I’ve just received another precious package through the post. A package of fur that from a dog who has now passed on, fur for me to felt with.
I have felt very privileged recently to be able to create for people who have lost a pet. Like most needle felters, I usually use sheep’s wool, but sometimes I use dog’s fur to felt with.
Dog fur can be surprisingly easy to felt with! Obviously the softer and fluffier the better, the soft undercoat that comes from grooming is the best fur for me to use.
This blog post is about the making of a dog named Bruce.
Felted Bruce started with a pipe cleaner armature to which I added a base layer of felted Shetland batt wool. I then started to add Bruce’s fur as a top layer. I started this even before I had finished off the dog’s feet as I was anxious to see just how feltable it was!
As well as the finer, more wiggly hairs from the soft undercoat, the fur contained a lot of longer straighter hairs that are more difficult to felt in. These hairs tend to stick out and as this was a smooth haired dog I took a bit of time felting over the body in an effort to get it to become smoother. The dog was mostly one colour but had some darker shades and some white patches. I initially tried to use the darker and lighter bits of fur to replicate the these but as the white parts of him did not look white enough, I added some white wool here. I also used wool for his eyes, nose and mouth.
To finish him I snipped off a lot of the sticky out hairs with scissors.
The way and the extent to which I use the dog fur depends on the amount, colouring and consistency of the fur. I like to keep in touch with the customer and let them know how I am using the fur and where I have used wool. Any left over fur is then returned with the dog.
Further blog posts will follow regarding felting with fur including one where I look at the difference between dog fur and dog hair!
Felt Fabulous 