Needle felting, beagle, stage 1

I thought it might be fun to photograph another make so you could all see the stages involved in making a fuzzy dog.
This is not a tutorial for new felters, some methods I use will get your fingers stabbed, much safer (but not so much fun) to do all your stabbing on the mat)
First I need some inspiration. Sometimes I have orders or make dogs I know, sometimes I just make it up as I go along, today I liked the photograph on a magazine.

First I took about an inch thick piece of fleece and rolled it into a ball and stabbed it until it became fairly firm










Then I took another piece of fleece about 1/2 an inch thick and gently wound it around the needle to make a tube.
It is just softly wound so I can sculpt the shape as I attach it (this will become the nose and upper jaw)






I attach the nose to the head by pushing the needle right along the length of the nose into the head. If the nose is too long stab more towards the head, if it is too fat stab horizontally into the nose. If it is too thin you can add more fleece and if it is still too long after it has felted firm you can even cut bits off, the cuts can be closed over by felting with a thin layer of fleece


At this stage I stab lots into the underside of the jaw to make a dent, this strengthens the jaw and makes it more mouth shaped.