Kind of a crafts blog but only about needle felting. I am rubbish at all other crafts, especially knitting, which Im so bad at, its painful. Also a certain amount of randomness and dog poo jokes, because I belong to four dogs, and I have the title Worlds Greatest Poo Picker-Upper
I'm supposed to be rubbish at knitting! It says so, right here at the top of my blog. But looook! I made a little knitted scarf. And not only that, it doesn't have any holes in it, it didn't start narrow and end up widening out, it's the same width all the way down! Ok, this won't be at all impressive to the knitters out there. But to me, it's a triumph! :D I'll have to change my blog sub-title now I suppose!
Anyway, the miniature scarf I knitted is for her ladyship, Lottie :)
Meet Lottie, the little needle felted lavender healing mouse. Lottie has
always known that lavender is very healing. She grows and harvests
lavender which she then administers to any of the mice in need of some
healing at Mrs Plop's HQ.
This little needle felted white mouse has got all dressed up for a warm
summer's evening out with the girls :) She is wearing her favourite
vintage pearl necklace, with her yellow shawl and she has picked a
yellow pansy flower to clip to her fur.
She has been lovingly
handmade by me from very high quality British ethically produced white
and yellow sheep wool fibre and pearls from a genuine vintage necklace.
She is sure to bring the sunshine into any room.
Huckleberry the little mouse is so shy, he tries to hide his little face
whenever he sees anyone. He wants to make friends, but he is so shy, he
lives behind the watering can that is home to the Hydrangea flowers. We
are doing our best to coax him out to join the rest of us, and to
reassure him, and he is beginning to come out of his hiding place a bit
more, but these things take time.
Mouse Angel by Catherine Lane www.etsy.com/shop/MrsPlopsShoppe
This isn't a step by step tutorial, it's just a few things I've learned during my time needle felting.
I was never a 'crafty' type until I found out about needle felting. I am a creative person ie I write songs and sing, but in the past, whenever I made an attempt at a craft, it always looked like something you wouldn't even want to give to your worst enemy. It was that bad! :D
Then one day I was watching Kirstie Allsop's Homemade Britain, it happened to be the needlecraft episode. you can watch it here on 4OD Kirstie Allsop's Homemade Britain Series 1 Episode 3 Needle felting was featured on the programme, and that was it. I was intrigued. People can actually make teeny tiny animals out of wool?! I had never heard of it and I spent the next couple of days constantly searching the internet for tutorials on how to needle felt. What is needle felting?
Needle felting is basically just manipulating wool with a felting needle. The needle has little barbs in it and when you felt, ie stab the needle into the wool, the barbs pull and push the wool fibres so that they become 'knitted' or matted together. The more you stab the wool, the firmer it becomes and then you can also shape the wool with your hands.
There are different kinds of needle felting, this post is about 3D Sculptural needle felting, where the wool is dry and you use one needle at a time. There is also wet felting (which I only tried once and it wasn't my thing)where the wool becomes felted by wetting it and manipulating it whilst it is wet rather than using a needle.
How was needle felting first discovered?
I heard somewhere (can't for the life of me remember where though!) and my memory is a bit sketchy, but needle felting came about when some farmer/shepherd type bloke ages ago (historians would be proud of me) had to walk a long way every day and his shoes were giving him blisters, so he put some wool from his sheep into his shoes and the movement of his feet manipulated the wool. So when he took the wool out, it was felted. Hey presto, stinky foot cheese felt! :) It's a good thing we use needles now instead of our feet.
There are tutorials online and on Youtube that show the basics. Before I had ever tried needle felting, I did get a couple of basic books from the library, but I mostly just watched videos on Youtube. Here is one of the ones I found most useful....
Beth Stone's needle felting tutorial. Parts 1-7
Also, there is a fantastic series of needle felting tutorial DVDs that are so worth purchasing. They are by Kay Petal of Felt Alive. I didn't see the DVDs until I'd been felting for a while, but I learned so much from her. Thank you Kay!
Here is the link to Kay Petal's website, where you can buy her DVDs. Kay Petal Dolls Needle Felting Video Workshop
I also have a make your own mouse needle felting kit available in my shop here: Mrs Plop's needle felted mouse and tutorial kit. This kit is for advanced beginners/intermediate but you only really need to know the basics. It also includes a free month of tutorial support and advice from yours truly :)
So how do I start?
