LET’S MAKE A SHEEP THAT CAN POSE! THIS ONE IS LAYING DOWN, FOR THE MOMENT.

This is a picture of a sheep made with my needle felted sheep kit. **Your sheep can be ALL WHITE or ALL BLACK if you like. It comes with wire, felting needles, golden glass eyes, core wool and curly wool.  It has 3 free bonus features with it. A bale of mini hay, sparkle wool for snow, and a cute shiny copper bell OR a rusty primitive bell on a raffia loop to hang from your sheeps neck. Please see more details in my Etsy shop. http://www.gfelted.etsy.com

STEP ONE: GATHER TOGETHER EVERYTHING THAT YOU NEED FOR YOUR PROJECT.

Get your foam/sponge and felting needles and whatever wool you are using. You need a coarse wool for the base in black or white. Also some tiny curly wool for the little curls on the sheep. I also have the sparkle wool for snow and the mini bale of hay with the bell on the base in this photo. You will also need a pair of wire cutters and some small pliers to make the armature.

** I use hard styrofoam to felt on.  I recycle the packing foam blocks when I get items in the mail in boxes.

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STEP TWO: CUT YOUR WIRE

CUT TWO PIECES OF WIRE THAT ARE 6 INCHES LONG. TWIST THEM TOGETHER IN THE CENTER

CUT ANOTHER PIECE THAT IS 5 1/2 INCHES LONG. MAKE A LOOP ON ONE END.

WRAP AROUND THE BODY LEAVING THE LOOP UP FOR A HEAD.

Bend the body in the shape of an animal. I curl all loose ends on the wire and feel for safety. That way, you don’t get poked by the sharp wire ends. This is especially important if you sell your sculptures. I use 20 gauge steel wire that is galvanized so it doesn’t rust.

** IT’S NOT A GOOD IDEA TO USE PIPE CLEANERS

AS THEY BREAK AFTER BEING BENT A FEW TIMES AND THEY ALSO RUST.

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STEP THREE: WRAPPING THE WIRE

**IF YOU HAVE NEVER FELTED BEFORE, YOU MAY WANT TO MAKE THE SNOW FIRST TO GET THE FEEL OF THE FELTING NEEDLE. Scroll down to the FELTING SNOW section and start there. You need a sponge or towel to work on that is thick enough that the needle doesn’t go through and hit the table under it…or your leg! OUCH!!

FELTING>Be sure that you use ALL of the barbs on your felting needle. Don’t use just the tip or you will only felt the outer layer of your sculpture and then it will collapse if it is squeezed. There are several barbs along more than 1/2 inch of the tip on the #36 coarse needle. Use the 1/2 inch tip to felt. Then your sculpture will be firmly felted and be more durable.

WOOL when felted ends up about 1/4 of the size that it starts as!!

Wrap your black OR white wool around the wire, section by section. I always start with the body.Don’t use too much. You will be adding layers of wool and felting it in between the layers.

TO PREVENT BREAKING NEEDLES: Be careful when you are poking around the wire. * IF YOUR NEEDLE GETS STUCK IN THE WIRE….STOP….THEN GENTLY WIGGLE SLIGHTLY TO WORK IT OUT WITHOUT BREAKING.The needles are breakable and can snap from hitting a hard surface. When inserting the needle, pull it out at the same angle as it went in. If you push sideways on the needle went it is in the wool or in the foam it can snap and break.

If you have my needle felting kit use the longer felting needle which is the #36 coarse. ALWAYS start every felting project with this needle. Finer detailing can be added with the #38 medium star needle which is also in my kit. ALWAYS BE AWARE OF THE TIP OF YOUR NEEDLE. IT IS EXTREMELY SHARP AND EASILY DRAWS BLOOD. We all get poked with it sometimes. OUCH!! Don’t give up. It will get easier after a while. Use thimbles if you like when you first start.

This core body would be white in an all white sheep. Usually I do the head next. You can tell how large to make the head after the body is made. If it’s the wrong size, remember that you’re working with wool, and you can just trim some off! Sometimes you just have to cut the head off and start over. Mistakes are fixable!!

