LIVING FELT
INTERNATIONAL FELTING CONTEST 2012

I love Ewe
Jacqueline Felix
Erie, PA USA

Doll: 8" H Ewe: 5" H x 5" L Wheelbarrow: 3" H x 6" L

All items have be hand-felted by me and are totally original in design. My inspiration came from my love of wool and sheep which provide us all with this lovely media in which to work. I considered doing a version of "Mary had a little Lamb"; and eventually came up with "I Love Ewe", sort of sums it up for me. The doll is completed needle felted as is her apparel, the only things comprising the doll that are not needle felted are the one wooden toothpick used to represent the toggle buttons on her coat; as well as four inches of silk ribbon to tie her pigtails (not visible in pictures) and two inches of trim for collar/cuffs under coat.

The doll's hair is Tibetan lamb and was needle felted to her head using the same wool batts I utilized for the face and body. The eyes, nose, fingers, hands and feet are completely and totally needle felted; and yes; under her boots she does have actual feet with toes, felted in a similar fashion to her hands; I really wish I could have sent in more pictures.The doll was felted over a wire armature to permit her to pose and stand freely, and in general I approached her creation very much as most standard dolls. The doll is a separate entity from her clothes which I made very much as you would most doll clothes, only I felted the sleeves to the jacket instead of sewing them together; I used this same method for making the skirt. I needle felted sheets of felt, cut my pattern pieces and felted seams together rather than sewing them. Even the trim used for collar and cuffs were in actuality felted, not sewed to the sleeves. The hardest thing of all was dressing the doll once her clothes were finished, if I had it to do over I would maybe approach things a little differently, but that's just trial and error. I must admit however, I did use my felting needle to snug up any alterations. The boots are totally separate from the doll's feet and could, if need be, actually be removed. (I forgot socks, our little secret, I hope). The sheep, (South Suffolk Ewe-native to England) is completely needle felted with a overcoat of wool nubs, also needle felted to the body. The cord around the sheep's neck is felted, the cow bell is not. The eyes of the sheep are glass and were custom painted so as to be exact to the species of sheep, which is why I didn't felt them, I wanted them to be as authentic as possible, but I'm sure I could have felted them, as well as the cow bell, but time was ticking and I had to choose my battles if I wanted to finish in time to participate in the contest. The Ewe is completely free standing and has no internal armature. Lastly is the wheelbarrow; this took a little engineering as well as ingenuity. I only added it to create an overall theme to express without words and in "FELT", how much the little girl loves her sheep and cares for it because she loves it. The body of the wheelbarrow is rather thick, and firmly needle felted into sheets that I ironed to achieve a smooth surface. I created a paper template that I could use as a pattern, when folded it would give me the correct shape of the barrow, I then roughly cut the felt and sort of folded up the corners and felted them together. The handles, wheel and support legs were are felted separately in individual pieces to assure accuracy of thickness and length then felted to the body of the barrow. Colors of wool batts used:Black,Cotton White, Winter Grey, Storm Grey, Cherub, Camel, Wine, Lemon Peel, Espresso, Cinnabrown, Clay, Foliage, small amounts of - Pecan (for eyebrows), Begonia - (for lips)

Grandma Fairy Tales
Vera Renski
Woodside CA USA Grandma

13", Girl 8"
Needle felted figurines, and table, flowers, bear, cat, clothes are wet and nuno felted

A Father's Love
Sneffca (aka Caroline Neff)
Barnegat, NJ USA

Dad: 6.5" Baby: 3.5"
A moment captured between father and son showing an unconditional love: A Father’s Love. Both chimps are needle felted with Living Felt NZ Corriedale African Safari color pack.
Dad is 6 ½” tall and is made with wire armature allowing various display poses! Dad is sporting a plaid shirt with attached white under tee. He has glass eyes.

Little Junior is 3 ½” tall has wire in his arms only. He is wearing a very tiny hand-made hand-knitted sweater set adorned with tiny pearl buttons and ribbon.
A matching hat, pants and booties complete his outfit! He has amber glass eyes and absolutely adores his daddy! The chimps are pictured in a nursery background as well as Dad pushing a miniature white, wire carriage!

God Will Never Leave Us
Gloria Drew
Orland, FL USA

10" x 13"
Mermaid, whale, turtle, dolphin, octopus, marlin, clownfish all made with combo of NZC and MC1. Water MC1. Mermaids hair sun dried mohair.

Una's Flock
Carol Collins
Sandy Hook, CT USA

doll: 7.25", sheep: 3.5" @shoulder
Una's face and body are needle-felted wool over wire armature. Her eyes are hand-painted polymer clay. Hat is needle-felted wool embroidered and trimmed with cotton floss. Smock is vintage linen, jeans are denim, and her clogs are felted wool. All of her clothes are removable, as she has other outfits! Her Icelandic sheep are needle-felted wool over wire armatures, topped with Icelandic fleece that I purchased raw and processed myself.
The sheeps' eyes, horns, and hooves are handmade from polymer clay.

Afternoon Stroll
Melanie Nord Monsees
East Stroudsburg, PA USA

8" H
These two friends are feeling fine, looking good, and strutting their stuff! Both were needle felted using LF NZ Corriedale. Girl's legs are covered with floral lace and stitched up the back with lime green string (to match skirt). And of corse, fake fur booties!

Frog of the May
Vera Renski
Woodside, CA USA

9" x 8" Needle felted , merino cross ball cotton, merino-red

Starlet
Connie Haddock
Moline, IL USA

12" H x 7" W x 5.5" D
Beautiful new gown, jewels and, of course, her favorite Living Felt “Happy Sheep” stole. Limo - check! Lights - check! Cameras, red carpet, adoring public – check, check and check! The Starlet is ready for her next public appearance. I got the idea for this caricature doll well over a year ago. It was very exciting to finally be able to bring her to life for this year’s contest. Many of Living Felt’s wonderful products were used to make her, including core wool, MC batts, locks, and NZ Corriedale. Clear and Caribbean blue crystals were used for her adornments. I hope the judges enjoy her as much as I do presenting her to them