Felting an image for a Christmas card

Lyn

Sorry if this sets you off in a panic, but did you know that there are only 47 days until Christmas?

Eeeek!  Better get started then.  My first job is to make a piece of textile art to use as the picture on the front of my Christmas cards, and as I'd found a very funny Christmas verse about sheep that I want to use inside the card, I decided to wet felt a sheep.

I looked at dozens of photos of faces of different breeds of sheep and this is a composite - not an identifiable breed - but it does me.

I needle felted a sheep's face and laid it atop 4 loose layers of merino fibres and wensleydale curls.  It looked fabulous.....until I felted it......and then I didn't like it.

Now, I don't believe in giving up on a piece too easily, so I looked long and hard at it.  I decided that I liked the face so I cut it out and the discarded leftovers are now in my 'box' and may come in handy for another piece of re-purposing.

Removed from the large piece of felt, the sheep's face didn't look quite finished, so I raided my grand-daughter's box of felt tips and added a few lines.

Once again I laid out merino wool fibres and curls and placed the sheep's face on the top. I loved it just as it was.  I wanted an image not a piece of felt so out came the camera and the job was done.

As a bonus, I can re-use the wool and curls that I didn't need to felt! 

Serendipity happens when you play with fibres.