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On the ferry over to Vancouver, I pulled out the last of my felt scraps, and felted this baby. Is it a little weird? Yes! Did it have the desired effect on my friend, who has a three month old baby named George? Yes! It was nice to make a gift with my newfound skills.

Method-wise, I didn’t even Google search how to do this. I had enough in fundamentals under my belt to start right away. First, I needled some core forms with the grey core felt – torso, head, arms, and legs. Then I attached them, and settled on the seated position with arms up. I shaped the whole body a bit, then moved on to “dressing” the kid with the soft merino coloured felt. Start to finish, it took about an hour.

I can see how I could really keep going with needle felting. Christmas ornaments, little gifts, hanging mini sculptures… it’s all doable. I haven’t done anything abstract yet. It feels like that is the arbitrary line between art and craft when it comes to materials like felt.