All you really need to start is:
Wool roving A pack of general felting needles (but I started with just one needle) A foam mat/pad
and that's it!
I'll talk about each of the above list in a bit more detail: Wool roving (basically roving is unspun wool)
There are lots of places online where you can buy it, just do a search, or if you have a local craft shop, you will probably find some there. But I can't really recommend types of wool, because I only use wool from local animals, where I know what their living conditions are. It might make things a bit more limited for me, but that's just the way it is. I found out about the animal welfare aspect of Merino wool and now I won't touch it. Again though, search that if you're interested, because this is a craft blog not an animal welfare blog and I don't want to start waffling on about it, but if you can use wool from a small herd of sheep or from a supplier who gives information about the origin of their wool, much the better! When you first start, your pieces will be practice though, and wool isn't massively pricey, so you can experiment with different wool and see what suits you best.
Needle felting needles
Felting needles
You can buy packs of general felting needles at lots of different places online, but there's a lady called Heidi Feathers on ebay who sells them and provides an excellent service. The packs she sells are very reasonably priced and are colour coded. She also provides an online guide to felting needles. Very useful!
Here is the link to her felting needles: Eight felting needles pack
And here is her guide to different types of felting needles A guide to felting needles
Spiral/Twisted Felting Needle
A little update about felting needles: I recently bought some fantastic new felting needles. They are called 'Spiral' or 'Twisted' felting needles, they are so great to work with, and they leave almost no puncture marks. Brilliant! :) You can buy them from a fellow needle-felter and friend of mine, Bianca. Here's the linky: Spiral felting needles from FeltSpecial
Foam mat/pad
You'll need a mat or pad because you're using a very sharp needle and you're stabbing that sharp needle repeatedly into wool. Not only do you need it to protect you so you don't end up looking like a colander and being in a lot of pain, the wool needs something to support it during the felting process, and if you just felted onto a table you'd break the needles straight away. Felting needles break easily. Again, Heidi Feathers sells a foam mat which you can buy in her ebay shop. (this foam is the type of foam that is used to protect electrical items) You can also use upholstery foam, but I prefer the firmer foam as the upholstery foam tends to break up easily as you felt on it, and you end up with little bits of foam stuck to your felted animal. Plus upholstery foam tends to get thin in the middle after a while and then your felting area is all thin and rubbish for felting.
Before we go any further, a word about safety
Be very careful with the needles when you're felting, they are so sharp. When I first started, I was always stabbing my fingers with the needle, and it really hurts! My fingers were often covered in plasters. I thought this would just continue, but as I've got better at the craft, and got to know it better, I've stopped stabbing myself, which is always useful! ;P I'm sure I will again but it is just one of the things that can happen with needle felting, but just remember to be as careful as you can possibly be.
When I first started though, I tended to stab the wool too vigorously and I think that's one of the reasons why I stabbed myself a lot. As you get familiar with it, the pressure of your stabbing movements will become less vigorous, as mine did. My husband used to ask me to stop felting before he came into the living room in case I stabbed myself when he was there. Lol!
Ok, so you have your wool, needles and a foam mat/pad and your heart's desire is to make the cutest needle felted animal ever! It will take time to get to the point, and here is the main point of this entire post. Do not lose heart! Keep trying, if you make one and it's not good, chuck it out! So what? Just keep felting and practicing, you will get there, and that's a fact!
If you want to make needle felted animals then you must be someone who really has a great love for animals. I think that's so important. I risk sounding flaky here, but I don't care, because it's the truth. The more love you have for animals, the more your felted animals will turn out how you want them to turn out. Put all that love that you have for animals into your work as you make it. (ok, I was brought up by musicians, what do you expect? ;) ) Choose an animal that you want to make and then look at lots of different photographs and videos of that animal, look at photos of the animal in as many different positions as possible. Look at the shape of that animal, read about their lives, get to know more about them. You're making a 3D sculpture out of wool, so when you're looking at photographs, look at the shapes of the body, head, legs, ears etc very closely before you even start. Have a picture in your own mind of what your finished felted animal will look like. I'm not saying that you're aiming to produce something that looks real, but get all the anatomy and shapes in your mind as much as you can.
