I just started playing with needle felting. Is there a pattern for your santa? I wish there was a needle felting class around here. Love it.
Donna

Hi Donna, no there was no pattern unfortunately. It was kind of a "follow the teacher" class. There were 7 of us in the class and everyone had a totally different looking piece. My girlfriend ended up with a "Mrs. Santa". I hope I can remember enough to do another one. There aren't many classes of any kind around here so we were really excited to find this one. There is a bead shop in town that recently dropped scrapbooking and starting carrying this stuff. I'm not much into beads and jewelery making but we do wander in there every now and then to see what's new, I'm sure glad we did. Anyway I'll be glad to share what I learned if you have any questions I can answer. Lesson ONE....watch out for those needles....they are sharp...I still have a sore finger. LOL

Diane

I already learned the needle lesson LOL. So far I have enbellished felted bags with the wool and taught myself how to make balls that can be made into bracelets or necklace. I guess I can look at some books at Hobby Lobby. Maybe they will have something. Maybe I could suggest that they have classes in dry felting at HL. Donna

Wow you are doing good. Share your pictures. This Santa started with a piece of off white wool folded in half then kind of rolled and scrunched (that's a technical term ya know) into a cone shape. Poke poke poke to get it to stay...then if the hat isn't long enough add another piece to the top. After you have felted the basic shape (make a neck, kind of determine where the face will be etc)and made it fairly firm then you start felting the color on for the face, clothes etc. Then thing you want to make sure of is that the base stays fairly flat so it stands up. We had to keep going back and making sure of that and adjusting. If you want a bigger tummy, just add that before you "dress" him or her. It really isn't difficult once you get started, unless you have no sense of proportion (like me LOL). Suggesting a class sounds like a good idea to me...I'm sure they will consider it if they sell the supplies.
Diane

I think he's adorable. And he should be lumpy - he's Santa and we all know he loves cookies. As for the leaning, you would too if you had to lean into all those sleigh turns on Christmas Eve. ; )

Diana

About how big was the off white piece of wool did you start with? How tall is he now? Your directions are making sense. good job! I don't know how to post pictures! Dummy me.
Donna

Thanks Diana. You can see that all those cookies he has eaten are not evenly distributed and he's still leaning into those turns.

Donna, let's see....she called this off white stuff batting...(not quilt batting like I first thought she was refering to, but it kind of looks like it...you probably know what I'm talking about it is not roving) the piece was probably about 10x20 or so then folded in half...it may have been a little longer to make it more of a rectangle than a square. Like I said if it isn't quite tall enough you can add more. I wanted a tall pointy hat...but then it was really too tall so I ended up folding it over. My Santa is not quite 10" tall and then the part of the hat that bends over is about 3". But we had all sizes and shapes. Some were taller and some were shorter. They were all cute. One of the girls I know took a picture of all of them together. I told her to email it to me, but she said "I don't email" So if I can get the picture I'll post it to show y'all how different they all turned out. I may not be able to get it before I leave for the holidays though. Ohhh also I made mine with green mittens...almost everyone else used the flesh color for their hands and some people put fat cheeks but I couldn't get mine to look right so I didn't.

Diane

omg what a cute santa! never tried felting, the projects look so hard, would have to take a class to learn this craft! looks like you are a fast learner, a beautiful job indeed!
oddie

Another question LOL Was the off white called warm and natural?
Oddie I have seen your work and I'm sure you would do beautiful work From my little experience it isn't as hard as it looks.

Thanks oddie and Donna is right...you do beautiful work and I know you would have no trouble doing this. I'm sure there are instructions online, it's just fun to take a class. Lots of giggles and fun to see how everyone working one the same basic thing comes up with a toatlly different finished product.

Donna...it's not really batting like you get at Joann's (ei Warm and Natural) ...it is still wool...I think it is just cheaper and easier to work with the roving is long kind of strands this is like a "sheet" of wool. I don't really know how to explain it and I was kind of confused by the term "batting" myself but we used both for the project. OK i googled this and the felting sites seem to call it core wool. It is cheaper to use and it doesn't felt very well. Here is a link to a site that sells it (no affiliation) and it's called fluffy core wool batt http://www.thefeltedewe.com/naturals.html Maybe that will help.

Diane

Thanks for the site. Now I see what you are talking about. There is a small yarn shop in my area that I'm hoping will have that core stuff. Just what I need another project. lol

Donna

I think he is wonderful! If he's lumpy and lopsided it's just a teeny bit and just makes him all the more loveable. I'm very impressed!!

Oh, he is ADORABLE! So cute! I think you did a wonderful job, especially if it's the first time!

Just last week I caught Martha Stewart making needle felted acorns. I think it's at her website if you want more ideas!

Oh, I found this one, too. They're Chicks! Good for Easter/Spring crafts!

http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.3a0656639de62ad593598e10d373a0a0/?vgnextoid=bf2d5eab14091110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&vgnextfmt=default

I know some ladies on the Prim boards that I frequent do needle felting. There might be more stuff there if you're interested!

Here is a link that might be useful: Needle Felted acorn crafts

Sweets, Where do I find the prim boards?
Donna

I know what you mean Donna...I feel the same way.

Thank you Barb. It was so much fun and now I'm ready to do another one...and unfortunately other needle felted things too.

Thank Sweets and thanks for the link. I used to frequent lots of prim sites, "Primitive and Rustic crafts" being one I love and need to go visit again. I still love prim but I have mostly been concentrating on purse design/making lately. I'm doing a little more painting again...so back to my primitive roots so to speak....LOL. What prim boards are you on that I may visist?

Diane

Diane

Is the Primitive and Rustic Crafts board that you are talking about at Delphi? I belong to that one and Prim Mart. I'm t2tgirl03 at those :)

Some of the crafts aren't so "Prim" and those that make Prim stuff also make other things from time to time. They're always so helpful!

Yup Prim and Rustic is a Delphi forum and I used to frequent Prim Mart too. I had a shop at Prim Mart a gazillion years ago when it first opened and also one at Crow Soup. But I don't have either any more. I'll have to go back and see what's going on over there.

Diane,
Someone posted the link to this at Prim Mart and I had to rush on over and share it with you!

It's a perfect Valentine's Day craft or anytime!

Here is a link that might be useful: Needle Felted Heart bouquet

Thank you so much I'm going over and check it out now.

I love your Santa! The little imperfections just add to his charm. You must be very talented to do such a good job on your first try. I'm tempted to add felting to my list of craft addictions, too.

Santa looks wonderful, what a great job you did. I wish I could find a class to take. I'm totally impressed!