nimbleknot

The Home Stretch

I guess our thunderstorm/flash flood warning/tornado watch is working in my favor because I am working on my bears!

This is what I do just before I sew on the limbs, making sure everything looks proportional and the pads are all going the correct direction.

I use upholstery thread and a three inch needle. I always do the legs first. The hardest part about threading joints is getting them even. Before I tie everything off I sit the bear down to make sure it sits. This is a good way to tell if the legs are strung evenly. Look at the bear from ALL directions to make sure the legs are even. I thread the needle and go through leg, body and leg; checking for symmetry before I pull the thread through. I go through the bear twice, tying off on each side for strength, then bury the thread. The same process is done for the arms. When you are done jointing go back and cover the indentations with a small wad of wool and your felting needle.

And if you have jointed things evenly, your bear will sit without tipping over. I must say I am liking the longer arms on my bears.

So there 'ya go...a good 6+ hours worth of work. I hope this has helped. I have seen some new felters and thought I would help out with some pointers for those interested. Stay tuned...I am wet felting an Easter Egg for the base!

Almost There

Now we are ready for the nose. I build everything around the nose. Choose a color that you like, i prefer a reddish-brown and poke the wad into the area you choose, high or low. Try to "outline" the nose first with the threads and then poke down the center.

Next is the mouth/snout. I take a very thin amount of wool and twist it into a thread and begin poking for shape. Sometimes you need to add more because it's not very much wool and can disappear quickly.

I punch it near the nose first and work my way around.

Ta-daa!

Onto the eyes. I take a tiny amount of black wool and poke it into the place I want the eye. Doing this gives the eyes depth and gives the face more life.

After the eyes are "set" with wool, I string the glass eyes. I enter through the back, through the eye socket, loop the eye and go back through the head. I tie off the eye on the back of the head and bury the thread.

Alas, she has come to life!

Limbs

I am going a little slower than I thought...mostly because the weather outside is REALLY nice (almost 80 degrees...hello? it's still winter!) and I am riding my mountain bike every chance I get. When I come home I am too pooped to poke. But I did get some limbs done!

This is the foot. I always start with the foot because arms are easier to change the size and length. And if they are shorter or longer they will still "work." The feet and legs, however, need to be proportional and fit the bear. Plus they take longer to make, a little over an hour for each leg and foot. I start the same way with the foot/leg as I do the the body. I take a little wad, loop it, and twist it. This little puff is after about 10 minutes. You can actually get the basic shape pretty early. But it takes a lot of pokes and more wool to make it solid and dense. You can make bigger feet or add toes if you like. I happen to like this shape.

And here is the start and finish of one foot/leg. This took about an hour. You know when it's "done" because there are no stray hairs and the piece is so dense you are having trouble getting your needle in the leg.

This is the beginning of the arm. It's the same basic process as the leg, with or without toes. I actually made my bears with shorter arms in the beginning. But I have since changed into longer arms just because it's easier to put them in clothes and use accessories.

This is just after about 10 minutes. One thing I'd like to point out...make sure in the beginning that the length of the arm is comparable to the other one. It's much harder to add length than width. You end up tacking on wads of wool and it's not near as sturdy. So get the length to your liking and build up the width.

Then I always put the body next to the limbs to check proportions. And this is all of course personal preference. There is no rule to length or thickness to your limbs.

I am waiting on the mail for my new glass eyes from Sassy. When I get those I will demonstrate the face, adding the paw pads and stringing the bear. Once again, the bear will sit on the kitchen table because right now...I am loading my bike and heading out for a 2+ hour ride. Ya' gotta love Austin, Texas!

A Little Tutorial

I thought I would share a little over the next few days on how I complete a bear. I start with Corriedale wool (www.paradisefibers.com), a sponge, a few different sized needles, scissors and a good light. Make sure your hands are clean and dry, free from lotions and perfumes. When you pull out your piece of wool the fibers will vary in length. If you pull too short the roving won't give. I pull out about eight inches and you can feel the wool release.

Once I get the wool in my hand I sort of wrap it over itself and twist it loosely so I can stab it with a needle. If you lie it flat, the ends of the wool will fly away. Same idea when you make a bun in your hair.

Usually I use two to three needles at a time in the beginning to speed up the process. If you use one needle at a time it will go much slower.

This shape is after one hour of consistent poking which I figured out to be about 24,000 pokes an hour. You can see why after two hours your hand and arm are pooped!

One thing you will check consistently is the hardness of your creation. The harder the better. You can see from this check that the bear is as soft as a cotton ball. I've gots lots of poking ahead of me...hours.

And here is another example of how soft this piece is at this stage...

I continue to poke and add bits of wool here and there. When you add a wad of wool for shaping you will also need to go back over it with a "sheet" of loose wool to cover up the lumpiness. Doing this over and over you will eventually get that smooth look. You can also see how rough this piece looks after two hours of felting. It still has a way to go for the finished piece.

But you can also see at two hours of consistent needling how much harder the bear has become compared to the piece above. I am pressing very hard and there is practically no give.

I am going to let y'all chew on that for today. I am actually not that much further ahead on the bear than my last photo. Plus my son is yelling that he needs a piece of toast with butter. I will take more photos today with some arms, legs, eyes. Then later this week I will make some clothes!

Nine-Patch Pincushion

I think I dreamed this pincushion. The colors...happy and bold. I love to quilt. I do everything by hand. I don't design on a computer. I pick out the fabric, toss it on the table and pair them up. Over and over....

I cut small squares and spend hours re-arranging them on a table to get the right color scheme and pattern.

After deciding what fabrics need to go where I sew them together, then decide what order they need to go when folded into a square.

After that, all the seams get matched up, pinned, sewn and stuffed...
I think it needs a bear...don't you?