felted creatures

We finished our section on needle felting today. I highly recommend trying this craft with young artists. I was nervous when we began using the needles because I wasn't sure if the kids could sustain focus and avoid serious finger injuries. I shouldn't have worried. We had a few pricks, but generally the students were engaged by the materials and their focus came naturally. They were most inspired when working on their felted creatures. I have printed a number of stuffed portraits that are super adorable. Take a look.

felted creatures

felted creatures

felted creatures

Both Leaf and Isaiah embarked upon the noble task of creating stuffed bunnies. Leaf's bunny is very girlie with a bow and giant eyes, while Isaiah's is the classic understated bunny of earth tones.



Henry's little devil is made from an old cashmere sweater. There's nothing like cashmere for taking the fear factor out of a demon doll.


Big eyes and a serious hairdo makes Sylvia's little chick super cute.

felted creatures

Art Club felted some stuffed creatures today. We started by creating a pattern on paper and then cutting up old sweaters from the patterns. We flat needle felted the details of the face on the bodies. Limbs and horns were needle felted separately. I used a sewing machine to combine the front and back of the bodies. We stuffed them, attached limbs and things with needle, hand sewed up the openings. They were adorable.



Stage one: flat needle felting the details.




We used Anna Chambers creatures for inspiration.



Not a single student pricked themselves today.

needle felting balls

We needle felted some balls today. I wanted to start with a simple shape and let the art club get lots of practice needle felting in the round. A common problem when learning to needle felt is failing to felt the three dimensional shape tight enough to hold an independent form. I wanted to teach the art club how to avoid a future of limp and flat felted objects, so we practiced the ball over and over again to get that perfect touch. We made solid balls and geode style balls (with lines of color we cut open to see) and turned the balls into hair clips, bracelets, creatures and rings. Good times.


Analise models the highly fashionable hair balls. We used hot glue to adhere the felted balls to the clips.


Henry models the felted ball bracelets. We used "stretch magic" plastic cording for stringing the felted beads.

needle felting

This week we are going to focus on felting in 3-d. Little creatures, fairies, ugly dolls, animals, masks, hats, mitts, jewels -- the sky is the limit. The risk of finger poking goes up when you are working this way so I hope we can proceed with caution.



This is my rag doll, the first I have ever done with a felted face and wooly, dread hair. It was so fun to make -- I got super obsessed with the process. Check out her massive eyebrows!



This is Olive's spritely creation. She is very tiny and her hair proceeds her in a most excellent way.




Sylvia's little sea otter is marked with flower power.

press

Oh my! The art club got some excellent press. Check it out in this week's Isthmus.


If you are visiting the blog because you just read about us in the paper -- welcome. Some of the big themes and goals of the club are listed on the left hand sidebar in the About section, and there are ten months worth of photos and projects in the Archives. Thanks for visiting.