Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, Connecting

Greetings from Melbourne on the east coast in Brevard!
Do you know of any felting groups,shows,etc in Florida?I would love to meet others!

Thank you Francy!
I was wrong with his measurments,he is actually 12 inches tall and 14 inches long.

I finally finnished him last night!He is approximately 10 by 12 inches and very firmly felted (he "thumps" when you tap him with your fingers).His dapple rosegrey paintjob took 2 days with my airbrush,and his mane & tail is a custom color wefted mohair made by mohairwig.com.He will be hitting Ebay soon.
He was alot of fun to make!

I bet that was a good time!Its always fun to see people's reaction when you explain and demonstrate felting to them!This tool is going to really help us felters,I cant wait to get one as I am currently working on a pretty large horse.

Thank you for clarifying that,I cant wait to get my hands on one of these!

Greetings from Florida everyone!Its been a very long time since I have been on here or done any felting but Im back with a vengence!I am currently working on another horse that I will be sure to post pics of as soon as he is ready.But I wanted to share my last project that got me back into the swing of things,its my first hat.Unfortunately it is way too hot to wear here in Florida so I need to find a correct venue to sell it.It is a fall themed hat and I cut all the leaves out by hand,felted them and also airbrushed them.The hat is also felted as well as the acorn accents.I have probably 200 hours into it!

Wow,I MUST get one of these tools!I wonder how long it will take to receive it since there are so many pre-orders.
Did it come with a power cord?I cannot seem to find any info about battery requirment but the link provided above says it comes with a power cord (which is what I was hoping for!)

  Hello everyone!Thanks for the nice comments!Yes this horse was up for auction awhile back,but did not meet its reserve.Im glad to say he will be going to a new home (and helping me make my car payment!)

Enjoy the day!
Nicci

Thanks for sharing that info Susan,since I really like the tibetan fur for my horse's manes & tails.
You sound alot like me,forever saving the bugs and spiders that happen to wander in,or the lizards my cats bring in off the porch.I too,come from a serious animal-lovin clan,in fact my Mom was awarded the Sierra club "Earth Mother" award.I like animals alot more than most people I meet,but then I would prefer the company of a nice tree over most folks too!
Im still swatting the skeeters though!

:hug: Nicci

Another big thank you to everyone's kind comments!
I use acrylic  roving called Aldastar Pretty Hair,I figured since it is made of acylic,perhaps the moths will be less likely to ever eat it.Not to mention the uniformity of it makes for alot less hassles than organic wool,I think.I have actually never felted regular wool.I was lucky enough to buy a huge lot of it on Ebay awhile back,probably close to 100 bags.I believe it is much less expensive than organic roving too.
The question I get asked the most is "how do I get it so smooth?".I use sheet felt over top of the felted roving as a "skin".I also use a styrofoam that is used as housing insulation as a "base" so I dont have to felt the entire core of the piece,it saves alot of time and roving.I have a hotwire foam cutting system of tools that I use to roughly cut out the bases for my projects.The horse,for example,has a foam base in the body & neck,the legs & head are solid felt.I wrap the base with the roving and felt it together until I am happy with the shape,then I start covering it with the sheet felt and use my needles to felt the "skin" onto it.If I find that I need to add some bulk to it,perhaps on a shoulder,I simply cut more sheet felt and felt it on until it blends in seemlessly,and build it up till Im happy with it.Using a foam base also enables me to make large pieces,like the 13" horse I have up on Ebay right now!
A wise man that I admire greatly,once told me "there are many ways to cross the street",so thats my technique.Take what you want from it,and incorporate it into your techniques!

Nicci

You should definitely gets your hand on an airbrush and try it before investing in an entire system if you can.My needlfelted horses are usually entirely airbrushed.Felt & fabrics are alot of fun to airbrush too!
I was privileged enough to grow up with an "artist mom" and was able to try out almost every art medium out there.Airbrushing has been one of the hardest things for me to learn,and also the most satisfying!It took me a couple years before I felt really confident with it.But I started out on hard plastic horses,felt and fabric is alot easier to airbrush,in my opinion.I have heard nothing but horror stories about the aerosol can airbrush "systems" so I never bothered trying them.Trying to master the brush itself is hard enough without the frustration of cans constantly running out of pressure and needing to be replaced.
I also agree with the earlier comment that painting with an airbrush,is painting with an airbrush,no matter what you are painting.You can do things with an airbrush that you cant do with anything else,its well worth the effort!
The horse in my avatar is airbrushed,he was originally all white.
Hope that helps!
Happy Easter!

:hug:  I am so excited to be on this forum!It seems so happy and freindly here!A nice change from other forums I have found!

Greetings from Florida and thanks to everyone for their kind comments on my horse!I am happy to have found this forum and look forward to sharing with all of you!I have several new pieces in the works and the gray arabian horse in my avatar is my most recent one I have managed to get completed.I love needlefelting and predict many,many horses in the future!