MAKING MUZZLE> Roll up a little wool into a fat tube and fold in the middle. Felt all around the folded end to make a muzzle shape. Do not felt the other end as you need the loose fibers to be able to attach the muzzle on. After the muzzle is firmly felted, position it where it looks right and then felt it on using all the loose fibers all around the muzzle end. Jab through the muzzle also,  to be sure that it is in securely. Keep felting the base until you can’t pull it off. If the muzzle looks too long, just trim the end with scissors.

Then I do the legs.  ***Try to wrap the leg wire with the smallest amount of wool possible. If you put too much wool, you can spend an hour felting them in trying to get them thinner. Gently felt each area before you move on to the next. Put wool under body from the chest, between the front legs, over tummy and through the back legs.  Put some wool over the shoulders and blend in all of the areas. You will be adding a little more wool to the tummy area, than on the back. Be sure to firmly felt the body and head as it has to be tight enough to hold in the curly wool. It doesn’t have to be rock hard, but if you push your finger on the body, it should not make a dent. You need to felt all over the wool to make it firmer.

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STEP FOUR: ADD CURLS!!fun!!

Add one curl at a time. I felt it in lightly on the creases between the curls. You don’t want to flatten the curls.

Go all over the body little by little. It seems that felting one curl at a time would take a long time, but a curl covers a bigger area

than you would think. It’s really fun when you get going! Don’t felt too much of the curl or you will flatten it..

Here is the little body of the sheep with the curls mostly on. Now we need some ears.

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STEP FIVE:MAKING EARS

Roll up some black OR white wool into a tube shape that looks about the length of two ears…about 2inches. Felt one end, BUT NOT THE CENTER.

I hold down the felted end with a needle and felt the other end. Leave the center UNFELTED.

Cut it in the center and you have two ears! Use the loose UNFELTED end that was the center to felt to attach on to the head. Trim ears to shape if necessary before felting on. Fill in around the ears with the curly wool.

Add the eyes and a little curly wool for a tail.

ADDING THE EYES> The golden glass eyes are on a wire with an eye on each end. Cut the eye off of the end LEAVING about 1/3 of an inch of wire to insert in the head. I mark the eye location with straight pins that have a black ball on the end. Be sure that they are level and the same distance for the center of the face. Take the #36 coarse needle and make a hole where you want to inset the eye. Glue in. DO NOT USE INSTANT GLUE!! It can discolor the eyes and ruin the paint. Use a slow dying glue like white glue.

These are golden glass eyes from my needle felting sheep kit. Also Maggie is modeling her cute raffia collar with her little shiny copper bell. If you’d like, you could add a Y to the front of her muzzle to make a nose and then add an upside down V to make the mouth. It barely shows on the black wool.

This tutorial makes a cute little sheep that is about 3 inches tall at the top of the head, and 3 inches long. See the 5 cent

coin to see how little the bale of hay is. This sheep is just the right size to go with your needle felted dogs.

Here is Maggie the little sheep eating some hay.

And here is Maggie laying down. Because of the wire inside, her head , neck and legs all move.

SPARKLE WOOL FOR SNOW UNFELTED.

~BEGINNERS CAN START HERE TO PRACTICE FELTING FIRST~

FELTING SNOW: Roll up some of the sparkle wool and fold in the ends. Felt it together all over. Trim off the stray wool if desired or leave it for a halo affect. Make it into any shape. This is the sparkle wool after it is felted into little piles of snow.

Congratulations! You did it. You made your first sheep that is able to pose!

STEP SIX: TAKE A BOW!

HAPPY FELTING

If you would like to try my Needle Felted Sheep Kit the link is

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=19841413

It really is a great value when you consider all the cute things that it comes with.

If you do purchase a kit please remember to tell me your color choice of wool and if you would like a shiny copper bell or rusty primitive bell. You can embellish your sheep and add your own touches.  Make a primitive sheep and use sticks for legs.

by GERRY