Needle felted Hamanaka Pandas kit and Penguin cube!

 

Hamanaka Pink and Grey Pandas Ki!

Cube penguin adapted from a needle felting book!

Moving house sucks. Especially when it comes to rentals. *sighs* ANYWAY, how cute are the pandas and the cube penguin?? This is the Hamanaka Wool Felt Pandas kit, which I purchased from etsy. The pandas have a round ball body with tail nubs. Very simple but kawaii kit!

As for the cube penguin, I adapted it from a chinese needle felting book, which is not available from the same etsy seller at the moment. It is one of the best needle felting books I've come across! It has really kawaii needle felted goodies in there AND it also teaches the basic techniques to start off your projects. I use Hamanaka core wool for all my projects. Melamine foam (as the core) unfortunately doesn't work out for me.

When I am truly settled in the new RENTAL, I will look at making needle felting tutorials! :D

ENJOY!!

Needle Felted Kawaii Marshmallows: Mr and Mrs Kawaii Marshmallow

Mr and Mrs Kawaii Marshmallow!

I initially made Mr Kawaii Marshmallow just because I "felt" like it. Hah! Then I started making a pink coloured Mrs Kawaii Marshmallow to accompany Mr Kawaii Marshmallow. I turned them both into brooches and wear them out. I encouraged my colleagues at work to squish it and they are just like squishy marshmallows! :D

From some media sources, I am able to see how great some of the needle felted projects are! I make my needle felted projects less fluffy/fuzzy as possible as less fluffiness creates a cleaner/ sharper, finished look. Also, I "shallow-felt" to finish up the project so it doesn't end up with big felting needle holes as needle felted projects are prone to.

Mr. Kawaii Marshmallow and Mr Kawaii Cloud is made with Hamanaka Core Wool, needle felted into shape and then covered with Hamanaka's Twinkle Series felting wool in white. It looks like glossy wool. Mrs Kawaii Marshmallow is covered with Hamanaka light pink wool. More shaping and shallow needle felting later, I poke 2 holes with an awl then glued the eyes into place. Then I finish off the projects with kawaii pink cheeks and a cute smile!

I am hoping that I will be able to make a tutorial for Mr and Mrs Kawaii Marshmallow AND Mr Kawaii Cloud soon!!

 

For now, thank you & enjoy! :D

Hamanaka Wool: Candy Nep, Irodori Yasai and Crayon

Here's another haul!

Candy Nep

Crayon (I only got 2 colours)

Photo credit: 1127handcrafter from Etsy

Vegetable Dye Series: Irodoi Yasai

TOP: Pumpkin, Basil

BOTTOM: Spinach, Tomato, Carrot

Photo credit: 1127handcrafter Etsy

Needle Felted Hamanaka Kit Welsh Corgi and Hamanaka Wool Candy Haul!

I made a needle felted Corgi. It took 6 hours. 6 HOURS!! It was worth it even if it didn't look like the one on the packaging.

I learned about Hamanaka Wool Candy and the Hamanaka Kits from Maqaroon's Youtube videos.

For the needle felted Welsh Corgi, I use the Hamanaka Kit from etsy shop Hallowinko. I am too embarrassed to show more photos of it!

As shown below are felting wool haul that I got from 2 etsy shops: hallowinko and 1127handcrafter. Both sellers are from Hong Kong. (Please ignore the price tags as they are in HK$)

The next 2 photos are Hamanaka Felket Needle Felting Wool. Not really worth it in my opinion BUT it helps make needle felting faster. I didn't know until I've received it (small price difference, Felket is a bit more expensive)

 

Felket is a piece of wool for needle felting. I vaguely remember one piece is only 15cm x 22cm.

More Hamanaka Wool Candy-liciousness!

Hamanaka Wool Candy Twinkle Series

Hamanaka Colored Wool Series

Shetland & Organic Wool (so soft!) 

The wool below is 1127handcrafter's own brand of short fibre wool.

