Needle Felting The Hams

[WinnieTheHam]

Well, I've been inspired by Velmas needle felting, it seemed so interesting to me so I thought I'd buy myself a kit, and now I have so many packs of wool, haha! Oh dear. I'm super happy I've got myself a creative hobby, I've always been on the creative side but art college made me lose my love for drawing, because I had to do it all the time! So it's nice having my new found love for needle felting! :)

I made my mum two elephants for mothers day, and then decided to do a hamster.

The Ham I decided to do first was Souffle's Creamface McPatch. As soon as I heard about her loss I felt I needed to do something for Souffle because I knew how special Creamface was to her and her family. I'm so happy I got to see Creamface at Bradford champs, she was a beautiful girl. I actually wanted to keep it a surprise for Souffle, but felt creamface has just been staring at me for ages I decided I was going to tell Souffle about my creation that was made with all my love, and I couldn't be any more proud of how she turned out.
http://i627.photobucket.com/albums/tt355/xXtoffeappleXx/Needlefeltcustard_zpslj20vfnc.jpg (http://s627.photobucket.com/user/xXtoffeappleXx/media/Needlefeltcustard_zpslj20vfnc.jpg.html)

I will be doing The Autumn hams soon, I just need to buy some white sheeps wool, I accidently got white mohair and it's terrible for doing intricate details!

[WinnieTheHam]

I've also got some plastic, bead-like eyes to try with my next ones. I find needle felting really de-stressing. I do it after I come home from college to relax. I'm one of those people that always has a mind that tells me I need to do work, if I have work to do, even if I decide today is a day to relax! I really recommend needle felting to people that stress easily, it's great and has really helped me organise myself better! :)

[velma]

Hurray! Glad you've found the joy of needle felting :) therapeutic, isn't it? And you don't need a lot of space, apart from when you buy more and more pretty wool.... Your Creamface McPatch looks great :)

[shawniyatwain]

That is amazing :) I used to be creative don't really have it in me anymore :/

Would love to pics of future makes

[SKB_Hamsters]

That is incredible, I wouldn't be able to do needle felting and make to make anything as good as that. Is it hard to do needle felting as it looks really complicated? But I also do crafts to relax I normally makes toys and chews for my hamsters out of wood and cardboard and also like sewing (still learning as I'm teaching myself), but I have never tried needle felting!

[WinnieTheHam]

Thank you all :)

Needle felting is great, and it's actually easier than I thought it would be. There's a lot of youtube videos to watch, I find it better when I can see people do it first, to know how to do it myself. It's basically just stabbing some wool, and rotating the wool to form a shape. You can sort of squish it and roll it around to make the shape you want really. That's about all that's to it. To secure shapes together all you need is another piece of wool in between the shapes and then stab it in the shapes and it forms one shape. 'Stab' is not a very nice word to describe it haha, it's a really lovely craft :)

[SKB_Hamsters]

It's sounds a lot easier to do then I thought it would be, I always watch tutorials on YouTube as you can follow along with them which is easier then reading written instructions. I might have to try needle felting in the future then as I always love to learn new crafts.

[velma]

Like Winnie said, it's really not hard at all. Well, if I can do it.... :mad: The main thing, I think is to not be too impatient - keep poking away until the shape you're making is really nice and firm. If you pinch it and fibres easily come away then you need to keep going! :)

[WinnieTheHam]

Yes, Patience is key! Poking is a nice way of putting it Velma! Thank you, haha :) Let us know if you make anything SKB :D

I'm working on a little felt Abe at the moment, I hope it goes as well as Creamface did. I usually find my first try always comes out better than the others haha! I will just be extra patient with this one :)

[leedsgurl]

These are so cute! I got a needle felting kit for Christmas but haven't tried it yet :-)

How big are you making them? It's hard to get an idea of scale from your pic :-)

[WinnieTheHam]

Thank you! :)

Creamface is 8cm from base to the top of the ear, and she's 5cm in width at the widest point. She's about 4cm in depth. Trying to get them all a similar size although they will probably vary a little :)

[WinnieTheHam]

Also Creamface is a tort, and from pictures of her, she has some patches of yellow on her back. Here's a picture of the back of felt Creamface :) Cute little tail too haha.

http://i627.photobucket.com/albums/tt355/xXtoffeappleXx/creamface2_zpsrktzz83f.jpg (http://s627.photobucket.com/user/xXtoffeappleXx/media/creamface2_zpsrktzz83f.jpg.html)

[SKB_Hamsters]

Like Winnie said, it's really not hard at all. Well, if I can do it.... :mad: The main thing, I think is to not be too impatient - keep poking away until the shape you're making is really nice and firm. If you pinch it and fibres easily come away then you need to keep going! :)


Yes, Patience is key! Poking is a nice way of putting it Velma! Thank you, haha :) Let us know if you make anything SKB :D

I'm working on a little felt Abe at the moment, I hope it goes as well as Creamface did. I usually find my first try always comes out better than the others haha! I will just be extra patient with this one :)

I'm a patient person, so I don't think that will be a issue but I'm a perfectionist so is it easy to adjust the shape if it is not perfect?. I'm considering buying a needle felting kit so I can give it a try and see whether I can do it/enjoy doing it and I will let you know how it goes.

