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gingerbear Oct 12, 2005

hello hello hello...

my name is ginnie, i live in beautiful vermont, amongst many beloved critters and family members.   i am sooo excited to have found this group, as i am in the middle of creating my first needlefelted fellow, a wee mouse.  he is coming along pretty well, but i think i tried too many difficult things at once to start with.   all well... seems i never can just make something simple.   i have made a few bears in my time but never sold any, they were just for myself.   i must say i feel a bit intimidated here by sooooo many wonderful, great bear artists, but i will never learn anything if i don't hang around!  so please forgive my many questions.

my little mouse is in need of some shading and color.   would one of you be kind enough to tell me what i can use to paint my little white mouse... will artists' oils work if i dry brush them on?   or am i better off with acrylics?   or is this a complete sin and i should only airbrush?   i do have an airbrush but no Co2 tank at the moment, although it's on my wishlist... by the way, i also have colored pencils, prismacolors and watercolors, too, but no copic markers.   what i don't want is a crusty surface on my mouse.   any help would be so appreciated.

right now it is a wonderful time for me, i have so many new creatures waiting to be needlefelted into life, they won't allow me to sleep at night.   i just love that.   :)

hoping to get to know all of you...

ginnie (gingerbear)

SueAnn Help Advisor, Banner SponsorOct 13, 2005

Hi, Ginnie and a big welcome to Teddy Talk!  I'm not a needlefelter, but there're many here who are and will answer your questions.  Glad you joined us and hope you have fun.  No need to feel intimidated . . . no matter how long some of us have been around, we still learn stuff from each other on this board - so just jump on in and enjoy the ride!!

Gail Oct 13, 2005

Hi Ginnie
I am currently taking Judi Paul's online needle felting course and she recommends the Prismacoloured permanent markers. You can also use the copic markers but they are thicker and wetter so you might have to use the blender to feather the colours. I am sure Judi could add more to this
Gail

Dilu Oct 13, 2005

Hey There Ginnie

Welcome and we are every so glad you came to play, hoping you stick around.  We are always up to something here.

Judi is our airbrushing queen....but without co2 it'll be a bit of a problem.  Alot of the artists here do use the prisma....on needlefelted critters I have been known to use oil paint crayons

and Shelli swears by oil paint (the real stuff) on a practically dry brush.  Another thing I have used sucessfuly on needlefelting as well as regular mohair is fabric markers.

so I'm guessing you could try just about anything you have around there- with the caveat that it is easier to put on than to take off.

Hmmm.....just like Chocolate!   (Which is a major fod group here)

:hug:

dilu

Dilu Oct 13, 2005

Ooooppps

Almost forgot the practically only rule we have here, ( and don't tell anyone I told you this, but it isn't really a rule, were just greedy little gusses)  You have to post pictures of your creations!

We love pictures here, almost as much as chocolate....almost....

jazzyrags Oct 13, 2005

Yes we all do love chocolate and pictures here lots and lots of pictures, and welcome sorry don't know anything about felting but am getting very interested Fran

matilda Oct 13, 2005

Gidday Ginnie!!!!! On my bear 'KITTY' I have used oil pastels acrylic waterbase paint and copic markers and fray stopper. The new photo with the colourful background is a more realistic pic. The others made softly shaded areas look heavy handed. The thing Ifound out is that after painting your can still needle felt over it. It doesnt hinder what you want to do. You can also use other colour wool fluff it all up and over lay it.
JUST EXPERIMENT & HAVE FUN Judi's our resident expert. (& she's my hero  :angel:) Ive learn so much from her and I havent done a workshop yet. I just love needle felting
So welcome come on in sit yourself down and be prepare to laugh yourself stupid with the antics of this glorious mob. :dance: :hug:

doodlebears Celebration AmbassadorOct 13, 2005

Hiya Ginnie, welcome to the group. Boy will you have fun here. There are so many wonderful people here for you to get to know so please jump right on in and let us get to know you. Good luck with your little mouse. please share pictures with us once he/ she ids finished.

Jane

purelyneysa Oct 13, 2005

Ginnie, welcome we all start somewhere. Here is good. I use Prisma colored pencils working with my darkest color first to the lightest I'm going to use. I also shade with different colors of wool batt. Picture attached is on of my first attempts at felting and coloring with Prism pencils. Neysa

Dilu Oct 13, 2005

Miss Neysa-love him he's a cutie!

Judi Oct 13, 2005

Welcome Ginnie, So glad you have come to play.  This is a really nice group of wonderful ladies and a few gentlemen..can't forget you guys.

The beauty of being an artist is that there are several ways to create effects and shading on mohair , real fur and needle felting.  I love working with all that I just mentioned.

Neysa, shows how she workes from dark to light.  I work form light to dark.  Both seem to work depending on the media used.  My favorte method of shading is airbrushing as in this photo of Darby.  Markers work great too. 

The nice thing about shading on a needle felted project it that the wool is very forgiving.  If you do not like what you have done, you can cover it up with more wool or in some cases can even cut it off and add more wool and redo it.  It is a wonderful material to work with.  I have not tried primas colored pencils on wool but Neysa has showed a beautiful example.  I am guessing here that she works dark to light due to the opaqeness of the colors.

