Gnomes are a fabled race of dwarf like creatures that live underground and guard treasure hoards. As far as I am concerned, gnomes are real. If you search the internet, there are so many types of gnomes and so many ways to make them. I spent a few good hours looking at video tutorials before I worked out how I would like to make my very first gnome. Firstly, most gnomes have red hats and blue shirts. They also have beards. They are also not very tall. I always enjoy how others make their gnomes. Some people even use wire armatures. I still haven’t ventured into making anything with a full armature. I wanted my first gnome to be easy, but still cute. Here he is.
I can’t tell you how many videos I watched! But I just cherry picked the bits that stood out to me and I created this little cutie. I will tell you how I made him. Firstly, all of his wool is Corriedale carded slivers from World of Wool. The beard is a lovely soft topcoat that I purchased from a lady at the Fibre Fair that I went to. Some people use curly locks, which I have, but I wanted something different. I didn’t have any flesh colored wool for the nose, ears and hands, but I did have some flesh colored pre-felt Marino. Surprisingly, it felted up really well and I may continue to use that as my go-to features wool.
I started by making the base with core wool wrapped around a skewer. This little guy is made out of one whole piece, including the hat. I sculpted the core wool for the had area and then I felted on the blue for his shirt and then red for the had. I had to continually re-sculpt the hat area to make the folds. I felted a separate piece for the hat brim. Then I made the nose and ears before adding the beard. That was the really fun bit. I then made the arms and shoes. I decided to use bells on the shoes. I still thought he needed something, so I made a staff with bells on. If I find a bell large enough, I will add it to his hat and then he will be my Jingle Bell Gnome! 🙂 Although I think this Gnome is easy to make, he required a considerable amount of stabbing as I wanted him to be very firm. He doesn’t bend. There are no wires. There is a trend for what I call soft felting and moveable armatures. Although soft felting makes it easy to pose an item, it is also easier to damage it. So, I have decided that I will stick to firm felting and if I venture out to create critters on armatures, they will end up in one pose only. In fact, I went over all of the little critters I made so far and gave them a good poking! They actually look better and will last longer.
I had some time to figure out how I wanted to display my Gnome, so I made him a base as the piece of wood I have is too small for him.
I really need to take better photos, but hopefully you get the idea. He is standing on a piece of grass with stones and moss. After all, they do live in the woods!
This doesn’t have to be a Christmas mouse, but you can make a Christmas anything if you stick a Santa hat on it. I thought the mouse lacked something, so I felted him a big heart to hold. This was also the first time I used beads for eyes. I usually felt them in, but I thought I would try something different. I think they looked cute. Everything is felted apart from the eyes. I loved him so much that I decided to make some more!
Body parts. While my husband took over the dining room table to pimp up a new crate cover for the dogs with safety reflective strips and such, I sat propped with my foot up on the footstool in the living room making body parts for a total of 6 mice. It can be time-consuming to make a critter from start to finish, but this way seemed to go faster. As I made my mice, I slightly modified the way I made them. I really wasn’t happy with the cord I had, so I bought a thinner cord which makes it easier to stick under the hat for hanging. Also, I added bits of fluff around the Christmas hats for fur. I also changed 4 of the hats and added bells on some.
So, here are all of the Christmas mice completed. I am very happy with how they turned out. Each one is different and fits in the palm of my hand. It is like they have their own personality. I need to tidy them up a bit more and take more photos before they will be ready to go into my shop!
Triptych in blue
Triptych in Blue – Framed