My Ornament How-To

This is the very first felted dog I made. And, my real dog actually chewed it up. I had to re-do him which almost made me cry because they were so much work. I think Faelan was jealous.

  
If you've never needle felted before, I'm here to tell you it takes a long time to needle felt one dog with one needle. At least it took me a terribly long time.

And the needle is VERY SHARP. Out of twelve ornaments there were maybe two that I didn't drive the needle into my finger until it bled. Even when you think you are being careful it is easy to be lulled by the repitious quality of pounding the needle into the wool. And then, POW! You're bleeding.

There are also multi-needle tools that can be used. But because my dogs are fairly small (most are three or four inches long) a six-needle punch seemed like overkill. I don't think I could shape them easily with that big tool. So this one tiny needle and thousands of stabbings into the wool produced each little doggie.

I didn't read a book or take a class. I just made it up as I went along. So, here's the gist of how I made the pups...

First, I created a small armature with a single piece of 20 gauge annealed wire.

And then I wrapped it, bit by bit, with wool roving. Wool roving is wool that has been combed but not spun. It's pretty much like cotton candy.

One thing about that...All wool is not created equally. I learned this the hard way. The off-white wool was great for felting. It would matt up fairly readily. But this grey wool! And the black! Oh my! They were so soft and beautiful that they resisted felting at every punch. These took at least twice as long to felt as the off-white.It was very frustrating to realize this well into an animal.

So that's why I have so few gray or black dogs. Most ended up being white with spots of gray and black. So if you are getting roving, don't get an especially soft, silky kind for felting.

Then I placed the wrapped armature onto a block of foam (the kind you might find inside a cushion). It was on this that I felted the wool by driving the needle repeatedly through the fibers to wrap them into one another creating felt. First I did the body, then each leg and tail. Lastly I would do the head. Sometimes I would start felting the piece of wool before I added it to the armature. And I would felt layers as I went along so it wasn't one big puffy piece that had to be felted down. Finally, I created the ears individually on the foam, leaving a fluffy bit at the base to connect it onto the head. Then I added the eyes, nose, collar and a hanger.

Speaking of the hanger, each is made from the same 20 gauge wire as the armature. I made a loop at the top and hammered it.

Then I filed the end into a sharp point so it would work more easily through the dog's body.

After all that felting I didn't want to have to mangle the shape of the body in order to get the hanger through.

Lastly, I coiled the end of the hanger and bent it to act as a stopper and hold it in place. It's kind of like a belly button now. :0)

My little dogs aren't perfect. The legs on most aren't exactly the same size. But, I'm not a freak about that sort of thing. I like it when a piece has its own life. I'm the guide to bring it about. Besides, I think I'd go crazy if I were such a perfectionist.

So that's it. That's the basics of how I made my pups. I hope you enjoyed the how-to. And I hope I didn't frighten you away from needle felting. It was fun to make all the dogs for each of the girls. I really wanted to make each one to look like their own dogs. But that got a little nutty. And, I don't recommend starting at the last minute when you aren't sure how to go about what you are doing. lol!

 

Happy Christmas! I hope you'll be inspired to make some ornaments this year!

Comments

[Joanie]

your puppies are incredibly cute and incredibly made with love and lots of work. oh, and determination, i bet. good for you, they're precious. happy days, joanie

[KJ McLean]

They are so cute! I have recently discovered needle felting too (and have the red dotty fingers to prove it!) and it's so addicting and therapeutic!

I'm going to have to try this. Like you, I'm totally self-taught, but I never thought to grab some wire. Thanks for sharing!

[joanna pierotti]

Kelly, I'm loving the dog!!! I made a sheep once doing this and it didn't even look like a sheep, but a dog. I can't believe you made 12 of these. Thank you my friend. I will cherish the pup forever, especially also being a dog lover. Now I know what you meant when you said you drew blood making our ornies. Been there done that. You really did a labor of love.
xo joanna going to blog now

[pilar]

I love my little dog and I say he is perfect! I can't believe the amount of work it takes to felt. I hope you were able to get some frustration out when poking that needle over and over. I can completely understand what you mean re: blood offerings to the art gods. When I embroider, quilt and bead, it can look like the St. Valentine's Day Massacre when I am done. Thank you so much for undertaking this labor intensive project! xoxoxoxo

[Renate]

Kelly, these are just incredible! Your puppies are fantastic and seeing them all together put a big smile on my face. Fantastic.

[Amy]

I love them and admire your tenacity! After the 2nd finger stab I think I would be out.