Saturday 27 June 2015

Another Needle Felted Angel

I have made another angel body from needle felting over an armature, this time made from my mammoth new pipe cleaners.

01 Giant Pipe Cleaners

These pipe cleaners are enormous – very long and extra thick and fluffy! Almost large enough to sweep the chimney with. The colours are somewhat lurid but as they will mostly be needle felted or wrapped, I’m not too bothered about that.

Here is the armature for the angel that I made – this one is quite a bit larger than the previous one.

02 Armature

This armature was made from two giant pipe cleaners, one for the head and arms, and the other for the body and legs. I looped the ends of the legs a couple of times to form the feet, and the arms are double thickness with a loop at the ends to form the hands.

I began the needle felting by loosely felting a ball to form the inner part of the head.

03 Needle Felting the Head Ball

Here it is, stuffed into the head loop of the armature.

04 The Head Ball in the Head Ring

It was then a simple matter to begin wrapping the whole head with wool roving, needle felting as I went.

05 Starting to Needle Felt the Head

Here is the head, almost complete.

06 Continuing to Needle Felt the Head

As it was quite a bit larger than the first one, I decided to attempt to sculpt a face on this head. I began by adding more roving to the front of the face to build it up.

07 Starting to Sculpt the Face

This is the head in profile so far.

08 Head Profile

I sculpted the face by building up the nose, forehead and chin, and pushing in the eye sockets and mouth, and the area under the nose, with more aggressive needle felting. Not too bad for a first attempt!

09 The Head Completed

Here is the finished head in profile, showing the ear – I made the ears from two small fragments of wool roving, shaping them as I needle felted them to the sides of the head. The face is a little flat – a bit like an Easter Island statue!

10 Head Profile Completed

The next step was to needle felt the body. I made it a little bit too long so the proportions aren’t quite right, but once the angel is clothed, this won’t matter. I built up the chest and stomach/bottom areas with extra wool roving.

11 The Body Needle Felted

The final step was to cover the limbs with needle felting. I covered the hands and feet well with roving before beginning to wrap the arms and legs.

12 Completed Body

Not too bad, I think! With his rather long body and short, slightly bandy legs, he looks a bit like a drunken sailor. At least there was no angel abuse this time, unless you count being stabbed all over repeatedly with a barbed needle!

I’ve been pooped all week. At least the worst of the side effects of the chemo have worn off now, but my energy levels remain extremely low and I’ve done little else but flop about on the recliner since my last treatment. The next one is a week today and I really need to start feeling better so I can actually achieve something before the next one is upon me and I’m back to square one again!

7 comments:

  1. I love this cute little angel. It's interesting how when you're caught up with needle felting(or anything new ), it's hard to take account of proportions..Bit like learning to drive.I find my mistakes pop out when I put photos up on the computer.I amaze myself that such a glaring mistakes get overlooked.Looking at things in a mirror shows up errors too. I do this when making things.
    Rest up.Thinking of you.

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  2. Oh, my goodness, this is the first time I have seen this done. I'll be back to see the finished angel.
    Have a lovely weekend.
    Your blogging sister,
    Connie :)

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  3. I'm sheltering from the sun and taking advantage of another's Wifi (with permission!) and am delighted to have had time to have a jolly good catch up with you. I think your notes about facing surgery and empowering oneself are incredibly insightful and helpful and your lavender gifts to the other Chem patients were an inspired and loving gesture. I think you're doing the right thing,..you can't fight the cumulative effects of the chemo...and if it strikes you down for a few weeks out of your whole life, the. So be it.....the recliner wins! Xxx

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  4. Cool angel! I sure hope you get your energy back before your next treatment. Best wishes!!

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  5. Just loving the dolls. The face is lovely. Happy crafting, Angela xXx

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  6. The face is great, I gave up trying to achieve anything at all!! Take it easy, Cindy xx

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  7. Your little angels are delightful and I was interested to see how you needle felted 3D as I've only ever done it flat! I am so glad you are getting your energy back and I really appreciate you taking the time to visit me and leave such lovely comments on my blog. Keep resting and recovering, thinking of you,
    Diana x

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