Needle felted Mama and baby ducks
Today is a day meant for a duck……and me, a dreary, rainy, chilly day in Tel Aviv. These rainy days are my favorite, I’m not a sun-goddess, thus Tel Aviv is a challenge for me, being so sunny and all. These rainy days are snugly, contemplative and they remind me of home and ducks!
"Wait for me", cried the smallest duckling!
As a child, my grandfather Perkinson used to bring magical things to my brother, sister and I from his farm. He brought us fruits from his persimmon tree that my mom made into persimmon pudding (delicious!), butter made from a churn, big dried gourds that he had made into bird houses or drinking cups, arrow heads he found in the ground while building fences, petrified wood he found in the streams along with lizards and turtles and one day he brought ducks to us and my life long love for these birds began!
Ten year old me and some of my pet ducks
I had a lot of pet ducks as a kid, Muscovies and Mallards mostly, they started off living in the corner of our kitchen; my mom boxed off an area where they could live till they were big enough to venture outside and fend for themselves.
Wait for me!
They “peeped” for the first few months of their lives, fuzzy and yellow. After they were bigger and they started to resemble small ducks instead of yellow dust bunnies with legs, they moved outside into a pen that my dad built for them next to our house, but they were like loud little “watch dogs”. My ducks quacked at visitors, strangers and cars that pulled up into the driveway; eventually my dad rebuilt a bigger pen at the back of our property (far from our house) for my loud pets. I played with my ducks every day. They followed me around like a swarm of bees, if I stopped for a moment they were all over me looking for food and this made me laugh, I loved my ducks. They quacked when they saw me coming because they knew they were going to get fed; as they ate the corn and grains that I brought for them, I played in the tall grasses that grew inside of their pen. I built a fort in a corner of the duck pen and barefoot and covered in mosquito bites, I pretended for hours, my ducks being bit players in my many imaginative scenarios. These duck memories have followed me through my life and ducks have always been one of my favorite birds/pets.
Follow me kids!
When I wrote my first book, Sew Magical for Baby, I included my favorite toy designs, one of which was my Mama and Baby Ducks stuffed animals. These funny, lovable toys are a big favorite with kids and adults! You can find the sewing pattern for my fabric ducks in my Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/listing/83311945/pattern-mama-and-baby-ducks
Mama and Baby Duck from Sew Magical for Baby
Attack of the Needle Felted Alligators!
Just when you thought it was safe.....
Moments before the alligator attack, Kitty and I were sitting in the kitchen minding our own business….
imagine the du-da-du-da-du-da suspenseful, foreboding "Jaws" music
….and BAM, the needle felted alligator puppet jumped off the table and attacked Kitty!
but don't worry, Kitty was victorious!
…oh, I was just daydreaming! I started making some puppets the other day, I intended to make a dragon like this one:
Needle felted dragon puppet
….but at one point it started looking like an alligator, so I “followed the shapes”. The simple puppet I set out to make became more complicated, with fairly sharp fimo teeth and finger slots to put your hand so the alligators mouth can be opened and closed. This isn’t s step-by-step tutorial, but I did shoot a few of the creation stages, have a look!
needle felted alligator hand puppet
I made the alligator’s top jaw first, his lower jaw second and the body sleeve last. I inserted glass doll eyes into the sides of his head. I connected the two jaws with a thick, flat piece of wool that acts as a hinge.
mouth hinge
The tricky part of making the finger holes in the jaws is making them deep enough for your hands so you have real control over the motion of the jaws. I used a pair of scissors to cut deep holes in the top and bottom jaws, I pulled out as much wool as I could so that it was still snug when I put my hands inside the holes. I felted the holes as best as I could to make them smoother.
finger and thumb holes for the alligator puppet
My hand fits snugly in the finger holes
Here is the gator without any teeth, he looks pretty pitiful. I made the alligator teeth from off- white fimo (the photo shows an example of the teeth placement).
toothless alligator puppet
I shaped the alligator’s teeth so that they’re slightly rounded, those are shark’s teeth at the top of the photo, for a future project. I baked the teeth at a low temperature for about 7 minutes, then took them out to cool and harden.
fimo alligator and shark teeth
With scissors, I cut deep slits in the jaws (following a photo of a real alligator with his mouth open) and glued each tooth in with fabric glue.
teeth placement
I needle felted a sheath to cover my arm; I wrapped the sheet of needle felted wool around the end of the alligator’s head and needle felted it on.
Flat felted sheath to cover your arm
Felting the sheath onto the head
Now I have a fairly realistic alligator puppet with which I can use to help tell fairy tales or stories, use as a conversation piece at dinner parties or chase the cat around the house with!
Needle felted alligator hand puppet
The Three Little Pigs have got the world by the tail!
Things have changed for the Three Little Pigs, fairytale characters extraordinaire, they’ve got the world by the tail these days! Long ago their nemesis the Big Bad Wolf was caught and jailed for stalking and destruction to private property. The pigs now live together in a posh condo with a doorman to keep out the riff-raff.
The flying Piginski Brothers
After the traumatic stalking episode with the Big Bad Wolf, then trying to collect from the insurance companies for the destruction of 2 of their houses, the lawsuit the wolf laid on the pigs for getting hurt on their property and trying to rebuild their lives again, the fairytale gig didn’t suit the pigs anymore. So, the pigs joined the circus and became the Flying Piginski Brothers, high-wire acrobats!
On top of the World!
The Flying Piginski Brother’s Act has become a swine sensation , the pigs are really “on top of the world now!” Who Knew?!
The Three Little Pigs 2011
Moral of the story: Embrace change!
The End
Fairytale Footnote*The Three Little Pigs are needle felted from wool, they are posable and they have glass eyes. The pigs range from 6.5″ to 7.5″ tall. I’ve updated their story with a modern twist, but the Three Little Pigs has always been one of my favorite classic fairytales! I guess we all like it when the underdog wins and the bad guy gets what’s coming to him, aka: karma rules!
Emili and The Three Little Pigs
Needle Felted Rooster Mask
I don’t know what it is about costumes and masks that get my imagination going! Emili has brought this rooster mask to life (after much complaining about having to model it); from this costume I’ve thought to make angry birds, a punk mohawk headpiece, a gladiator helmet and an owl mask-alas, there’s just not enough time.
Vogue Elephant
This mask and pose make Elli look like a young celebrity elephant posing for a photo shoot in Elephants Today.
Needle felted Rat Mask-Where's my cheese?
The Rat Masks were made as an ode to my girls’ pet rats: Bibbl and Harry. Check out the fimo teeth!
Rat teeth detail
And last but not least, the very pink lounge singer, the elegant Ms. Flamingo…
Ms. Flamingo
See last years needle felted masks here: http://www.lauraleeburch.com/blog/2010/10/playing-and-teaching-with-needle-felted-masks/ and
http://www.lauraleeburch.com/blog/2010/10/needle-felted-halloween-masks/
You can find this year’s mask in my shop: here
The neighborhood cats hang out on a hot summer day.
Photo Friday: These cats make me want to take a nap just looking at them!
