Though I already made some dry and wet felting, I wanted to try making a felted animal, which seems a bit of a more difficult project. But in fact, it is really easy and I am quite pleased with my first one. Here is a step by step process for needle felted mouse.
First, I made a simple wire construction. I used aluminium wire, since it is easy to bend but it is sturdy enough to support the weight of the mouse. As I discovered later, it is best to use a thin wire to avoid breaking the felting needle while poking the wool. I used a 1 mm and 5 mm thick (flat) wire.
Then I put some synthetic batting into the wire construction, to form a belly and a head of the mouse as a base for felting the wool. I could insert the wool into the structure and begin felting instead, but it would take a lot more time.
Next, I applied some wool to the batting and began stabbing at loose wool fibres with a barbed needle. At first I stabbed a bit deeper to make sure that the wool is attaching to the batting, later on I continued to stab more shallowly, slowly sculpting the shapes of the animal.
I felted ears separately and sewn them to the wire construction. The most difficult part is felting hands and legs, because of the underneath wire. To felt those I stabbed the wool at an angle almost parallel to the limbs and proceeded really slow to not break the needle.
After about 4 hours of felting the consistency and shape of the mouse was about right, time for final touches! I applied some white wool roving to the ears, belly and head of the mouse and sewn eyes, mouth and nose.
There were some loose frizzy fibres left that I didn’t like. I tried to press them down with damp towel, but it didn’t work. So I applied a little bit of hair spray to the mouse and gently pressed down the fibres with my fingers. After the spray had dried I simply trimmed the remaining loose fibres with small scissors. And here is the finished product, voila!
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