Tag: felting

felted mobile, needle felting, Uncategorized

A Bespoke Nursery Mobile

amandafelting

I love it when I get custom requests as it really grows me creatively. I have made a sheep mobile before (see earlier blog posts) but something so far has prevented me from offering it to the world. When asked if I made needle felted baby mobiles from someone who had seen my work at a craft fair, I jumped at the chance to make one. It is something that has been simmering at the back of my brain to do for a while now.

We messaged via Instagram direct messages to discuss a theme and colour scheme. I have quite a collection of British and merino wools and was able to show a few possible colour combinations before we arrived at a chosen colour palette.

My client wanted an underwater theme so we discussed her favourite creatures and then I started work on a few shapes to show her. I made a couple extra than I knew was going to fit on the mobile to provide choice, and because I was having so much fun making them!

some sea creatures in the making…

These shapes were felted using Shetland batt wool. Once I checked that my client was happy with the way things were going, I began to get creative with the finished designs, adding colour , pattern and features. I love watching their characters emerging!

Favourites were selected (which ones would you have chosen?)

Next step was to choose a mobile frame. For my sheep mobile I hand wove strips of willow. I wanted to turn to my fellow creatives for this one though and researched some frames from Etsy sellers. I showed my client some options and this gorgeous wooden handcrafted one was selected.

Stringing them up using the unbleached string provided with the mobile, was a lot easier than I anticipated and I soon had a complete mobile to show.

All done, photographs taken, videos made, it was time to box it up. And as the client was local, ready for collection!

Custom orders

If you would like me to work with you to make a cute and quirky, bespoke hand made and felted mobile, maybe you are expecting yourself or a grandparent-to-be, please get in touch. I would love to chat ideas with you! Please complete the contact form or find and message me on social media.

@feltfabulousgifts

wool

Using British Wool

amandafelting

Cruelty free wool?

Copy of 1180px x 360px – sheep banner 2I love animals and am a vegetarian. When I saw a post about someone using vegan materials to crochet with because they thought using wool was being unkind to animals, it made me stop and think.

I love using wool and the fact that it is a natural material, I love the feel and smell of it. I wanted to know if I could be more ethical and animal friendly whilst still using wool.

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My learning journey..

When I first started felting I bought “wool” from Hobbycraft. As time went on, and I started buying from more specialist wool shops, I started noticing differences in the textures of the wools and that wool came from different breeds!

Looking into sheep friendly wool, I came across the organisation British Wool.

What’s so good about British Wool?

  • They promote high standards of animal welfare
  • They provide shearing skills training to their wool producers
  • They educate on best industry standards

and also worth bearing in mind…

  • UK sheep farms are small, the farming is not intensive
  • The sheep are raised naturally outdoors on pasture

They have detailed Welfare regulations on their website and excellent information on the 60 breeds of sheep that we have in the U.K.! Phew! Looks like I have a lot more learning to do!

Where can I buy it?

Looking to buy British Wool? I can thoroughly recommend the excellent online shop “World of Wool”. It sells a wide range of natural and dyed wool. The British Wool symbol is displayed on all the relevant wools making it easy to search for. Another useful source of information about British wools and their qualities.

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Herdwick sheep made using Herdwick wool!

 

What about merino wool?

Merino wool – people often wonder about whether this is cruelty free, as mulesing is a cruel practice that happens at some merino sheep farms. Please be aware of this and buy your merino wool from sources that buy from non mulesed sheep farms, as I do.

 

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Yellow merino wool on the inside adds a pop of colour

 

 

So, next steps for me?

  • To continue to search for, buy and use British wool wherever I can.
  • To look into buying from individual British farms and farmers, where I can be assured of the animal’s welfare
  • To consider some vegan options and alternatives
  • To continue to specify the type of wool I use in my felted products

 

 

needle felting, shop

Bunny blog post!

amandafelting

Hello! Welcome to my post about my needle felted bunnies !

Last week I was feeling a bit under the weather, you know, where you don’t feel awful but you have not a lot of energy.

Making more bowls felt out of the question as that involved standing in the kitchen for lengthy periods of time and vigourously rubbing and rolling as I wet felted.

A couple of weeks earlier, whilst sitting on a bus, I had noticed a rabbit (a pretend one) attached to a student’s rucksack and had that lightbulb moment; ping! I’ll make bag bunnies!

Here is my attempt.

 

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Bag bunny attempt

Yeah, not great. Disheartened I left bunny making for a while…until last week when I thought I’d have another go.

What helped me this time was actually looking at REAL rabbits. I have two in my garden! What a wasted opportunity if I don’t observe them! I noticed that I’d got the nose shape all wrong and his front paws were too big.

Needle felted rabbits after real rabbit observation.

Actually, the rabbit with the carrot is a slightly improved version that I did once I’d got more in the swing of it. The first version wasn’t so smiley and his back feet not as substantial. He also didn’t start off with a green scarf.

I put the white rabbit on my Etsy shop and then rediscovered some accessories from my old card making/wedding invitation days.

This inspired me to make a bunny bride!

Bits and bobs
She holds paper roses
A veil and necklace

 

Using some of these accessories, I then improved my white bunny by adding a ribbon around her neck and giving her some flowers to hold. I made her feet more substantial too and improved her nose by adding a bit of brown under the pink. I relisted her as the new improved version.

 

Then followed smaller, “younger” bunnies… A cheeky brother and sister pair…

She wears a felt dress with flowers embroidered on.

 

And finally some babies! I had wet felted some brown Bluefaced Leicester wool a while ago (to make cloaks for little Lego figures) and thought this would make a lovely blanket for them. I blanket stitched around this and added some daisy stitches. I also wet felted a bowl shape as a bed and embroidered a couple of daisies on there too. All my bunnies, even these baby ones, have “whiskers”, made from threading invisible thread through their faces using a needle, ouch!

Sleeping bunnies

So, there we are. I really enjoyed my week of needle felting bunnies. It was exciting to feel myself getting better at the process as time went on. I came across the rabbit that was my very first attempt at needle felting, probably from a couple of years ago now.

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First ever go at needle felting.

I was so proud of him and I actually like the shape of him. Hmmm, might have a go at other bunnies in this pose…. I’m sure I will be returning to bunny felting again soon. Watch this space!

Most bunnies (apart from early “experiments”) available to buy at my Etsy shop.