Little ruffled dogs

It's been a few years since I made this design, but what's not to like about a little dog with a bunchy ruff?

 

Each has my log ribbon sewn into their underneath.

And each comes with a signed name tag. They are to be found in the 'needle felt animals' section of my shop here, should anyone want to give one a loving home.

Painting of the week comes up next!

Polar bear bauble

This is the little polar bear bear bauble I'll be teaching at a workshop at the lovely premises of Guthrie and Ghani, in Birmingham. 

It was the third design I tried; initially I attempted needle felting a polar bear Santa around a polystyrene ball, which I've always thought was a nasty idea and found it to be so. You may ask why then I decided to try it; because making an accurate sphere is harder than it looks, and I thought it may be an easier solution for anyone who was just starting out. The wool floated around on the surface, the head barely stuck to the wool (or the polystyrene) and although it was neat, I wasn't comfortable with that way of working.

I then ploughed my way through most of an elf fox, before realising, many hours later, that it was far too ambitious, even for an all day project.  

It's quite hard to design an appealing project, that is a bit different to everything else on offer, but which can be theoretically made in a five-six hour period by people of all abilities.

But in the end, I settled on this fairly simple little bear; there are five places left on the workshop, which runs from 10.30 until 4.30 on December 10th. You can book directly from the Guthrie and Ghani website here.

If you'd like to see the fabulous studio space and my last workshop there, please see this blogpost from November last year.

Little toadstools

It probably says something about the state of our 'lawn' that we have a sprouting of small toadstools this year. They are of the 'small beige' variety, and despite knowing my general toadstools and fungi, I find these to be the most difficult to identify. Suffice to say I shall not be eating them.

I've been creating my own, more colourful toadstools. 

 

They too are unidentifiable, being made up as I go along, but they are loosely based on typical shapes and forms.

I've made a lot of toadstools in my time, and they used to be quite jolly, almost cartoon-like, such as these, from several years ago.

This year I found myself experimenting more with using more neutral colours and layering tiny amounts of fibres to create a more organic, natural effect.

It is a little like painting with wool, using the tip of the needle to tease the wool into creating light and dark areas and giving a hint of the gills without getting too forensic. After nearly ten years of needle felting, I am still learning new and interesting things. 

 

Little Arcadias

I have a new shop section for the miniature landscapes I have been making recently. I've really enjoyed making these - even if they are a bit fiddly at times. 

In the piece below, I've tried a new-to-me technique of blending in different wools to suggest falling light. It is even more accentuated when it actually does get caught in the light, and shadows fall.

They are designed so that they can be displayed from any angle. Which sometimes changes the mood of the piece.

This one is my favourite. 

I think of them as tiny escape hatches or contemplation pieces for when things get a bit much and the place you'd really like to be is on a quiet, faraway hill, with a tree or two and maybe a little house to seek refuge in.

Pet sale!

This trio were designed for the sadly now discontinued 'Craftseller', and were featured in April 2015. They were made specifically to a tight design brief, which is why they are a little different to my usual work. Anyway, the time has come to clear out some of my old designs and raise some funds, so I am offering them up for sale. They can be found in my  Etsy shop here, at low prices as I am clearing the decks.

 

 'Toby' is  4 x 4½ inches (9.5 x 8cm). He was my favourite.

'Bunty' was named after my favourite magazine when I was a little girl (which puts me at a certain age). She measures 4 x 3 inches (9.5 x 7.5cm).

And 'Daisy'. Just 'Daisy'. She measures 3½ x 3 inches (9 x 8cmm). I'll be adding more discontinued designs to my sale in the coming weeks.

Spotted Staffordshire Pig

This is my latest Staffordshire inspired creature. I could only find one image of a pig to work from; pigs don't seem to have been as popular as spaniels or greyhounds. About forty hours later I am finally satisfied with it.

 

I'm finding I have to work a little differently to emulate the Staffordshire look.. I have never needle felted eyes before, however the eyes on the original were painted on with one brush stroke, so I used just a few fibres of black to reproduce this effect. And the hooves were a bit tricky. but it's a challenge which I enjoyed and another learning curve.

 Needle felted pig for sale at www.lostarcadia.co.uk

Staffordshire animals in needlefelt

I mentioned some time ago that I was changing my direction with my work, and doing something somewhat different to the toys that I have been making for around eight years. Typically I chose a challenge. It kind of began with this Staffordshire cat, which I sold a couple of years ago. I meant to make some more but never did. 

 

 

Anyway, I started in earnest earlier this spring and made a copy of another traditional Staffordshire design, this time a rabbit.

A greyhound was next. I work from one photo, to get the first angle and work out how the rest of it should look.

Which isn't always easy.

Each design has it's own quirks and foibles, and with Staffordshire, they are very 'folksy' and quirky. Trying to replicate a design which isn't my own (and which, by the way, I believe is out of its copyright period)  has been something I've found really interesting, although the hours put in on each one are a bit excessive.

The poodle almost finished me off. The shape wasn't too hard to replicate, but this poodle design in it's various forms has stippled, 'salt glaze' on parts of the body, which I tried to emulate by sewing on a silly amount of tiny beads. Eighteen hours of sewing on beads. Yes, I did time myself.

Despite the amount of time they take - 35/40 hours each -  I've had fantastic feedback on my Facebook page and Instagram account, and it is nice to take a break from toys.
Although both cats are sold, the dogs and rabbit are now listed on my new site, in the Staffordshire Animals section. Making things in wool which were originally made in clay.

In print and on the cover!

It's been quite a year so far for magazine appearances - a few weeks ago, my ever popular pattern for doglets were featured in the Comic Relief/Mollie Makes Crafternoon bookazine. This was the first pattern I ever wrote, over three years ago and people still seem to love it! You can still buy the digital version of this from Amazon UK via this link.

I've also started writing patterns for the UK's best selling craft magazine, 'Craftseller' - my first contribution was in last month's issue, number 48, a set of three tropical bird brooches. This is a copyright free pattern, which means that people can make and sell their versions of it. You can buy the back copy of this issue directly from the Craftseller site here.

This month's issue, number 49, sees me on the cover, with a cute trio of pet shop sweeties. These designs are also copyright free and they hit the selves on April 4th, so there's plenty of time to grab a copy and start making.

Craftseller is a UK based publication and on sale at WHSmith, good newsagents, large supermarkets and some craft shops. I'm really thrilled to have been asked to work for them and also to have snagged my fourth magazine cover.  Bottoms up!

In non-needle felting news - lovely Joe has mended the shed roof after a couple of large chunks were torn off in recent gales. It's good not to be alone anymore, in so many ways.