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matilda Oct 3, 2005

I used to have a hybrid called Petey Parakeetie.

Here in Western Australia they call parakeets "wiros" Oh no!! thats cockatiels. Then what on earth is a parakeet.? (besides budgie)
Marmalade is from a pattern from one of those aussie bear mags. He does'nt look like this, this one is my interpretation. The one in the book was too plan for me. Even though I liked him. He's one of those spontaneous bears.
I havent finished my latest bear. Tore his nose off.  did'nt like it. I painted the toes. Don't them either.
It was so much easier making bears when I did'nt have a clue. Now I expect perfection, but I'm not that brilliant. :dance: :dance:

kbonsall Oct 3, 2005

Here are my two completely felted bears - Sasha and Pinkee

kbonsall Oct 3, 2005

Also - here is paige, she is my first mohair bear that I needle felted on - here eyelids are needlefelted - hey, its a start!

psichick78 Oct 3, 2005

Kim, good job with the fetling needle! you've done really well. Thanks for sharing.
Heather

kbonsall Oct 3, 2005

Thank you - after many pricks and broken felting needles, I am getting the hang of if 

Judi Oct 3, 2005

Good job Kim!  Thanks for sharing your pictures

Dilu Oct 3, 2005

Wow Guys Fantastic pics.....

Matilda your Bluebell is really really cute! 

Mis Kim- qall three of your little ones are fab.....especially the mohair, no, maybe its Pinkee, no maybe it's.....how do people chose?

Absolutely wonderful work you guys, thanks so much for sharing!

:hug:  Dilu   :hug:

matilda Oct 4, 2005

Wee paige is just so cute. The eyelids make all the difference ,dont you think. I commented on your other wee creations on another post. I think they are wonderful also. Well, well  done :clap:  Be careful it can get dangerous out there. What with those felting needles running rampent.   Matilda

Just Us Bears Oct 4, 2005

She's so sweet Kim...you're really going great guns now! And great camera shot BTW!! :clap:

kbonsall Oct 4, 2005

Thank you gals It is nice to have people let you know that you are doing well !     Paige is one of my favs so far - I, once again, didnt know what color to use as a background, I think I need to take a photography course or two!

rikkisbears Oct 6, 2005

Hi Matilda,
are you a bit of a bird lover too. My little baby is a 2 year old cockateil ( quarrian) He loves helping me with the bears. Takes me twice as long when he decides to give me a hand.  He's forever trying to chew up my pattern pieces , or he runs off with bits of stuffing. Actually he's a downright pest, but I wouldn't swap him for the world.

Your little budgie is beautiful.

purelyneysa Oct 6, 2005

Good Morning,

I've been reading posts and if I may add a few hints.... Jointing small felted critters, of course you can string joint but try making a simple armature for your arms, legs and body out of 22 gauge floral wire ( or higher). Make a loop on the end you want to joint to the body... kind of like a cotter pin or for doing wobble joints and felt all around the wire.

Felting ears and muzzles on to the bear or other critter. I work from my foam base needling and turning to shape the ear or basic muzzle. Leave some unfelted wool at the base of your muzzle or ear - this gives you more to needle into the head and it makes your ear & muzzle more firmly attached.

In my Felting supply list on my site, on the first page up in the right hand corner are my free directions for working with armatures, but I also show how to make muzzles - ears and so on. Go have a look and see if any of this might help. Pleas feel free to download my instructions.

You can get a lot of detail in a small area with felting. I just love it!

Neysa

matilda Oct 7, 2005

AaaHhhh, a fellow bird lover Rikki.!!! Yes my baby also loves to check out the bears. He has conversations with them.  In the mornings he flys on to Marmalade (the bear in the pic) kiss's him on the nose and says 'giday precious treasure, I love ya I do I love ya.' and then its my turn to get a kiss. It's just so cute. I've caught him a number of times chatting up bluebell.  How could you not resist such a honey. I admit I'm crazy about my elliott.

Judi Oct 7, 2005

Matilda,
Why don't you create a neelde felted bird?  hhhmmmm.... I bet you could do it! :dance:

Eileen Oct 7, 2005

Great idea for armatures, Neysa!  Thanks!

Since Help-Advisor-Judi has authorized the birdy subthread ( ;), and since there are two bird experts here, I've got two questions, after which I'll shut up about the subject and/or start another thread:

My daughter wants a cockateil. Her old budgie cage is about 12 x 20 x 20 inches. Is this cage spacious enough for a cockateil (including tail) or should we find a bigger one? The bird would have free run (fly?) of her room.

Alex phoned a breeder who refused to sell her a cockateil when she learned about our five cats! This breeder claims that cat saliva alone is poisonous to birds. Is she crazy?

Thanks in advance, BirdLadies!

Eileen

matilda Oct 8, 2005

The cage is too small. Since it will only have freedom in her room. They need enough room for a birdy gym.
And yes it is necessary if the bird is to have a long life and remain sane.
About cats, I have no idea. I'm not much of a cat person, so I cant answer the saliva thing.I'm sure I would have heard Dr Harry say something about it if it was true. But I dont know. Cockatiels are brilliant birds .So easy to train. They are pretty docile. At the pet shop I go to, they have two that play on their birdy gym all day. They slee[ there as well during the day. They ignore customers for the most part. You have to remain calm around birds .Otherwise they become nervy and scatty. Elliott is well trained. I trained him to fly off my shoulder as I approach the back door. He wont go out. Front door .That is a different story. I forgot to train him for that one. :lol:
JUDI!!!!!!! Dont think that I havent thought about it. I'm not skilled enough yet. I know too much not to be ordinary and not enough to be clever. It will have to wait until after your workshop. Which I'm impatient to start. Then I'll make a wee birdy.          Matilda

Eileen Oct 8, 2005

Thanks, Matilda  :hug:

Alex was fairly certain she'd need a bigger cage. She's the calmest, quietest, most patient of bird lovers.

