From: "Joe and Melissa" <grayjoe-AT-charter.net>
To: <puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org>
Date: Sun, 21 May 2006 10:18:05 -0400
Subject: [Puptcrit] needlefelted puppets.



As a hand spinner, I can spin the yarn to crochet the basic form of say, an oven mit, this is done twice, one for the top and a smaller mitt for the bottom. this is put into the washing machine. If you have ever washed a wool sweater you know what happens then. It is a felting technique called "fulling" after fully dry I then take peices of wool, smaller than cotton balls, and begin "felting " them onto the mitt with a needle. the needle  is very very sharp and has tiny barbs all along the shaft. this assists in the "agitation of the wool"it interlocks all of the wool into a very hard felt. as I add mo0re wool and keep agitating it gets harder and harder. soft sculpting just dosent hold up to wear and tear. nothing on the form of the puppet is ever sewn .. it is all built up somewhat like the creating of a peice from clay... I take photos , of whatever animal im making and begin building from there. It is all a work in progress because I am learning as I go. my current puppet , the form or mitt was crocheted to be closer to the form that the puppet was planned to become. for example, the current puppet is a flamingo. so it narrowed for the beak. instead of wide and flat ..
the puppets themselves ae not heavy, but the felted wool is suprisingly hard. many ppl when they see me making one want to know what "form" I have used on the inside to make the animal. I only have the flat mitt and they want to know how, it seems sculpture is not a thorough enough answer.
I saw someone had a sewn sheep puppet at the maryland sheep and wool festival over a year ago, and it got my mind whirring. I have made several puppets that could be called "prototypes" that were not as well made as the method I have come into now.
the hard part is knowing what to ask for them, and hahaha of course, to stop building them ... seems
I cant stop ! Melissa

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