The Seal Pup Felting Project - Master Post

The Seal Pup Felting Project - Part 1 - July 8, 2013
The Seal Pup Felting Project - Part 2 - July 11, 2013
The Seal Pup Felting Project - Part 3 - July 22, 2013
The Seal Pup Felting Project - Part 4 - August 2, 2013
The Seal Pup Felting Project - Part 5 - August 7, 2013

The Seal Pup Felting Project - Part 5

This one turned out much creepier than the others. I'm not sure why.

I've decided to end my project in felting. Each step feels like more and more of a chore instead of a new hobby. I'm tired of felting whips of wool that won't stay on. I want my projects to be fun, not boring.

I made 3 seal pups, enough that I got what I paid for ($19). The kit was for 3-4 seals, though given the amount of wool I have left over, I'm not sure what the manufacturers were thinking.

I'm a bit miffed about the waste of wool here but I can't keep it.

I can definitely say that I've tried felting and it wasn't for me. At least I got one good animal out of this:

The Seal Pup Felting Project - Part 4

2 Seal pups down, 2 (?) more to go:

I'm pleased with how this one turned out: the body is shorter and has more structure because the 'chest' is thicker than the rest of the body. The back flippers curve up and the head is better placed. It still doesn't look the picture in my instruction booklet but it's closer than the last one.

I still didn't sew the eyes in; there aren't any instructions on how to do that. I wasn't really happy with the face because it looks like the head of a polar bear. Felting 'wisps' of wool is difficult and it's the most noticeable part. I don't have the patience for this sort of work.

It does make this guy look happy which is a happy trade-off. I can live with that.

The Seal Pup Felting Project - Part 3

Round 2 of the Seal Pups went better.

The body is shorter:

The head is bigger:

 And better placed:

The body is curved and not flat:

The front flippers help support the body:

And the back flippers are up:

This looks more like a seal than a voodoo doll:

I still have all of the detail work to do but so far, I've improved in my felting abilities.

Time spent: about 20 minutes.

The Seal Pup Felting Project - Part 2

Seal Pups: 1/3 done

Things I've Learned:

1. The body needs to be shorter
2. The head needs to be bigger and not as far back
3. The back flippers need to be turned sideways
4. Using the bead eyes is a good idea
5. Felting wisps is really hard

One down, two to go!

The Seal Pup Felting Project - Part 1

One pup is mostly done, according to the instructions:

The body is measured 7" by 3", rolled into a wedge 2.5" long. One side should be thicker than the other. That... didn't exactly happen.

Felting is essentially stabbing a barbed needle into wool a lot of times. Somehow, this works.

Rolling the head was a bit harder than the body:

The head should really be further down, almost hanging off the body:

I felted more wool onto the 'chest' of the seal:

 

Flippers:

 

The completed body:

When I handed this to a friend, she thought it was a voodoo doll:

The whole thing took about half an hour. I still have about 15 minutes' worth of work left to do - mostly the face. Surprisingly (for me, anyway), this was a pretty simple project... so far.

The Seal Pup Felting Project - Preview

My newest project - the Seal Pup Felting Project! I hope this will turn out faster and easier than some of my other projects. I've never tried felting before but it seems interesting and this project will be cute.

Here's hoping that I'll make progress on this one!