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Friday 4 March 2011

Needle Felting - Mermaid Hospital, part 1

A few years ago I made a needle felted mermaid for a good friend who loves mermaids.  Here she is -
 I was rather proud of her and my friend loved her, she held pride of place in her living room. Unfortunately my friend's house was invaded - by moths.  They were the little brown/grey moths that lay their eggs in anything made of wool - clothes, carpets... and mermaids.  Poor little mermaid got rather damaged and I gave her a revamp.  
Recently my friend informed me that little mermaid was rather motheaten again and maybe beyond hope.  I decided to give her a radical remake!
The first thing I did was to wash her and get rid of the sandy residue that is left behind after a moth invsion. 
After beginning the renovation process on the mermaid's head I decided to blog about the process so started taking photos.


Next I pulled off all the scales and removed her silk belt and her necklace.  They will all be replaced.  I will have to make a flat piece of green felt - using several shades of green.  This will be cut into strips of scales and they will be attached to her body later.  
I will pull out my felting/embellishing machine to make the green felt.  I have some white pre-felt, which is very soft partially made wool felt,  I can use green tops and roving to add a green top layer and firm up the felt to make the scales.  I will take photos of this process when I do it.  I made the mermaid before I had the machine and made the green felt by hand, cutting out single scales and attaching them.  The first time I renovated the mermaid I used the machine to make the felt and again cut out single scales.  this time I plan to cut them in strips to make it easier to attach them.


As you can see from the last three photos I have started to add new wool to the mermaid's body.  I removed the tail completely as the embroidery had come adrift and the tail was coming apart.  I have started a new tail and  since the last photo I've changed the shape and elongated the tail.
More photos to come!  I  will also need to give her a new face and hair, and decide on her jewellery and embellishment.  She won't be quite the same little mermaid that you see in the first photo but I hope my friend will be happy with her. 
Stay tuned for Mermaid Hospital, part 2!

7 comments:

ThatFuzzyFeeling said...

Looks like she's being very well cared for :)

coltpixy said...

Love the mermaid and I am sure your friend will too! Needle felting is also another one of my favorite obsessions.

Susiej said...

She's lovely ! Such intricate work on a small scale, a real labour of love ! Look forward to seeing the end result .

The Little Bead Box said...

Pam, she looks well worth all the effort. I'm new to needle felting, so am watching with great interest. Thanks for posting the link on Folksy.
See you soon.
Liz
x

lisbonlioness said...

She's really pretty, can't wait to be able to come up with something that cool myself!

Anonymous said...

We just adore your lovely jewellery but your felty mermaid creation is a dream. We know nothing about felting so we are curious and excited to know more.

Jo said...

Awww, so wonderful to see her being restored and transformed once again, rather than discarding her completely! Each time she seems to become even more beautiful and certainly more precious too, particularly with the amount of time and love you are bestowing on her. How blessed she is! I especially love the scales on her tail -the colours are divine and the detail so intricate. Gorgeous!

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