#benmcfuzzylugsgiveaway

First time I have ever done this!!
But I have decided when my facebook page (http://facebook.com/benmcfuzzylugs) gets 1000 likes then I will start a MASSIVE shop wide sale

But thats not all
To get 1000 likes I need help - and you will be rewarded :)
For every person who shares my facebook page or blogs, tweets, retweets, pins or whatever else out there that you are on (and if you can add the words #benmcfuzzylugsgiveaway somewhere on your post it helps me find it easier) and comment here or on my facebook page that you have done it, you will be entered in my draw to get your very own custom sculpture of any animal for free - free worldwide shipping too

And STILL that is not all.
Once I have that 1000 likes I will then start sharing your work with my new adience, thats right, Im bringing back my featured Friday. So everyone who shares my facebook page somewhere, tells me about it and tells me about their work and asks to be included in a feature I will feature your work here on this blog and on my facebook page on a first come first done basis

So one little share by you means a shop sale, a chance to win your very own sculpture AND a feature on my blog

Thankyou for supporting me :)

Thankyou - I won

Thankyou all for voting for me in the Etsy Challenge

Both Jack and my Panda won

Please please so I dont split my vote if you would like to vote for me to be the weekly winner (which I would really appreciate) can you vote for Jack



I also have my 'sunset' wall hanging in this week in the needlework section

http://etsychallenge.blogspot.com/

again thankyou so much I realy didnt expect to win

Im featured

Thankyou to McEtsy for featuring my Jack Skellington!!

He is really getting around! who would have thought - and I just did him for a bit of fun!

http://mcetsy.blogspot.com/

He is also doing fab in the etsy challange

http://etsychallenge.blogspot.com/

Great place to get your work noticed by other people so what you waiting for - submit some work!!

and

while you are there if you can spare a vote for Jack in the holiday section and for my teeny panda in the minitures section

Thankyou!!

Haloween and big cats

Heres the latest batch

Including a wee haloween treat :o) Jack Skellington from nighmare before christmas

He is for the NFEST August challange

He was fun to make but there are some really great other peices out there so I dont think he will do to great

The other entries can be found on the needle felting forum link on the sidebar

I also spent a bit of time reshoting some other fotos, this, I think, is much better than before.

As he is a panda, and a teeny one at that (less than 2 inches tall) I thought that I would look cute on some of my chineese dishes. so I sat him infront and balanced him on some chopsticks. I think this gave him a bit more cheek :o)

Hopefully other people will think so too. I have never really done photography and so I am trying to learn all the time

Didnt manage to get a Friday Feature this week as I didnt give people enough time to reply to my questions but hopefully soon I will have that up and running.

It will be fun to feature other peoples work a bit more. Makes this more interesting than just looking at my stuff all the time!

How to needle felt - eyes and pawpads

Now for the final touches.

There are many ways to felt eyes, and I usualy felt them straight onto the sculpture right where I want them but it is a little easier to felt them onto the pad and then line them up on the sculpture.

Make 2 eye shapes from small balls of black fleece

- lift the peice from the foam and turn it often to prevent it becoming too embedded in the pad.

Take two small peices of white fleece and roll them between your fingers to make a small sausage shape.

Felt them into a C shape on one corner of the black eye shapes - leaving a small rim of black as this will be the edge of the eye.

Take two slightly larger peices of fleece in the eye colour - blue in this case.

Again roll them into a sausage shape and then felt on above the white C shapes on each eye.

The final effect is better if you can leave a tiny bit of black showing between the white and the blue - it looks more cartoony that way.

If this C is too fiddly you could add a circle of blue and then a smaller circle of black ontop to make the pupil.

Now take a tiny peice of white felt and to the side of the pupil area felt a small downwards pointing triangle shape - this is the glint in the eye.

Position each eye and felt it into place - you can felt it in in a slightly curved shape to make it look more eyelike.

For the pawpads roll 4 large(ish) balls of fleece and 16 smaller balls

Felt the larger balls onto the paws near the bottom

Take care here not to push the needle all the way through to the top of the paw as this will take some of the black fleece through and give you black spots on the white paw.

Add the smaller pawpads, 4 to each paw

If your paws are small or the pads quite large it can still look OK with just 3 mini pads

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How to needlefelt - head and neck

Make a ball of fleece and lightly needle felt it to hold its shape.

Make a smaller roll of fleece and attach this to be the upper jaw.

Sculpt with the needle to make this a smooth firm head and upper jaw shape looking often to make sure the shape is going towards what you would like it too. If an area is too small add more fleece, too large stab lots.

I find the finnished look better if you hollow out the inside of the upper jaw to make a better mouth shape - but this is not seen in the finished work.

Once you are happy with the shape make a roll of fleece and sculpt it into a lower jaw - leaving some fluff at the end to attach it to the head with.

Attach the lower jaw to the head making sure you needle in all directions and add a little more fleece if needed to smooth out any seams.

Add a large handfull of fluff to the base of the head where the neck will be and felt a little to firm up.

Felt this neck onto the dogs body

Hold the head and body roughly in position and carefully felt the neck till it is firm enough to support the head

(WATCH YOUR FINGERS!!)

Now have a really good look at the shape of your animal and decide what areas are not quite as you would like them to be. Be really critical

I decided the neck, tummy and back end were too skinny so I added more fluff and felted it in firmly

I also made a tail in the same manner as the legs but tapered the end and curled it out while I was felting it.

Spend lots of time firming up and sculpting your peice at this point, the more time you spend here the better the final peice will be

It is tempting to rush on to adding the colour.

By this stage your peice should be able to stand up totaly unsuported

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How to needle felt - adding muscle and feet

Slightly bend out the back legs above the hock.

The firmer the legs have been felted the better they will hold their shape.

Take a wad of fleece and fluff it out so the fibres are all in different directions.

This reduces join lines in the finished peice.

Use this fluffy fleece to create the hip by placing over the area and felting it firm.

To create a smooth outline always keep the needle at 90 degrees to the sculpture, if you are sculpting a curve or a ball you have to change the angle of the needle every stab (with practise this becomes very easy)

Repeate this for the other back leg.

To make feet take 4 small strips of fleece (less than 1 inch) and roll them into small ball shapes leaving one end fluffy.

Felt these balls to firm them and then attach them to the bottom of the legs using the fluffy ends.

Firm and shape the balls into feet shapes making them narrower at the heels, flat on the bottom and curved on the top

(TIP - you can pinch the fleece into shape and felt it - watch your fingers)

Often step back and look at your work and add fleece to areas that need built up.

Also continue felting all over the peice to firm it up and smooth it out.

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