I have a little helper!

My beautiful girl Smonks (a.k.a. Monkey or Punky Monkey) is a Mackerel tabby cat. She is now 8 years old and we had her as a little 8 week old kitten. She was named "Monkey" due to the way she clung onto me as a kitten, not wanting to let go. She is a house cat and I have clicker trained her to do 11 tricks. She does these tricks promptly and enthusiastically for a click and a treat. She does, sit, down, turn around, touch, go to target, scratch, jumps up, lifts paw, fetches, rings her servant's bell and comes and gets her laser light for a chasing game. She's far too clever for her own good. Apart from her tricks on command, she also loves doing "suicide leaps" from the top of the wardrobe onto our bed during the night! During the day she can often be found underneath the duvet covers. When she isn't doing that she loves to help me do my felting, by conditioning the wool and mixing the colours together. She made a cloud one day, then fell asleep on it. Be sure to check out the middle photo, a Smonks selfie!

More photos to be added....

#Felting #Cat #Needlefelting #felteddog #chicktincreations

My interview with Linda on her YouTube channel "It's Gotta Be Handmade."

I was asked if I would like to be interviewed by Linda on her new YouTube channel "It's Gotta Be Handmade" about my craft and I happily accepted. I had a few technical issues to smooth out at my end as the interview was being conducted across the Atlantic Ocean and with time differences to be taken into account, but we both made the connection on time. I loved Linda's enthusiasm and genuine love of all things art and craft and her willingness to provide a platform for artists so that they may be seen all over the world. I felt honoured indeed to have been discovered on Etsy and Linda has asked that I return for another interview at a later date. I hope that you might subscribe to Linda's channel to see many other artists creating all manner of wonderful things. I wish Linda every success with her YouTube channel.

#video #needlefelting #felting #felteddog #wooldogs #needlefelt #gotabehandmade #chicktincreations

I must admit, my favourite breed is the German Shepherd!

I love the challenge of creating a German Shepherd. It is a breed with a large variety of shapes (some good and some not so good) and colours. They are a very noble breed and their shape, I think, is beautiful. The colouring gives many challenges, with their coats being mostly two or three colours with all varying shades between the combinations of all three. The graduations of blacks to browns, to cream creates a time consuming job, with each colour to be hand blended which takes many hours and can really only be done with good daylight. I have made the mistake of doing this in poor evening light and it doesn't turn out well. I do feel a bit like a breeder and groomer sometimes, creating all these dogs! I wish I had been able to do this during my teenage years, but needle felting was unknown then.

#photo #needlefelt #needlefelting #needlefelted #felting #felt #felteddog #chicktincreations