Needle Felted Raccoon

 Needle Felted Raccoon

Baby Mobile

This little guy looks so much cuter in real life.  Below I have shared the process from start to finish of creating this project.  I skip over wool prep as I have already posted about that last year. Check it out if you haven’t yet. 

So here are my tools and wire that I am starting with to make the core “skeleton” of the raccoon.” It will help give the creature some stability and ability to pose its limbs and tail the way I want.

This shows my work setting with the felting pad, wool and needle ready to go. I have the most wool un-dyed so I like to start with white to form the deeper shape and add color afterwards.

The next step is wrapping a section of wool around the wire form to start giving support and shape to this piece. I do have to be careful with the felting needle as the metal center could break a needle.

I used the barbed felting needle to connect the wool fibers together with repetitive pokes allowing the form to get firmer and take shape.  The more an area is jabbed, the tighter the fibers get, which firms the shape and makes it smaller/tighter.

 Adding small sections of wool to areas that need building up really starts taking on the shape that I was looking for on this raccoon.

Gray wool had been dyed previously and perfect for this project.

Black wool added to the face.  It is starting to look like a raccoon.

Ears have bits of gray and black wool hand carded together to make a dark gray tone.

More gray wool is added to the lower body.

Colors have been added to the tail. And his mouth is felted on.  Will be adding more fluff to the tail, tummy, and cheeks.

White part of the eye is added and the rest of the dark gray bits to the bottom of his foot paws.

He has been fluffed and beads are sewn on to complete the eyes.

He is getting awfully cute.

With some artistic license, this creation came to life from a request for a felted raccoon decoration as a baby gift. I decided it would be a better piece with the raccoon “climbing” a log and used thin wire to sew his paws to each other around the wood and the feet as well.

I had fun picking out the beads to keep the natural colors, while adding a cute hanging ensemble.

I do have a quick video on Pinterest that outlines this process as described in this post, but it does end with the raccoon mobile spinning!  Check it out.