier Rescue, Inc.

The Give-Away Begins! Post here to Enter

2011-01-12T10:15:00.000-08:00

a little mousie from last year

Well it looks like the mouse won as the prize. He/She should be finished next week. I will hold the drawing on January 31, the first day of Spring. It will be a "names in the hat" kind of drawing. From now on, each and every time you post a comment on one of my posts entitles you to another entry to win a little mouse. I will email the winner once his/her name has been drawn and will post the results here in the blog. Good luck to all of you!

Chauncey & Marley

2011-01-09T13:09:00.000-08:00

Marley (sold)

Chauncey (eBay auction starts tonight @6:45 PM PST)

Give-Away Details

2011-01-01T13:23:00.000-08:00

Wow! I can't believe it's been nearly three years since I first started felting and 2 years since I started this blog! So to thank you all for your support I'm hosting a give away. I just published a poll to see which little felted critter you would like as a prize. It runs starting today until the 11 at 12:28 pm PST. After the poll closes, anyone who comments on the posts following the 11th automatically receives one entry for each post. The names will be drawn from a hat and the winner announced on the January 31.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T10:58:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! This February starts my third year of felted art. So to celebrate, I'll be hosting another give-away. Stay tuned to this blog for details. I just finished these two at the last of 2010. Their eBay auctions start tomorrow at 6:45 pm PST. I guess I'm hoping for Spring already.