Needle felting

This morning I went to gloucestershire arts and crafts centre for a needle felting course run by Sue Smith of serisilks. When we arrived there were two needle felted animals on the table.

We all decided we wanted to make a hedgehog, so we got to work.

Sue showed us how to make a wire frame using some prefelted wire and a pipe cleaner.

Then we gradually built up layers of merino wool to create a core.

Once we were happy with the shape we covered the core with a layer of wool from a bat,

and then we added the detail of the eyes, nose and mouth.

It was fun to see the hedgehogs taking on a bit of character at this point.

Once I started adding his prickles we realised he looked quite good in normal hedgehog pose, rather than sitting up which was what I’d been going for originally.

The final stage was adding feet, and he was ready to come out and pose by the cathedral.

It was so lovely to start and finish a project in one session, and I’m hoping it’s given me enough confidence to complete the needle felt badger I started ages ago and never finished!

Thank you sue for your help. It was a really fun morning.