Getting there with my sheep mobile!

July 26, 2018July 26, 2018 amandafelting

It’s taking shape…

So I weaved some willow hoops, I used up all the sticks I’d soaked and ended up making three.

(Probably should have soaked the sticks for longer but I was soaking them in the bath and the youngest needed a shower!)

It was time to start attaching the felted sheep and clouds.

Sheep and clouds went onto the larger hoop first.

Then I attached the two hoops together ( this was the tricky part- balanced and level being hard to achieve) .

The stars threaded easily onto the invisible thread. In the last post I wrote about being unable to thread them with the ribbon, must have been the finer needle I was able to use, and attached two to the upper, smaller hoop.

The sheep, clouds and stars are now on three levels. Not my original intention but it makes sense right?

I’d made three stars but I think it will have to be two or four now to achieve balance…?

It’s something I’ll come back to, sometimes you need to step away from a project and come back with fresh eyes.

I also need to obviously trim the ribbons and neaten it up that way, in case your thinking “she’s left it a bit messy looking”.. but will leave that to the very end.

Anyone else out there making a mobile? How’s it going for you?

I’ll keep you posted guys…

Thanks for reading! x

needle felting

Making a felted sheep mobile

July 23, 2018July 23, 2018 amandafelting

Making progress…

So I needle felted the parts of the mobile a while ago. I love making Herdwick sheep using Herdwick wool and I thought that some mini ones would be just right for a mobile. Counting sheep to get to sleep and all that.

I also made some clouds and added mohair fleece to make the texture curly and fluffy.

Stars were the final felted item, I actually used soya bean top which I’d bought in my exploration of vegan alternatives to wool. I found this really tricky to needle felt with but really love the finished result. All golden and super soft.

I left this project for a while, unsure of what to thread them onto the mobile with and mulling over the general structure. As you can see from the cloud picture, I went with white ribbon in the end. This threaded through my felted makes surprisingly easily , until I got to my soya bean stars!

No way would that needle and ribbon get through. I’m trying invisible thread next I think.

I also need to get up into that loft to get some willow sticks down to weave some hoops.

I’ll hopefully post soon with an update.

Thanks for reading!

needle felting

Hardy Herdwick sheep!

April 12, 2018June 11, 2018 amandafelting

Felting sheep with Herdwick wool

You may have read in a previous post that I try to buy only British wool now. This is due to the high standards of animal welfare in British sheep farming and shearing. Included in a recent batch of British wools that I ordered from World of Wool, was 100g of grey Herdwick wool.

I decided to look more into the breed of Herdwick sheep and discovered their sweet little faces, their attractive colouring and the fascinating facts behind how they live!

Herdwick sheep are born with black wool and then as adults have a grey or brown body with white face and legs.

Herdwick facts

They are very hardy sheep that live on the fells of the Lake District, England.

The lambs learn about the area where they should be grazing from sticking close to their mothers. They have been bred for hundreds of years to be territorial, they do not stray from their area and fences are not required. They are “heafed” to the fell.

Herdwick sheep help to maintain the beautiful rugged landscape of the Lake District by grazing in otherwise inaccessible areas.

“Herdwyck” means sheep pasture. They have been recorded as far back as the 12th century.

Beatrix Potter , the children’s author, was an expert Herdwick breeder.

Felting a Herdwick

I have made some Herdwick sheep in the past but discovered a renewed desire to felt some after a lovely weekend away in Ambleside in the Lake District. On the journey up we saw many sheep in fields and I was looking forward to seeing my first Herdys! For me it was like going on safari and being excited to see my first giraffe!

On a walk into fields in Ambleside, I saw some sheep with the characteristic grey colouring. So exciting!! (Well for me, husband didn’t seem as impressed)

Some wool! Although tempted, I left it where it was.

Back home I got my wool out and got stuck in. I decided to make three at once so I made three heads using white Shetland batt and three bodies in grey Shetland batt. I then covered the bodies in grey Herdwick wool and the heads in white Bluefaced Leicester wool.

The Herdwick wool has long fibres and is rough in texture and wispy so might not suit felters who like everything smooth and neat, but I love the fact that it feels and looks so natural.

I added features to the face and felted the head onto the body.

I made four little legs, again from white Shetland batt, and again adding a layer of Bluefaced Leicester wool. This is more time consuming but the batt is so much easier to felt larger shapes with due to its fuzzy nature, it also works out a bit cheaper.

I felted the legs on and felted on extra grey Herdwick wool to cover any white bits around the joins of the legs and heads. ( I might be better putting the Herdwick wool on last next time)

Here’s the finished result

This one is for sale in my Etsy shop.

It’s taking shape…

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Making progress…

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Felting sheep with Herdwick wool

You may have read in a previous post that I try to buy only British wool now. This is due to the high standards of animal welfare in British sheep farming and shearing. Included in a recent batch of British wools that I ordered from World of Wool, was 100g of grey Herdwick wool.

I decided to look more into the breed of Herdwick sheep and discovered their sweet little faces, their attractive colouring and the fascinating facts behind how they live!

Herdwick sheep are born with black wool and then as adults have a grey or brown body with white face and legs.

Herdwick facts

They are very hardy sheep that live on the fells of the Lake District, England.

The lambs learn about the area where they should be grazing from sticking close to their mothers. They have been bred for hundreds of years to be territorial, they do not stray from their area and fences are not required. They are “heafed” to the fell.

Herdwick sheep help to maintain the beautiful rugged landscape of the Lake District by grazing in otherwise inaccessible areas.

“Herdwyck” means sheep pasture. They have been recorded as far back as the 12th century.

Beatrix Potter , the children’s author, was an expert Herdwick breeder.

Felting a Herdwick

On a walk into fields in Ambleside, I saw some sheep with the characteristic grey colouring. So exciting!! (Well for me, husband didn’t seem as impressed)

Back home I got my wool out and got stuck in. I decided to make three at once so I made three heads using white Shetland batt and three bodies in grey Shetland batt. I then covered the bodies in grey Herdwick wool and the heads in white Bluefaced Leicester wool.

The Herdwick wool has long fibres and is rough in texture and wispy so might not suit felters who like everything smooth and neat, but I love the fact that it feels and looks so natural.

I added features to the face and felted the head onto the body.

I felted the legs on and felted on extra grey Herdwick wool to cover any white bits around the joins of the legs and heads. ( I might be better putting the Herdwick wool on last next time)

Here’s the finished result

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