You start with your felting needle and 'stabbing foam'.
Gather your pumpkin colored wool.
Needle felt the orange wool into a soft orange ball. I gather the sides up to the top and poke until they stay put, sort of like a drawstring purse.
Next you start defining the pumpkin's 'bumps'. I turn the pumpkin on its side, once I have determined what is top and bottom, and needle felt top to bottom-bottom to top a few time to define the 'grooves'. Do that until you have segmented the pumpkin bumps until it looks like a peeled orange. Then start 'tapping' the bulges, from top to bottom, until they are as firm as you would like them. The flatter they get, the more you will also have to redo the indentations to keep the 'hill and valley' happening for the pumpkin shape. Repeat, repeat, repeat, until you have the entire pumpkin as fluffy or firm as you wish.
View from the top of finished pumpkin.
View from the side.
Take some wool fluff for the stem, I am using natural and tan wool here. If you prefer green, go for it!
I pluck and pull the two colors to blend them. Then fold in half and twist.
Needle felt the stem, rolling it over now and then as you felt, so you get a roundish stem shape. I grasp the fluff on one end to keep my fingers safe from the needle and then use that un-needled fluff to attach the stem to the pumpkin.
Apply the stem like a little hat onto the top of the pumpkin.
With the needle, start poking the stem fluff down into the pumpkin body until it is well attached and the stem sits at an angle you approve of. (if you want the stem to curve realistically, just needle more on one side and that will 'pull' the stem into an arc)
And there you go! Fine, finished, furry pumpkins that are fun to make and cute to gift, not to mention a necessary Halloween and Thanksgiving decoration. Just add a few leaves, maybe a sheep or turkey, ghost or scarecrow. Oh, you could needle felt a mini crow to sit upon the pumpkin, or...
Have Fun!
One of your satisfied pumpkin customers (the short one) reviewed your tutorial and found the steps to be quite clear. However, she was concerned that the stem on her pumpkin is green rather than brown, and was wondering why there was a discrepancy. I told her that artists get to do whatever they like whenever they like. :-)
ReplyDeleteYour response was very apropos. If she would like further elucidation, the answer if very commercial-people buy more green stem pumpkins than brown stem pumpkins, even though the latter is more agriculturally correct by the time pumpkins are harvested. Green and orange are prettier to look at! Thanks for commenting. Have a wonderful week.
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