I don't use or make patterns, I just start. When I start felting, I always start with the head, and I'm not completely sure how other needle felters work, but I personally put on the eyes and sometimes the ears, reasonably quickly, ie after I'm happy with the basic head shape. I know that some felters don't put the eyes and ears on until they have the head attached to the body, but it's really whatever suits you best. I find that if I can see the eyes, I am then working with something that has the beginnings of an expression and a character and I work around that, if that makes sense! Some people use a wire armature, which is basically thin wire wrapped together to make a 'structure' for the animal that you build the wool on. I did try it when I first started, I know some people swear by it, but I found it wasn't right for me, and when I stopped using a wire armature, my felted animals improved.
Don't worry too much if things aren't looking right! That's a very important point. These things take time to create as I've already mentioned! And more time than you think! It won't look great to begin with anyway, until you've worked on it and shaped it. If something's not looking right to me, I'll put it away and go and think about it. I know that sounds daft and kind of obvious, but to me, the time away from a project is as important as the time making it. You need the breathing space to think about what it is that isn't right, and again for me, after I've had that time, I'll look at it again with fresher eyes and I can see what the problem is, and then correct it.
If you've over-felted something, and this happens if you work on an area for too long, it becomes too hard to work with, you can't shape it anymore and when you put your needle into it, it just doesn't do anything except make holes from the needle, but the wool isn't actually moving anywhere. I think that was one of the things I did most when I first started, I over-felted my projects. So if you do that, just think of it as part of the learning process and don't worry too much if you do it. If you over-felt an area, or you realise you've put too much wool in one area, just cut it out! It's not a big deal, you can easily cut it out and just re-felt the area with your needle.
Give yourself the time you need to really get to know the wool and the needles. You'll find you just become more comfortable with it and you'll get to know how it works and how to work with it. Don't ever think you can't do it if it's not turning out right, just keep going! Otherwise you'll give up before you've given yourself the time that is so necessary to learn this amazing craft!
Have fun!
If you have any questions about needle felting or you need some help, I'd be happy to help you. You can just email me: mrsplopsshoppe@gmail.com
Homeless Down & Out Little Felted Mouse Without A House Will Work For Cheese! If you would like to give him a home, go to Mrs Plop's Shoppe on Etsy
There's
nothing as sad as a mouse without a house, but this poor little mouse
is unemployed too :( As his sign says, he will work for cheese!
He's
a very hard worker, and he has fantastic people skills. He just needs a
break, so he can get back on his feet again. Everyone deserves a break
and no one likes to see a mouse homeless!
This little felted
mouse is 3 & 1/2 inches tall. He is made from grey Shetland wool.
His scarf is green and blue wool. His nose is pink
alpaca wool, and his eyes are black glass beads.
If you think
you would like to give a home to a down and out little mouse but maybe
you have questions, please message Mrs Plop, she knows this little mouse
well, and will be able to tell you anything else you need to know about
him :)
Like many people these days, I can't afford the luxury of owning my own house. I do live in a lovely cottage in the Somerset countryside, with my husband, but our cottage is rented. Before I met my husband, I lived in London, and the only places I could afford to live in on my own were rented rooms, and I've lived in more of them than I care to admit, even to myself!
But the experience got me to thinking about bedsits and living in lodgings in general, and how different the experience is today, compared to what it must have been like back in the day.
Today if you need to rent a room, you have two choices; you can either rent a room in a house-share with a bunch of other people who you may or may not like, they'll be 'professionals', students or just generally, people who can't afford to buy a house, so that narrows it down! Option number two: You can pay an extortionate amount of money per week for the privilege of living in a lonely, grim bedsit, with only a miserable looking two ring baby belling cooker for company, and a plank of chipboard to prepare your vegetables on. Not very inspiring is it?
In days gone by, when people rented rooms, it was called lodgings. The landlady actually lived in the house, and would provide meals too! More than likely a plate of bread and dripping, or a vat of lard, but still, you know what I mean. This is a good example of the fact that we, as a nation, (no, scrap that) as a species, have been steadily becoming more and more separate from each-other, with less community spirit.
