Here we have some nest making materials. A walk in the woods is not going to be the same again. Those poo bags come in handy for collecting material to make nests!
I watched the video on making nests again and here is what I came up with.
It will be interesting to see how it changes as the moss eventually dries out. This was so fun (and easy!) to make that I want to make some more!
Did you know that rabbits make their nests out of grass, fur and other soft things? Also, they may even build a nest in fields. That would explain some of the casualties I came across in my youth when they were haying the field on my grandparent’s farm. I decided my sleepy bunny needed a bed, and since I was going to make more than one bunny, I decided to make a big bunny bed. I watched a tutorial on how to make nests and went from there.
I used batt to make the nest and curls and slivers for embellishment and anchored in some real grass. Someone on Facebook said that you should bake your natural items first to get rid of bugs, and although she has a point, I wasn’t worried about the grass and I am not selling these. I thought this nest needed an extra bunny, so I made the brown one. Unfortunately he doesn’t photograph very well as he is so dark.
This one is the size that the first one should have been, so I obviously learned something. Even after I put him in the nest, I had room for one more.
This little cottontail is slightly larger than the brown one and smaller than the white one. I made his ears go back. I may still do some more work on him, but for now I shall let him sleep.
After having had some success (more or less) felting a baby llama, I decided to try something a little bit easier. I have found the most wonderful website. It is called Sarafina Fiber Art. I had watched most of the technical videos and decided I would try one of their beginner videos. As with any how to video, I always watch the video before doing anything. This way I can soak up a lot of information before I get stuck in. Its prep and I highly recommend it.
So, this is what I made.
Isn’t it cute? I sent a photo to my daughter and she came back with ‘cuuute’. It took me over an hour to make, but that is because I had to keep stopping and starting the video (plus I am having serious issues with my laptop). Now that I have made one, I can easily make another. I worked out how to make the toes on the back feet on my own. Did you know that bunnies have 4 toes? I am thinking that this bunny should have been a bit smaller, but from photos I have googled, it is more life-sized. The bunny should have started out as 3 inches, but for some reason mine ended up as five. I had to felt the heck out of it to reduce it to 4 inches which was the best I was going to get. This bunny has no apertures and is a good way to start learning to needle felt. In the video, they use a tool they created to help make the shapes, but it is not necessary to use it. I used a pencil that I marked with 1 inch spaces with a sharpie and a small ruler that happens to be 1 inch wide. If I ever go back to the USA to visit my parents, I can always pop in to pick one up as the shop is in the same town where my parents live, how neat is that? Or, if I am really good, they could send me one in the post as a present. 🙂
So far, I have made two bumblebees from a kit, a baby llama that I made up myself (though I did use the aperture method from the technical video at Sarafina Fiber Art), and a bunny from a video, with my own embellishments. My goal is to ultimately learn many techniques to be able to make anything completely on my own. So, I shall go and make another bunny without looking at the video and hopefully this one will be smaller. I shall leave you with a little bit of cuteness. Thanks for stopping by.
Arlene's New Beginning 