Experimenting is wonderful too.  You never know what you may discover about yourself.

gingerbear Oct 15, 2005

oh my... what a nice warm welcome, you are all so very kind to help me and say hello.   :hug:

you all produce such beautiful bears, they certainly mirror the sweetness of their creators.  :teddybear:

my little mouse is so impatient for his eyes to arrive, if they don't come soon i'm afraid he will become quite cross with me.  in the meantime i think it's time to get to coloring.

i'll try all the things that you suggested.   i think if i get some scrap felted pieces and test the look, i'll get a better idea.   and i think i better get my airbrush going again, that looks like such fun!

i just love that i can make a mistake with this stuff, chop it off and begin again.   needlefelting is so forgiving and so easy to work with.   i promise to post a photo of little mouse as soon as he is done.

one more question...

i'm felting around an armature right now,  and it's difficult to get the wool felted down firmly around the armature.   would it work to try wet felting the core and then adding detail on top of that area to harden it up some?   i would like the limbs to be as firm as the body and head, and am having some trouble achieving that same firmness.

thank you again for your kind words,  i know i will love it here...

ginnie (gingerbear)

clare14 Oct 15, 2005

Hello and Welcome Ginnie,

I too am not a needle felter, but wanted to say hello and enjoy the forum!!  (sorry!! About as much use as a chocolate teapot!!)

Have fun anyway!! 

Judi Oct 16, 2005

Clare, don't tell Dilu about the chocolate teapot...she be after you for one

Ginnie, I am not sure if wet felting would do the trick, but it may be worth experimenting.  From my experiences with needle felting, the core wool, which is also the least expensive, seems to felt up quickly and quite firmly too.  It does not have as nice a finish as other wools but you can always add better wool over the top once you get the base layer completed.   

Also, have you tried needling the wool from every possible angle?  You may just need many more hours...and lots of patience.   Also, using a larger needle will quicken up the felting process.    Just some ideas here.  :angel:

Maybe Neysa has some other suggestions.  She works with wired limbs in many of her projects.

Deb Oct 16, 2005

Hi Ginnie ~ Welcome to Teddy Talk!  Now that you are part of TT, you are ALSO famous bear artist.  See how that works?

You'll love it here.  Everyone is so sweet and kind, and helpful and supportive.

rufnut Oct 17, 2005

Welcome Ginnie, I like the effect of prisma pencils with felting, I usually dampen the end of the pencil then shade.

Keep at felting, you will get some wonderful results.   Watch your fingers too.

pandamac Oct 17, 2005

:teddybear:Welcome Ginny! I see you are from Vermont, where? I am about 2 hours from Burlington in Northern NY. I have learned a bit since I joined this page last week.....fun group to be involved with.

Amanda Oct 17, 2005

Hiya. I am a beginner in needlfelting and have used ideas from everyone. My hamster is one inch tall and I used loose coloured wool that I felted on to get shading. On Shamus I used Shelli's way of dry brushing oils. Soooo easy and the colour of the wool I used was not even close to that of the mohair, but hay presto you can build it up to the right colour.

On the Koala I mixed the wool together, then felted to get the right shades.

gingerbear Oct 17, 2005

hello again everybody, thank you so much for the tips and input.   i have lots of ideas to try now!  pandamac i am quite near you,  i live just outside burlington near stowe.   maybe we can get together sometime,  i would like that!   your bears and friends are all just lovely,  i can only hope that i will learn enough to be as good as  you one day.  thank you for the wonderful photos of your work, they made my day!

ginnie :hug:

heartsez Oct 17, 2005

just had to jump in say hi as i am also from Vermont and have already made one new friend  here!  i live in Fairfax,,not that far from Stowe! dont recognize the NY addy but am going to look it up! and yes pictures!!  loved the discussion on coloring and the photos are lovely! deb

gingerbear Oct 30, 2005

hi deb!!!

i was just going through some past posts to catch up.   somehow i missed this post until today...  i can't believe you're in fairfax!   i'm in underhill.   i just went to your website and saw that there are several other bear artists in the area.   that's so great,  i hope i get a chance to meet some of you sometime!   i didn't even know there was anyone doing bears around here (you can see how connected i am!!!  :wacko:).

ginnie

heartsez Oct 31, 2005

my house is on the market because tho we adore the place.. my husband would like to retire someday! and the yard and house are too much for us to have any social  life!  its a two story,,and i rarely even turn on the upstairs lights! sooo.we thought we were going to buy a house in jericho,,which sold before ours..so we will be moving on to plan b!! my sister (much younger) is moving to stowe for the winter..they are all ski bunnies my sisters! its easy in Vt to miss stuff! whole lot here for a little state tho!!  nice to "meet you!"  deb

Dilu Oct 31, 2005

Chocolate Teapot?!?!?!?!

Oh my goodness.......

Where would one find this little gem?  Is it wrapped in colorful tinfoil....actually Mary Engelbrite should have some for tree ornaments- dressed in colorful foil .....I can see it in my mind. 

sounds good.  Get to eat 'em when yu take down the tree.....I love the idea....

ok

I will behave now.

psichick78 Oct 31, 2005

Dilu, for you.

http://www.plokta.com/plokta/issue23/teapot.htm

Heather

Dilu Oct 31, 2005

Oh the pics were too funny!  my heart broke when the teapot started melting into the pan......and sprung a leak!

What a funny article-  Thank you so much you tickeled me!