Our little late budgie/parakeet was rescued from the park, after some creepazoid  had dumped her. I saw something bright blue under the brush, and brought her home. She was a great jazz singer and friendly enough, but never very trusting, poor wee thing.

Eileen

Judi Oct 8, 2005

:angel:Jazz singer !  Wow Eileen, what a find .  Poor little birdy.  I have heard of folks dumping thier birds by letting them fly off when they become tired of them.  They should send them to Matilda.....who may just start a homeless shelter for birdies.

Matilda, from looking at your work I know that one of these days you will be able to make a felted birdie...then there will be no stopping you   I have not yet seen any felted birds.  You could be the first. :hug:

rikkisbears Oct 9, 2005

Hi Eileen,
my cage is only 15w x 15d x 24 h inches with a top that opens up so that he can sit on a perch on top of his cage. My cockateil spends at least 8 hrs of the day perched on me somewhere ( either sitting on my lap , hanging off my shoulder or sitting next to me on my sofa while we make bears together ( hubby's about ready to get me committed  haa haa). I really only lock him up when I go to bed at night, or if I go shopping , in which case , he sits in the corner of his cage and sulks.
Even though my cockateil got on with my 16 year old Maltese, the bird used to sit on him and pull the dogs fur, the dog was amazingly patient) the bird has a hissy fit if he spots one  the neighbours cats hanging round outside. I'd be really wary as most cats and birds don't really get on, and cockateils stress out quite easily.

Sorry Judi and everyone ,
haven't worked out how to send messages privately. Sorry for getting off topic.

Eileen Oct 9, 2005

Thanks, Rikki and Matilda!

I passed your posts on to Alex. She's decided that we're probably not a cockateil-safe household. She's going to get a rat instead!

Eileen

Dilu Oct 9, 2005

gollygirls,

we have a blue and gold macaw-she's not a little bird, she's a big one, so I don't know if things poisonous to little guys are the same.

She has 2 cats, and the saliva doesn't seem to bother her at all.  Well they don't lick her, but they do interact with adult supervision.  She loves to chase them and they think they are supposed to be afraid of her so they run away and hide.

But then they say that birds shouldn't have chocolate, hmmm...she loves  chocolate, salt, sugar and fat.  Those are the official food groups for baby birds in this household, or so she would have you believe.  She is 20 now so I guess she is surviving.....

And she is potty trained.  Weird but true.  She will only go on her stand, in her cage or in the garden.  (She seems to think going in the garden is quite the thing....go figure)

Neysa, thank you for the tips-  I have spend several sleepless nights trying to figure out something better than string jointing.  I love the idea of armatures for the felted guys just like the cloth/stuffing ones.

I agree with Rikki- our parrot spends an awful lot of the day out of her cage, on the back of my chair in the living room watching whatever it is I'm doing.  And in the evening she is on the hubster watching him watch the computer.  She really likes computer games, but who has time for that anymore?

They seem to think that they are people or that we are part of the flock...or maybe a bit of both....and wierd things....like she loves for us to whistle, especially when we put one of the cats in a box and whistle POP GOES the
Weasle-  we hold the lid down until the right moment....also I buy her baby toys she can have in her cage-  you know the kind- you push a button and a noise is made, or you roll something and songs play.....honestly, sometimes I get the oddest looks in our tiny town when I find something neat and new at the drugstore or grocery store.  She loved those really large pop bead things.....

Any way.......

:P

Dilu

Eileen Oct 9, 2005

Judi, I can't get enough of those toes!!

I'm considering needlefelting toes on my Progeria Gala bear. Do you think they'd be considered child-safe?
Maybe if they were felted and sewn?

Eileen

Judi Oct 10, 2005

Eileen, I usually sew my toes on first , thenneedle felt them into the foot.  Thenadd more wool where needed.  I still don't know if this would make them childproof...you know how children can really chew on things with those razor sharp little teeth. :o

I love Neysa's suggestion for the wire in the little felted critters.  Are yougoing to give it go, Dilu?  BTW.  I love those big macaws.  I especailly love Mullucan Cocktoos.  So sweet and gentle and they have a perfumey scent.  I wonder if all parrots have that nice scent.

Eileen Oct 10, 2005

Thanks, Judi!

I'd forgotten about those needle sharp little teeth, even after nursing all three.

I think I'll stick with sculpting this time!

Eileen

Dilu Oct 10, 2005

Hi  Judi,

Yes I downoaded  Neysa's instructions last nght.  Then I had a heart attack.....no not really, but I tried to download lesson four at E-Bearz, I am so behind......and I couldn't get it.  I thought I had waited too long or something....but it turns out, big breath, it isn't posted yet.  Yipeeeee...

I have spent a week playing with a new body style for the golliwollikins and I am frustrated.....so I am goijng to use the tried and true formula and spend the time I need without getting stressed later.....  Darn, too, cuz in my mind it works.....

But I am not needlefelting, and PIGMONKEYBEAR really does want a new face....and I need to finish typing......hmmmmm

I'm retired, not supposed to have stress. :lol:

No Kirah does not smell nice, she doesn't smell badly either- she takes a shower about everyother day....which helps.  And sometimes she smells really icky, but only if she eats a bad Brazil nut.  go figure.

Soooo I have decided to chill out-no more stressing-and use the old body and work the kinks out later...... :/

:hug: to all and thank you for the instructions Neysa-I look forward to giving them a try!

dilu