The Art of Needle Felting and Chimpanzee Tutorial
- Chimp with a Pearl Earring
Salvadore Monki
For Salvadore Monki (after the famous photo of Salvadore Dali), I took Monki’s photo with a needle felted moustache. I photo-shopped his eyes to look like the expressive eyes of Dali in the photo and changed the image from color to black and white. The cropping and the moustache here were key!
The Chimpanzee Scream
My final piece of chimp art is the Chimpanzee Scream. I created the background with pastels (to look like the famous painting by Edvard Munch, The Scream). I positioned my chimp in the lower right hand corner and took his picture. Voila!
I had a lot of fun recreating these Chimpanzee pieces of art, a little something more to highlight my needle felted work!
Emili is monkeying around again!
So now for the tutorial, have fun! Read More
Why does Rudolph have this expression?
fear of flying
Ho-ho-ho! Once again, it’s the time of year to make Christmas tree ornaments! Last year I made a gnome ornament tutorial that was very well received, you can see that here. This Rudolph ornament is based on the same idea of transforming one simple shape into an ornament.
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
Before I go to sleep
At our house, long gone are the days that I had to lie down with the girls to get them to go to sleep, I would wake up in their bed hours later, in the middle of the night and drag myself to my own bed. Bedtime was an ordeal, but we found that bed time rituals helped settle our girls down and get into the mind-set of going to sleep. At our house, the preparations and rituals include the very important glass of water by the bedside, brushing the teeth, saying prayers, choosing a bed time story that I would read to the girls (several years later, the girls chose a bed time story that they would read to me), tucking in and finally they would give me many, many kisses and I would tip-toe out of their rooms. I made these little Beddy-Bye Dolls with bed time rituals in mind, knowing that children like to pretend with their dolls, acting out the things that happen in their daily lives.
But we're not sleepy!
These cute and poseable Beddy-Bye dolls are also great for children who are a little older (past toddler-hood). They are sweet and cute and can be used to act out fairy tales and bedtime stories and they’re perfect just for pretend play.
Dolls and Kits are available in my shop
sweet dreams
Needle felted carrot bag with bunnies inside
The carrot bag is for carrying childhood treasures, be it smooth stones or secret notes or acorns or candies! I’ve included a tutorial for how to make the carrot bag and the four little bunnies that are inside of it; delight and surprise your children with this whimsical bag/toy:) The basics of this tutorial can be applied to any fruit, vegatable or other item of your choosing.
The carrot bag is for girls and boys
Needle felted bunnies live inside the bag
