Henna and Indigo Dye I’ve been experimenting with different dyes — ideally I’d like to move toward using more natural dyes, rather than chemical hot water dyes. The browns on this and the previous mouse are made with a henna and indigo mix, about half and half. The highlights use some cassia to dilute the color a bit. Today I made another henna and indigo … Continue reading Edward the Mouse
After taking a break for the past month, I’ve returned to needle felting this week with a little kangaroo rat. I like how they have long thin mouse tails, but end in a little fluffy pop-pom at the end. Like many desert rodents, they don’t need to drink, and can get all the moisture they need from plants and seeds. The “kangaroo” name comes from … Continue reading Needle Felted Kangaroo Rat
Thoughts on late winter (which I dislike), and an unfinished scrapbook of the past year and a half. Continue reading For us there is only the trying
In the Sonoran Desert the toads wait, buried feet beneath the clay, for a drenching rain to wake them up. As a child my mother would call big, wet summer storms “toad rains,” when the dry river would run for a few days and we could hear the toads croaking at night, sounding like sick sheep. This felt is based on Colorado River Toads, which … Continue reading Needle Felted Toad
Though I’ve been wanting to make a felt jumping spider for a while because they’re the cutest, tiniest little monsters imaginable, which make little nests in leaves, I hadn’t made one before now because wrapping that many legs with felt is a fairly delicate procedure, as is adding horns and stripes. Since I’ve gotten a bit more practice now, I decided to give it a … Continue reading Needle Felted Jumping Spider
This cat looks more at home in the snow. I like how its pose came out, it looks super intent and sneaky. I think it’s an adolescent cat that’s building up its hunting skills. This was my first animal with whiskers — they’re made of embroidery thread slid through beeswax. I liked the effect and added some to the pocket mouse as well. The tortoise … Continue reading Needle Felted Kitty
As I mentioned in my previous post, the weather hasn’t been so good for photography — it was sunny for a while, but too windy and I couldn’t set felts down without them being carried away. Then it was grey and snowing for several days. Today it was sunny but snowy, which is probably as good as it’s going to get for a week at … Continue reading Needle Felted Duckling
I hadn’t read anything by Elizabeth Gaskell before, and picked Mary Barton to accompany my investigations of the Industrial Revolution because both Nineteenth Century innovation and this book took place among the textile and steel mills of Manchester in the North of England. Continue reading Mary Barton Book Review + Junk journal pages and new felts
As I mentioned in the rabbit post, I wanted to make both a little rabbit and a jackrabbit, so here he is. So different from a tiny, round bunny — it was more like working on an antelope, with long legs for running or bouncing, and those huge, pink ears, veins showing to let the heat out. Perhaps if I make another it will be … Continue reading Needle Felted Hare
Working on this chipmunk, I finally figured out how to make proper rodent paws, with some help from tutorials by other artists. It turns out the secret is wrapping tiny, thin bits of wool around a wire base, rather than trying to poke the wool in with a needle. I had known that was possible with yarn, and used it to bind the wires in my … Continue reading Needle Felted Chipmunk
The Laughing Agave 