The seller is nice enough to send me a sample to try and I absolutely love it! It is so much easier and a lot faster to neede felt with! I don't have to cut or pull a long sliver if I need a small amount.

Hope this post is kind of informative! :D

Needle felted kawaii kitten inspired by Hamanaka kitten kit

Here is my version of the kawaii kitten! All details are needle felted, including the eyes, mouth and whiskers!

I followed Maqaroon's instructions via her video tutorial for "Make Adorable Kittens Using a DIY Needle Felt Kit". I LOVE HER VIDEOS especially the sound of her showing and opening the packages of the Hamanaka Wool Candy and the DIY kits!! :D

Without further ado, here is my version of the kitteh!
 

 

Kawaii kitten hanging out with one of my boys! :)

Needle felting tools

As promised, here are the pictures of the tools that I'm using to create the macarons!

I am NOT a representative for the needle felting brand, Clover. Just want to show what Clover tools I use to make needle felting goodies. 

Warning 1: VERY pic-heavy & SUPER SHARP needles!!
Warning 2: NEVER needle felt when you're tired unless you need the wake-up jolt, ie stabbing your finger(s) by accident!

Large needle felting mat. More like a big scrub! :D

You can use this mat OR opt for a cheaper option, block of foam (styrofoam sucks!).

This clover mat unfortunately make your felt projects really fuzzy (DUH, felt! BUT I'd prefer less fuzziness) so a block of foam is good on hand to clean up or shape any non-flat needle felting projects.

Even if there's a safety lock and barrier, I still managed to stab myself twice on the thumb so be VERY CAREFUL!

The good thing about the Clover needle felting tool with 5 needles is that you can felt faster but in the end for flat projects, you'd need to use just 1 needle to "clean up".  That's my opinion though. :D

This pen has room for 3 needles.

I forgot to take a picture of the pen that you can use by just uncapping and you're ready to stab the wool. (Like above picture, just uncap and stab!)

Do NOT use the pen the way as shown above. It should have either the other half of the pen attached OR the see-through guard attached (for cookiecutters/applique moulds) before use.

 BARBS!!
BUT. The most dangerous part is the SHARP pointy part of the needle!

The needle looks like this on it's own.

The cleaning/felt holder/blending tool. Instruction as shown below.

Another alternative I saw as a holder is toothpick.

Extra sets of needles. These needles are exclusively for the Clover needle felting tool ONLY. I'm not too sure if other brands of needles are compatible with the Clover needle felting tool.

 Clover Assorted bags of Natural Wool: 20g per colour.
After doing a bit of research, batting is actually more suitable for needle felting rather than roving/sliver wool. Please visit Felt Alive's Needle Felting Supplies to find out WHY!

I highly, highly recommend HAMANAKA WOOL that I purchase from etsy: 1127handcrafter and hallowinko 

There's also this Economy FUN Batting and Premium Needle Felting Batts in mixed colours from Felt Alive's needle felting supplies. Pretty!  

Wool roving. Just pull it apart gently. 

 Superhero strength not needed to pull the roving apart, gentle tugs at both ends will do.

If you've scoured through youtube for needle felting videos, you will see some videos where the presenters use only 1 needle and a block of foam. A much much cheaper option! Some people use melamine foam blocks but I find that they disintegrate too quickly compared to the foam blocks from "Felt Alive's Needle Felting Supplies".

June 2014 edit: I highly recommend purchasing felting supplies, kits and wool from online sellers at etsy: 1127handcrafter and hallowinko as they have the best prices! I purchase Hamanaka Wool from from them too, which I absolutely love needle felting with! 1127handcrafter also sells "Carter short fibre wool" and it's absolutely great to needle felt with too!


I purchased wool batting - coloured Economy FUN batting, needles and foam (3 sizes!) at: Felt Alive's Needle Felting Supplies online store

Please feel free to share your info about what other alternative products that you'd use.

ENJOY! :D