Felting
Allen the Elephant
Coastal Waters
Goldie the Giraffe
"Pearl" is a needle felted doll holding a bouquet of needle felted flowers.
NADINE — I took a class with Nadine Sanders called "Rumpelstitskin Delight - Double Warp Overlay for Rugs and Table Linens" on October 19-21, 2012. We learned how to weave three layers on the same warp - an Upper Ground, a Lower Ground, and a Pattern Inlay.
NADINE — Since I usually turn my samples into clothes for the dolls that I create, meet "NADINE". Her green blouse shows the pattern inlay that I wove. I sewed her body, needle felted her head and crocheted her hat, bag, cuffs on her legs and arms.
DIANA — "Diana" is a 31" cloth doll that I created. I wove her blouse on my loom in the "Krokbragd" weaving technique and then needle felted her head
DIANA — I love needle felting because I can change any part of the body that I want. I changed "Diana's" eyes from brown to blue, took some of the rouge off her cheeks, needle felted on top of her original all cloth hands and re-touched other parts of her face. You can say I gave her what you would say to a human being, plastic surgery.
DIANA — Back side
LOVE IS FOREVER — I needle felted this senior citizen couple. They have been married for many years and are still very much in love.
LOVE IS FOREVER — This is a picture showing my "Love Is Forever" couple and the blue ribbon (1st place winner) that it received at the "Quilt Las Vegas 2013" show that was sponsored by the Desert Quilters of Nevada. It was held at the Henderson Convention Center on April 26-28, 2013. Our doll club, the "Las Vegas Silver Doll-ers", always has a table at the quilt show. The quilters tell us that it is a huge hit with the people who come to see this wonderful show and the over 300 entries that they have each year.
DESERT ROSE — Joanne Tallarovic taught a class to the Las Vegas Fiber Arts Guild on September 16-18, 2011 on Rep Weave. I told Joanne that I would make a doll and dress her in the fabric that I wove using the techniques that I learned in her class and I would name this doll after her. The weaving pattern for Joanne's dress is called "Desert Rose". She is an all cloth doll with a needle felted face. She is carrying a basket filled with fleece.
SANTA CLAUS — The Sun City Quilt Guild will be having a holiday party this December. Two to three members of the Embellishment Group (E-Belles) are each assigned a table to decorate. I said that I would make a centerpiece for the table that I'm assigned to. I decided to needle felt a Santa Claus. This is what I created.
MR. "G" — I needle felted. Mr. "G" to be a workout partner for my grandson, Gedalya. Mr. "G" wants to be big and strong like Gedalya so he's lifting his needle felted weights. I named him Mr. "G" because people who can't pronounce Gedalya call him "G".
MR. "G" — This is a closeup of Mr. "G" my needle felted muscleman.
NEEDLE FELTED BEARS — I've been asked to teach a NEEDLE FELTING A BEAR class to the Las Vegas Silver Dollers Doll club on September 3, 2011. This is a sampling of the kind of bear that they will be making.
BILL THE BROWN BEAR — I needle felted "BILL" with a merino mix fleece. Shown are a front and a side view of this brown bear.
BILL THE BROWN BEAR
CHUCKY THE DALMATION — I needle felted this dog using Romney fleece. He is busy howling at something he sees.
G THE MONKEY — "G the Monkey" started out as a bear but ended up looking like a monkey. I guess he felt that I had too many needle felted bears in my house and decided to be special and became a cute and bright colored monkey.
"SUNSHINE THE NEEDLE FELTED PANDA" — "Sunshine" is a needle felted panda that I created. He enjoys looking at everyone that walks by.
PATTI AND BETH THE GOLDEN RETRIEVERS — I needle felted these momma and baby Golden Retriever dogs using Romney fleece. I used little round black beads for the center of their eyes and put a drop of white paint in the center of each bead to give their eyes a "sparkle of life".
PATTI AND BETH THE GOLDEN RETRIEVERS
TINA THE MOMMA BEAR — "Tina" is all set to go out with her friends. She is wearing her favorite hat and is holding her matching pocketbook. She even put matching buttons on the front of her body.
MAURINE THE BATON TWIRLER — is a doll that I designed. I wove her skirt on my peg loom, needle felted her head and needle and then wet felted the baton that she is holding. I decided to name her after me since I still enjoy twirling my baton.
AMY — "Handwoven Magazine" has so many opportunities to learn. One of them is their www.weavingtoday.com. I decided to join their "Weave-Along" and weave a Block Twill. I love to make dolls so I created "Amy". She is wearing her block twill dress. I needle felted her head and the flower that she is holding.
KATHRIN — Kathrin Weber taught a class to our weaving guild, the "Southern Nevada Handweavers and Spinners Guild, Inc.", also called "Las Vegas Fiber Arts Guild" on November 6-7, 2010. I wove my piece in a Rep Weave. I decided to make a doll and give her a Rep Weave skirt and then needle felted her head and made a needle felted baby for her to hold.
