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Dog Hair Felting

Dog Hair Felting

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This is a throw back post I thought you might enjoy because there have been a few people asking on Facebook about felting with dog hair. Just like sheep there are different kinds of dog hair and even the top coat and undercoat on every dog so you need to do a test piece for every new breed.

Recently I was asked to make something out of dog hair in memory of the dog it came from. Originally the woman asked a friend of mine to spin the dog hair so it could be woven into something. The hair was to short for that so she suggested talking to me. I wasn’t sure about doing it but she was so emotional I said I would give it a try. She had a large bag of hair that was quite short. The problem was she wanted me to use as little wool as possible and not to blend it. From My dog grooming days I knew this kind of curly coated small mixed breed dog felted their hair while wearing it so I was hoping it would do it here too. I laid out a base of wool and then add a thick layer of dog curls to the top. I made a sample that turned out quite well, I showed her and she agreed to me making a pillow and stuffing it with the remaining hair.

Here is one corner as I started to add the dog hair. You can see the blob of hair I am working from.

 

Starting to add dog fur

 

Here is the finished pillow.

and a close up of the texture.

The only problem with this felt is it sheds a lot. With the dog hair being so short, the really short straight dog hair sheds out very easily. Fortunately she will not be using it as a pillow but putting it a way to remember him.

 

Art Project

Art Project

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This year is Canada’s 150th birthday. The guild I belong to is having an art show in celebration. We are making 150 12×12 canvases. Some are covering them in weaving or yarn or fiber pictures. I naturally am doing some felt pieces. I told you about one before.

knots-cut-short

The second one is sheep.

I started with 2 layers or merino prefelt. I put a piece of cotton gauze in between for strength.

green-layers

I then used head cut outs to decide on the positions of the sheep.

layout-spacing

Then I added all the curls. The white and multi coloured sheep are Blue Faced Leicester. One of the others is Gotland, one is Wensleydale and the other I can’t remember. I added the legs and ears.

green-sheep-wet

Once it was felted the legs and heads disappeared a lot so I had to fix  them with needle felting.  I then mounted it on a 12×12 canvas using velcro. I forgot to take a picture of them finished  with faded heads and legs. And then I forgot to take a picture of it finished because it had to go to get its picture taken. Fortunately Judy sent me one of the pictures she took so I can show it to you.

annsheepsmall

Judy sent me to close ups too

annwhitesheep-1 sheep1close-1

Now all I have to write up the info for the show and  decide on a price to put on it.

If you Are Canadian are you doing anything fibery to celebrate this special year? If you are not Canadian what did you do to celebrate a big event in your country or town?

 

 

 

 

Colourful Sheep

Colourful Sheep

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Just a quit little post to show you the sheep I have been working on for my Christmas sales. They do stand up so you can use them as a decoration but they will all have a pin on one side so you can wear them.

Colourful Sheep

They are made with a combination of wet felting and needle felting. The ears are cut from a wet felted piece of fabric and I wet felt the snakes I cut for the legs.  The body and head are needle felted. The ears, eyes and all the curls are added with needle felting.  I hand dyed the curls. They are Border Leicester or Blue Faced Leicester I can’t remember.