Can't wait to see your other needle felting hamsters! It's all ways the case your first one normally turns out better than the next!

[WinnieTheHam]

It depends on how hard the shape has become to be able to adjust it. I usually have to pull off the smaller shapes and re-do them because I'm a perfectionist also, haha! Like today, I was doing Felt Abes face details and I had to re-do it again because it just didn't go right... it still isn't right and doesn't look exactly like Creamface's face which I'm pretty annoyed about but I'm just going to finish it and see how it turns out. I've put the nose too low so you can't see his mouth, but oh well!

Also the plastic eyes I got are too small so I'll have to use wool instead. I can use those for something else :)

[SKB_Hamsters]

Ok I think I will need to give it a try then. It's so annoying when you are making something and it doesn't look right to you it's noticeable but other people can't see what you see! It's frustrating when you are doing crafts to relax but when they are not perfect they become stressful, but I always enjoy seeing the finish product as it makes me feel a lot better once it's all done.
When you finish felt Abe it might look fine, can't wait to see it though!

[WinnieTheHam]

Let us know how you find it when you do! :D I know! It's so frustrating! That's why I want to get it done and see the finish product, trying not to think about how it looks at the moment haha! I'm being patient with it :)

[WinnieTheHam]

I've not managed to have the time to do any of felt Abe, but once I have the time I will let you know how he goes. All he needs now are arms, legs, a tail and eyes. I will also need to make his body in proportion with his head by layering wool to imitate the muscular parts like shoulders and hips. It is a process that takes a lot of patience and time! I'm looking forward to how he turns out :)

[Lala Noma]

It is simply beautiful! I would love to have one little hamster like that and hang it in my bag, like telling everybody "yeah, I love hammies!" :)

[Amber_x]

My friend made me a hamster out of loom-bands once :)

[Elliiy]

oh wow that came out so good

[pinkneon]

Wow! That's incredible! Looks complicated though. Can I just ask a stupid question though ... What is needle felting?

[AmityvilleHams]

Wow! That's incredible! Looks complicated though. Can I just ask a stupid question though ... What is needle felting?

There are no stupid questions :D It's a form of crafting where you sew stuff together I believe,or something like that.Probably expect a more detailed reply from someone else though,I'm kind of sick and all gross and miserable at the moment so I'm not exactly at my best right now :(

[velma]

No sewing involved (unless you sew on details at the end). Needle felting is where you take wool roving (like coloured fleece - wool before its spun into yarn) and you have a special needle with "barbs" in it. You stab away at the rovng until it grips it together (wool has tiny barbs which when agitated, from stabbing or a hot wash, shrink and grip together) until you can't pull it apart. You can make 3D shapes or you can poke wool into other fabrics to add pattern or detail. It's good fun! Don't worry pinkneon, I only came across it a few years ago when I attended a textiles course :)

[Twiglet]

Ooh, I'm a needlefelter too! Isn't it nice when two interests combine? :D I haven't made a hamster before, but might have to now. I'm currently making a T Rex for my daughter, but I'm fed up with it, so taking a break and making a hamster might be good.

[pinkneon]

It truely is amazing! Sounds a little complicated too! You could make an entire Noah's Ark - hamsters included of course!

[WinnieTheHam]

Thank you all! haha. I plan to create some cats soon, I've bought some glass eyes to use with them but I'm sticking to hams for now :) Abe has now got three legs and eyes! He's starting to look a lot better and I'm looking forward to finishing him.

[flowerfairy]

Belle Aria next!

[WinnieTheHam]

Belle Aria next!

She sure is! :D

[WinnieTheHam]

Finally done Abe, As you can see his head messed up during the process, I could have amended it but it would have taken forever and I got impatient so I just left it how it is. :) Still happy with it though! I changed the legs a bit to make it more 3D :)

Also Creamface felt went home with Souffle on Saturday.

http://i1226.photobucket.com/albums/ee416/autumnhamstery/feltabe_zpsjmz42gkc.jpg (http://s1226.photobucket.com/user/autumnhamstery/media/feltabe_zpsjmz42gkc.jpg.html)

http://i1226.photobucket.com/albums/ee416/autumnhamstery/feltabe1_zpsvsxxbg8q.jpg (http://s1226.photobucket.com/user/autumnhamstery/media/feltabe1_zpsvsxxbg8q.jpg.html)

http://i1226.photobucket.com/albums/ee416/autumnhamstery/fetlcreamabe_zpsa8zkguf8.jpg (http://s1226.photobucket.com/user/autumnhamstery/media/fetlcreamabe_zpsa8zkguf8.jpg.html)

[SKB_Hamsters]

Felt Abe looks amazing!

[WinnieTheHam]

Thank you SKB! I'm Proud of him! haha.