I needle felted this black cat for my friend to add to her Halloween project.
At a Bachelor party they often have a young beautiful girl come out of a cake. I made this senior citizen gal come out of a cupcake. She's so hungry that she has a handful of this delicious cupcake in her hand ready to eat. I needle felted this entire piece out of Romney fleece. I had just taught another one of my "Needle Felting a Gnome" classes so she has kind of a gnome look to her face.
DOTTIE — Each December our Las Vegas Silver Doll-ers Doll Club has a pin doll exchange at our Holiday party. I picked Dottie's name out of a brown paper bag. This is the pin doll that I made for her. I took my rattail cording and by using the macrame technique I made the doll's skirt. I strung her pearl bead arms onto wire and I needle felted her face using Romney fleece. She is 12" tall.
Rear view — Flo wearing her Huck Lace dress
I designed " FLO" and wove her dress on my loom in Green and Orange Huck Lace weave using 10/2 pearl cotton. Each month's colors were to represent the month. The colors for March represent the Irish flag that is green, orange and white for St. Patrick's Day. I chose two of those colors. I love to needle felt and needle felted her head.
IDA — I made Ida using the same technique as the California Rag Doll except that I needle felted her head and made her necklace by macrame. Her skirt is woven on a Harrisville Peg Loom using a special cutting and weaving technique to give her a ruffle skirt. She is named after my husband's grandmother.
I purchased a pattern from Marie Spaulding called "The Happy Dog". The "Happy Dog" is a needle felted beagle. This is my version of the pattern.
TINY — We used to have a rabbit called "TINY" so I named this rabbit that I designed and needle felted after him.
MR. HARRINGTON — The body for this figure was from a pattern by Marge Gorman. I decided to needle felt my own design for Mr. Harrington's head.
GEDALYA THE MAGICIAN — This needle felted figure was made for a challenge. For this Mystery Challenge, we had to use 1 small rubber chicken and 1 tin can. The following items had to be visible: 3 buttons: 1 red, 1 character and 1 – one inch or larger. We had to use 1 zipper, any size, any color; 3 or more feathers and 1 clothes pin, any shape. The challenge was sponsored by the Las Vegas Silver Doll-ers doll club. Since I love to needle felt, I made a magician. His bow tie is a clothes pin, his jacket has a zipper down the front. He is holding a yo yo of large buttons. His pockets have a red button and a fancy button on it. The chicken sits in a magician’s hat which is filled with feathers. I named him Gedalya after my oldest grandson. He received two awards: 1st for THE BEST USES. 2nd for CUTEST. "GEDALYA THE MAGICIAN" was also published on page 60 in the March 2009 issue of "DOLL CRAFTER AND COSTUMING"
GNOMES — These gnomes were made by rolling fleece and shaping them with a felting needle.
While I was teaching one of my '"NEEDLE FELTING A GNOME " classes I worked along side of my student. I made "KNOBBLES THE GNOME" He is completely needle felted.
WET FELTED ROLLED FLEECE NECKLACE — To make this necklace I made myself a template out of cardboard so each piece of fleece would be about the same size. I then layered 3 different colors of fleece one on top of the other. Next I took a pan of warm water with Ivory dish detergent and dipped the fleece into it- squeeze it out, added a little soap to my hands and then rolled the fleece back and forth to form a long narrow piece. I kept rolling until the piece was firm. At times I dipped the piece into the pan of soapy water to repeat this process. When I was happy with it I washed it in cold water and then soaked it for a short time in water with a small amount of vinegar added. When this was done I washed it again with clear water, squeezed it well, rolled it in a towel, and let it dry. When it was totally dry I took a sharp scissor and cut my felted piece into narrow pieces and strung it with beading thread and added purchased beads.
WET FELTED BALL SHAPE FLEECE NECKLACE — To make this necklace - I cut out a template from cardboard so each piece of fleece for each ball would be a similar size. I then placed a small amount of fleece on my template. I repeated this for the amount of felted balls I would make. Next I dipped each section of fleece into warm soapy water and rolled and rolled it in my hands until it was nice and firm and round. I then washed it off in clean water and then let it sit in clean water with a little vinegar in it, washed it off again, rolled it into a towel to get the rest of the water out of it and let it dry. Then I made a hole in each one with a tool that is used to punch holes in a leather belt and then took my macrame cord and completed my necklace.
For these creations I wove the background on my Harrisville peg loom and then needle felted the 3-D faces on top of the woven pieces. Going across from left to right on the top row is Gedalya, Devorah, and Flora. The second row from left to right has Yaakov Zev, Chaya Nessa Pearl and Hilda the Red Hat Lady. Gedalya, Devorah, Yaakov Zev and Chaya Nessa Pearl are four of my grandchildren. I used their real hair for these pieces. Flora is named after my mom and Hilda was the name of my aunt.
RON CARVES A WOODEN HORSE — I took a photo of my son, Ron, and tried to duplicate it by needle felting. Ron loves to work with his hands. He is building a wooden horse for his two children.
