Needle Felting Project : Peppermint Butler

Catching up on comics today!  Well.  Trying to, anyway. 

Loving the first issue of the new Adventure Time miniseries Candy Capers -- a noirish who-done-it starring Peppermint Butler and Cinnamon Bun.  Adventure Time?  Mystery?  Noirish?  I am so there.

Of these three on the cover, I'm not sure who weirds me out the most.  But hey, everyone likes tea time?
 

Reading this reminded me that I had never taken a good picture of my felted Peppermint Butler!  He's not my favorite character from the show (just... so... unsettling...) but he was definitely fun to make in my own style. Bows are always really fun to felt for some reason.  Trying to make them actually look at all ribbony is always a challenge!  

A new octo-ish felted friend says "hello!" Trying to get back to being creative and making things is tough after a long, uncrafty spell -- it's hard to get back into the habit.  So I hope you enjoy this guy while I try to get back to something resembling a productive schedule.

Adventure Time SDCC Fan Experience Wrap-up!

If you follow my Twitter, you might know that a month or so ago I was lucky enough to be asked to send some of my needle felted Adventure Time fan art to be a part of the Adventure Time Experience fan gallery at the New Children’s Museum during San Diego Comic Con. It was such an exciting experience for me to have my felties in any kind of gallery setting -- I was flattered to be included alongside so many talented folks, celebrating such a mathematical show. 

Also exciting was finding the above picture of my stuff in the exhibit in the write up on one of my favorite comics blogs, Comics Alliance! Probably this represents my fifteen milliseconds of fame.

A couple days ago my art made it home safely, and I was happy to find that they had sent the gallery labels for each set of work back to me with my artwork!  I love the illustration on these, it's so cute and whimsical. Hot Dog Princess also approves.  

AND THEN!  A few days later, I found a mysterious package in the mail with a big Adventure Time label on the front. What in the what! Inside was this totally awesome Finn tote bag, a Jake necklace, a keychain, and the bossest thank you note ever!  

A hero of art! Why yes thank you. And all in rhyme!  What a super surprise -- it was a pleasure just to be included in the exhibit. I've already worn the necklace to work a few times.  Because I'm totally an adult and professional. Yes.

The Cartoon Network really went above and beyond here, I want to thank them for really providing such a terrific fan experience for me!  I can't wait for the next fan art whim to inspire me... maybe finally make that Lady Rainicorn... 

Aaaaadventure Time!

Weekend Craftiness

Weekend greetings! Now that I am in the process of reconsidering and revitalizing this blog, I thought it might be good to do some kind of weekly craft post or posts, showing either my own work or interesting bits and bobs from around the internet.

My newest felted creature, the fellow pictured below, is my largest felting attempt yet!  He's so large that it has been difficult to take pictures of him using my normal photography set up.  I managed to capture only a few, including these two:

I love making large projects, but they're quite time consuming! A needle felting project of this size generally takes more than 8 hours to finish, depending on the scale -- larger ones take several days of work to look "finished," or for the fibers to bind together and look "felted."  This dinosaur was made by wrapping fiber around a wire armature and the legs are semi-posable.

This guy doesn't have a name yet, so if anyone has any suggestions feel free to leave them in the comments!

Needle Felted Tree

Happy Wednesday, gentle readers! 

I am in love with tiny landscapes lately, and decided to try creating my own using needle felting supplies. I'm aiming to make some terrariums one day, but since I had a few of these small terra cotta planters left over from another project, this seemed like a good alternative.

 

There's something very calming about looking at tiny landscapes, for me -- terrariums, bonsai, and so on -- whether they're real, or crafted.  It's a joy, I think, to bring a tiny piece of nature into our lives and homes, and really make it a personal experience!

No Mail Day Tutorial: Little Egg Doll

Little Egg Doll 

(an easy needle felting tutorial)

Welcome to my first needle felting tutorial! This little doll is inspired by both Russian matryoshka nesting dolls, and also by Japanese daruma. Make a cute orange friend, or experiment and have fun creating your own design with different colors and shapes!

Tools
Felting needles or a felting tool
Foam block or mat

Materials
Polyester fiberfill, about a handful
Wool roving in dark orange, light orange, light pink, and black, less than 1/4 oz. each

I usually get my wool roving from HiFiber Kits!