Lamb Soft Sculpture - Part 11

Today I have some pictures of my lamb soft sculpture project.  Because of my travel schedule, it has been sitting on my workbench for some time.  Now that I am back, I have been making some good progress on it.  Progress is a relative thing, though.  It has taken me quite a bit of time on this because of the method I am using for adding the wool roving to the sculpture.

Before the internet clogs by all the crafters writing me to tell me that I am doing extra work that does not have to be done, I want to say that I know and I am doing it anyway.  I have my reasons for using the method, even if it is much more work.  Many times a project that is made by quick methods will not hold up in the long run.  When I make a project, I make it as if I expect for it to last a hundred years.  Taking some extra steps will help ensure that the project is one that has the potential to become an heirloom piece.

In this case, the wool roving is added by hand knotting each individual strand before it is felted with a needle tool.  It is a slow process.  In the middle of the lamb, where it is easier to work, I am knotting a strand in a blazing forty seconds.  When working between the legs of the lamb, it may be closer to a minute per strand because of the difficulty of working in such a small area.  Knotting each strand will help keep the wool roving in place.  If the roving were just needle felted on, it could be pulled out at some point.  Even if a strand is pulled out, the knots will help keep the wool attached to the lamb.

I will describe my method, although I doubt that many people will want to use it because it is so time consuming.  The process of hand knotting is painstaking, but a little organization helps it to go faster.   My first few knots took a little longer, but I quickly figured out  where to place my tools so that I could use them efficiently.  Putting them back in the same place each time saves searching for things at each step.

I open a package of wool roving.  The roving comes in one yard long lengths (0.9144 meter), which I then cut down into nine segments, each segment is four inches long.  (111.44 cm.).  At this point I try to be fairly accurate on this measurement.  I found from experimentation that 3and a half inches the strands were too short to knot easily.  Three and three quarter inches per strand was easier but still took more time than using a four inch strand.  Four inches was just about right.  Anything more was just wasting wool.  Since I have a worktable where I can leave my work undisturbed while I go on about my day, I go ahead and cut all the segments at once.  If you are in a situation where you are packing up your work and putting it away, I would cut one four inch segment at a time so that you don't have wool coming apart everywhere.  So now, I have nine thick four inch long segments.  It is time to begin.

I tried a number of needles for this project, but I found that my three inch doll making needle worked best.  Wide eyed needles such as a chenille needle broke under the strain of pulling the wool through the body.  I expect that there are a number of heavy upholstery needles that would have worked as well as the doll making needle, but I did not have them at hand.

To thread the needle I used a hook type needle threading tool.  It is sometimes called a ribbon threader.  The manufacturer of the one I was using was LoRan.  They are not always easy to find at craft stores.  I did find them on Amazon.  Anyway, I would pinch off a piece of wool roving from my four inch segment.  Explaining how much to pull off is a bit hard to explain.  If you pull off too thick of a piece it will be to thick to thread through the needle.  If you pull off to thin a piece the area will look too spare.  About half as much roving as will fit through the needle is about right.  You will figure out the right amount quickly when you see it.  Pull about a half inch of roving through the needle.

This process is very cumbersome to write.  It actually moves much more quickly than it would seem from the instructions.  In no time at all, you will find that making the stitch flows from one motion to the next.  Holding the needle in your right hand, with a half inch of roving threaded through the needle, take a half inch stitch into the soft sculpture.  (I am right handed, so these are written as right hand directions, so apologies to left handers.)  As the point of the needle begins to come come clear of the fabric, take the needle in your left hand and pull while using your right hand to grab the tail of the wool roving.  As the needle comes completely out, and the roving starts to come out of the eye of the needle, trap that section of the roving with your right middle finger.  Place the needle into your pin cushion.  Grasp one end of the wool roving in each hand and cross one end over the other to make a loop.  Pick up a crochet hook and insert it through the loop.  Grab the end of the roving with the hook and pull it through the loop to make a knot.  Make a second knot the same way.  Put down the crochet hook and pick up the needle felting tool with a single needle in it.  Jab the knots a few times to felt the knot.  Repeat for each strand. 

Although it is not as quick as working in a straight line, I am working around the soft sculpture, staggering each row.  The reason for this is that straight lines would be much more noticeable.  I want the sculpture to have a more organic look.  After every couple of rows around the lamb, I would use the needle felting tool and felt in some of the wool roving.  There would still be more roving sticking up.  The long bits of roving will be felted down to cover the knots.  The knots not only help keep the wool permanently attached to the sculpture, they also add depth to the wool, making the lamb's body look thicker and heavier.

The process takes quite a while.  I am estimating about twenty to twenty-five hours to complete the felting. I average about an inch around the sculpture per hour.  If this were a hand knotted wool felted rug, it would be expensive.  Unfortunately, I only have a few minutes at a time to work on it, so it is taking even longer.  I don't stay up all night to get a project done.  This may take a while with my schedule.

I will be posting pictures of the lamb as the sculpture comes along.  Since the process is slow, and with all the drama of watching paint dry, I will be posting some more photos of my recent trip and other things of interest  as I go along to keep things more interesting.  Check back on Thursday for the next blog post.