AL IN ROCKER — Even though this does not look like my husband Al, I took a couple of pictures of him and tried to needle felt his likeness.
B.J. THE DRUMMER — I took a class in needle felting with Sharon Costello at the Fiber Studio in Henniker, New Hampshire during the weekend of August 17th and 18th, 2002. It was there that I created "B.J. THE DRUMMER". He is my own design. I used unspun Romney wool, my fingers and felting needles to fold and jab this fleece into the shape of a little man holding a drum. My oldest son B.J. enjoys playing the drums so I named this needle felted man after him. This doll appeared in the Winter 2005 issue of "ART DOLL QUARTERLY" on page 126 in the SHOW AND TELL section.
GRACIE, NOGGINS, GUNTHER — I took two needle felting classes given by Kathy Hays in the Fall of 2001.
PROUD GRANDMA - NEEDLE FELTED: I designed and needle felted this grandma and grandchild while my daughter was pregnant. At that time I did not know if she was having a girl or boy. After my piece was finished she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Chaya Nessa Pearl.
GNOME AND OWL - NEEDLE FELTED — Sharon Costello came to my weaving guild (Frances Irwin Handweavers) in November 2002. We each made a gnome and an owl ornament. These are mine.
RON NEEDLE FELTED GNOME WITH BEARD — I named this needle felted gnome, Ron, after one of my sons who is a college professor. Wouldn't you like this gnome to teach your class? I know you would learn a lot.
ROBIN - NEEDLE FELTED GNOME — Robin is a friend of Ron, the gnome. She is now living in Las Vegas, Nevada. She is also a college professor.
RON AND ROBIN - GOOD FRIENDS — Robin and Ron posed side by side for one last picture before Robin moved to Las Vegas.
THREE NEEDLE FELTED BEARS — I took a wonderful class at Crafty College given by Kathy Hays and learned how to needle felt teddy bears. These bears are my own design. They are made using unspun Romney wool applied with felting needles.
I enjoy needle felting teddy bears. These are small pin dolls that I made for three of my friends.
This is a picture of my friend Fran Parrigan Meehan holding the needle felted bear pin that I made for her.
TEDDY BEAR VESSEL: I made this vessel at a workshop that I took with Sharon Costello. Since I love teddy bears I placed bears all around the entire vessel. This vessel is made by combining the techniques of wet felting and needle felting.
I made this wet felted necklace at a class given by Anne Einset Vickrey at Creative Strands 2004.
PAINTING WITH FIBER — I took a wonderful class with Sharon Costello in 2003 called "Painting with Fiber". I applied 3 layers of fleece in at least 3 stages, wet it with hot soapy water and rolled and rolled and rolled it until it felted. The final stage was needle felting little bits of fleece to give my picture a 3-D appearance.
JACK THE JESTER — Jack is a head made with mainly a wet felting technique. His detailed features were applied with a felting needle. He is my own design but I made him in a class in 2003 given at a conference called Creative Strands and held at Bucknell University. The class was taught by Deborah Pope. We made the head, stuck it in a plastic bag with a little hot water and soap and stomped on it many times. We then took it out of the bag and with a regular needle pulled the head into shape.
Mr. Big started out as a little ornament and ended up 15 ½" tall. I guess I got carried away when I needle felted him.
Proud Grandma, who represents me, is sitting with Ed the Fisherman, who very proudly holds the big fish that he caught. Ed is named after my father-in-law who always wore a cap on his head. They are both my own creations and are needle felted.
Two best friends sit on a bench. I designed these figures by needle felting their heads, hats and boots and making the rest of the bodies out of cotton fabric.
BLUE FISH — I just took another wonderful class given by Deborah Pope at Creative Strands in 2004. We learned how to make a fish by using the wet felting method and by adding beads, strands of wool and other embellishments.
JULIA AND HER FRIEND, THE BEAR — I started with a wire armature, then added strips of batting and finally I both needle felted and wet felted this doll. I made her friend the bear from mohair which I cut and sewed. The tree is made from artifical leaves that I bought and then I strung them onto a dowel that I painted green.
WINTER FUN (YOU'RE NEVER TOO OLD) — I designed these needle felted figures first by making a wire armature so the figures could stand and bend and then by needle felting fleece around it to give it a shape and personality.
EASTER EGG, CHICK AND RABBIT — I took an "Introduction to Needlefelting" on-line class in February 2005 through Joggles. The class was designed by Amy Rawson. In the class we made an Easter egg, then a chick and finally a rabbit.
FELTED VESSEL WITH HEAD — I took another wonderful class with Sharon Costello at Las Vegas Art Stamps during the winter 2005. We each designed our own vessel out of fleece. We used the wet felting technique and wrapped our fleece around a large rubber ball. I added a head to mine.
I designed ROSE and wove her fabric on my loom. ROSE is holding two teddy bears that I needle felted. I learned the technique for these two bears from Bobbie Ripperger, a fantastic needle felt artist.