I can’t say I have made any attempt to start a proper spring clean, but I have at least tidied up my craft room. The Christmas rush of orders and packing ran right up until Christmas Eve so it was time for a clear up before I began the new year. In doing so I have rediscovered some needle felted animals I have made in the past.

I enjoy being creative, it’s why I started PepperPot in the first place. Sometimes though it is hard to step away from making things for my business into being creative just for fun.

I often use a wet felting technique to make my felt balls and felt flowers but I have had very little experience with needle felting. There are some incredible needle felt artists out there. Knowing I will never take the time to become that skilled in order to introduce items into my store has generally stopped me trying it much at all.

I did the usual. I bought some equipment and a couple of books on making needle felted animals. Tried to have a go and because it was harder than it looked gave up and put it all away in my craft room.

Needle felted mice

A few years ago however I did make two little needle felted mice for my Mum for Christmas. She had seen some in a shop that had then sold out, so I set out to try and make some just like them.

The freedom to have a go came mainly from not having told anyone that I was trying to make them. If they didn’t look like mice I could just never mention that I had tried. Sometimes the pressure you put on yourself to make something perfect is the very thing that stops you achieving it.

As is often the case with making multiples of something, the first mouse came together surprisingly well. The second one was almost impossible. I couldn’t get it to look anything like the first so it took several attempts. Once made I dressed them with some little felt clothes.

Not perfect by a long way, but I was pleased with how they turned out. If only I had taken some decent photos of them…

Needle felted fox

I didn’t make any further attempts to needle felt after the mice. They were fun to make but I realised how much more there was to learn if I was to do it properly.

A couple of years ago I joined a class to learn how to make a needle felted fox. The session was run by Mrs Bee Felts who is a properly talented needle felter. She taught us how to make our fox step by step.

I definitely learned a huge amount on her course and felt more confident with needle felting. I was also very proud of my little fox, who sits on the shelf in my craft room.

Needle felted hare

One thing I enjoy about making felted balls and flowers is seeing the different strands of colours mix in with one another. This gave me the idea to have a go at making another needle felted animal and bring in that idea of blending colours together.

I decided to try the ‘moon gazing hare’ concept. My vision was for a hare with big long ears looking up to the sky. I managed to use some of the skills I had learnt on my course but I didn’t follow any kind of pattern. I was pretty pleased with some elements of it. Although the shape of the face was not quite what I wanted. My kids still think this was supposed to be in memory of our (now departed) dog! The blend of colours does work quite well though I think. This final needle felted animals experiment also has a little place on a shelf in my craft room.

and now for 2022…

So the craft room is tidy and I’ve got lots of plans for new makes and products for PepperPot in 2022. Some will inevitably never make it past the ideas stage. There will also be lots of requests to make custom versions of things I already have. I know I say it often but that is something I really enjoy doing. I also have a new creative activity to try in my spare time, an Etsy purchase of my own. I’ll share more on that once I have made a start on it.