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Miss Dorothy's TeddyFolkHi all, years ago I used to wet felt. Now I finally tried needlefelting, a kit I've had for almost a year. It was a bird but you made a form from muslin and felted over it. I didn't make it, just used the wool and needle 
Alrighty then! This is a wonderful thing 
What is a good way to joint the arms and legs?
I am rather excited, I don't quite know where to start, I sucessfully made a arm, leg, and ear, 
Can you needlefelt the ear to a mohair head?
Bobbie, is your website going to have pictures soon?
So many questions, if I waited til I organized my head I would never post! So forgive the rambling.
Dorothy
What is a good way to joint the arms and legs?
I string joint with upholstery thread. Thread the needle, uneven ends, no knot. I stab the arm and go through arm, body and other arm. Then I loop back into that same arm, through the body and original arm coming back where I started, both ends of thread will meet up. Tie a knot, then go back through (one thread at a time) the arm, body and arm again with both threads and tie the ends together. Bury the ends into the arm and snip. I use a 3.5 inch needle so I can make sure arms and legs are even on both sides. If you use a short needle its a guessing game and you will end up jabbing a hole in your finger from pushing.
Then take more wool and cover up the dents in the arms where your "joints" have pulled the limbs closer to the body.
LuxembearsCan you needlefelt the ear to a mohair head?
Hi Dorothy. Welcome to TT and to the wonderful world of needle felting. I needle felt onto mohair for a great many of my creations. Both my avatar bears have needle felted onto mohair details and it works very well. Some pre-felting works well , just make sure you leave some loose wool for deeply felting/securing the added piece to the mohair head. Another way to really secure the ear is to sew a few stitches bewtween to ear and head before fetling. You can always add more wool as you go.
Have fun!
Creative Design Studio (RKR4CDS)Welcome to our *Passion* Dorothy!!!
I cannot even go there today - webmaster - too much to do rather than be frustrated....
If you've noted any of my posts about this previously, you'll know how anxious I am to finally get the reins in my own hands (one of the things he's dragging his heels about, I'm sure) I'll be uploading images and text on all pages!!!
You asked about jointing; is this a miniature or larger than 6"? Under six inches I use a doubled heavy duty upholstery thread (Conso, Mastex, etc) just like a regular mini.
My work is all posed in specific emotion- or expressed-idea postures so they are all static postured. I create many body parts separately and either leave some fiber unneedled at the point of joining or use a bit of fiber between parts to act as the *glue* between finished parts.
This does bring up a point I'd like to add about needing to be VERY firmly needled.
If you've used the thread jointing for minis before, you're familiar with how much how much the body will squish together as you draw the threads tightly together. This effect is exxagerated in NFing, especially in the more softly needled style of working. In this type I'd consider using static work rather than true jointing.
I purchase many pieces on eBay that represent - or rather, don't represent - what it is claimed to be. I have one 4" dog, the skin coat began to separate from the underbody in shipping (mailed in a flat business envelope, no less!!). The hind legs can be pulled out from the body about 3". That's terrible craftsmanship in my mind.
But even though this was advertised as firmly felted, the creator could not have helped but realize as she sewed the legs on, that if she pulled the threads together tightly enough to avoid this happening, the body would squish in to about 1/2" wide..... So she chose to allow the legs to just meet the body at the shoulders and haunches. Bad..
Here's the shape that I would needle the body of a 'bear' to be, to accomodate the limbs not looking like a cowboy-just-out-of-the-saddle.
There's a formula to decide if work is softly, medium or very firmly needled:
More than 50% loss in width or length when squeezed between your fingers/hands: soft.
Less that 25% loss: medium firmness.
Less than 5%: very firmly needled
Sometimes a particular sheep breed's fiber will camouflage this effect, giving the *appearance* of firm but it's really the springiness of the particular breed.
*Downs* breeds have this characteristic; they're generally raised as a meat breed or a dual-purpose breed, in which the fiber is more of the carpet-type of fiber rather than for clothing.
An honest evaluation by squeezing is more accurate.
File uploaded: http://www.teddy-talk.com/upload3/57a2.jpg
File uploaded: http://www.teddy-talk.com/upload3/2644.jpg
We love questions like this - keep 'em coming!
Creative Design Studio (RKR4CDS)
Shape
Creative Design Studio (RKR4CDS)
Threading & knotting off
Creative Design Studio (RKR4CDS)Forgot to add that a lot of ppl are buying 'core' wool that is a meat- or dual-purpose breed.
It's used by retailers to describe a generic type of fiber, often breed unknown to them as middleman, but not usually unknown to the small flock owner/breeder.
It definitely needles quickly and gives a slightly false sense of having a very firm base to build the rest of your 2- and 3-D work upon.
Squeezing will never lie!