Vintage films and books show mostly young, single men living in lodgings, with a landlady who always seems to be portrayed as just a little bit nosey, and mainly always spends her time hovering about at the bottom of the stairs. The vintage landlady is a no-nonsense, rather imposing presence, who loves to keep everything ship shape..Very house proud, or mouse proud, in my little felted mouse's case.
Catherine Tate, the brilliant British comedian, did a hilarious sketch of a vintage landlady and life in the 1950s, from the third series of The Catherine Tate Show, in which a modern day police officer gets knocked off his motorbike, and somehow wakes up in 1950s Britain.
Anyway, back to my little mouse, Vera.....Inspired by this theme, I decided I wanted to make a felted vintage landlady mouse, with a miniature vacuum cleaner. I could picture her in my mind's eye, but I had no idea what she was going to turn out like....
For Vera's body and hair, I used a gorgeous Beige coloured Shetland wool. Vera's hair was made with a fantastically soft Fawn Alpaca wool silk.
Vera took about 3 days to make, and I knew that was going to be the easiest part. The hard part was going to be making a dress for her. Mostly because I can't sew! I decided to ignore that fact, and just go with it anyway, I'd cross that bridge when I came to it! Hmm, I thought, that could be a bit of a major issue! I decided maybe I would buy an ready made outfit for her, but then I realised it would be far better to just face the challenge and get past it. I can felt, but I can't sew. I wasn't going to let that stop me though....
I stomped around the local charity shops looking for vintage fabrics and came back empty handed. I eventually found some reclaimed vintage fabric online that I liked the look of. I have to say, I know absolutely nothing about which fabric is good for which project, I do know what looks lovely, and is obviously good quality.
Right, so I had the things that I thought people who do sewing would need; fabric, needles, cotton, scissors. I don't have a sewing machine, but after battling with Vera's dress, I think now is a good time to invest in one! I've never actually sewn anything in my life, apart from a button on a pair of jeans, and even that was definitely not in the right place. So with a deep breath and the thought 'why don't I just buy a dress' in my mind, I struggled on....
I searched online for a tutorial video, for what seemed like aeons, but I couldn't find one that didn't seem to assume the viewer had at least some knowledge of how to make something out of fabric. I finally found a tutorial in photographs, for Barbie (or similar) dolls:
I won't tell you how many 'patterns' (if that's what you could call them) that I made and threw away, because it's just embarassing, I can almost hear the sewers among you giggling at my sewing genius ;)
After I'd pulled most of my hair out in frustration, I had this. Ok, don't laugh too loudly...
Um, what is it?
Then I pinned it to Vera. She turned her back on me and said....
You've got to be kidding me, right?
Well, no actually, I wasn’t kidding. Here you go Vera, here’s your dress….One very unimpressed mouse.
You seriously expect me to wear this?
I had ordered a teeny tiny vacuum cleaner from a doll's house accessories shop on Ebay. I wasn't about to start wondering around my local shops asking if anyone, by chance, had a miniature hoover they could sell me. I already have a reputation in my neighbourhood for being a bit odd ;) The problem with buying doll's house accessories, as I found out, is that most of them are scale 1/12, bigger than Vera, who stands at about 3". An upright modern, but vintage looking mini hoover would have been far too big, so I went for a genuinely vintage vacuum cleaner. It cost more, but at least it's the right size and it is genuine vintage. Although from a later time than Vera is from, but that's just getting picky.
The mini vacuum cleaner arrives!
How cute is that?
Time to do Vera’s hair and I thought a snood would be very fitting for
her. I found a really sweet crocheted vintage doily in my local charity
shop that was perfect for Vera’s snood.
Vera's vintage snood material
I rolled the fawn Alpaca wool & silk onto needle felted ‘rollers’ and felted them into place…
Watch the hair lady, I still haven't forgiven you for this dress.
Rollers all in, now for the snood….
Yes, lovely dear, but when are you taking these rollers out?
Phew! Finally finished – Ok, so I kind of covered up the messy bits
on the dress, but for a first time tiny dress, I’m giving myself that!
Vera is happy with the way she looks, but she’s still a little bit
grumpy about the fact that the rollers are going to be in her hair
forever….
