christmas is driving him to drink

Posted on October 7, 2025 by zefiart

I started needle felting again about a year ago, and I have to confess I’m hooked. I love it. Its such a zen feeling to sit quietly at the kitchen table stabbing wool and shaping it into anything I want. Often with the clashing sounds of an audio book on my mobile phone and mom’s tv programs… sigh…

I especially love creating little creatures with personalities, giving them more character by adding accessories to tell a story. This little bunny, for instance, started his gift wrapping full of Christmas spirit, but found he needed a big glass of red wine to get through it.

This little guy is the first in a series I planned to make for my Etsy shop this Christmas… the idea is to make little critters who represent different parts of the season. Including the snowmen in my last post, but these critters are all needle felted by hand, not made based on felted dryer balls I’d bought as an experiment.

Of course, the whole tariff thing in the USA has not done my shop any good, cause I sold quite a few of my creations to people in the US. And right now, I have a box waiting to be shipped to Canada but can’t send it due to the postal strike… Its hard enough to sell online without all this.

I’m not very good at promoting my work…

Anyway, I figured that since I’ve been absent for so long, I may as well share some of the things I’m made over the last few months.

One thing that’s helped heaps in making these small creations, is the light I bought on Temu. This thing is amazing. Its made for nail professionals and has enough space under it for me to work my wool comfortably. Its USB powered, and since I don’t have easy access to a power point at the kitchen table (cords are not user friendly to old women (mom) who are unsteady on their feet) I use a fantastic strong and fast charger I also got on Temu.

Needless to say I’m addicted to Temu.

I’m not proud of myself… but I can get so many good and useful things there. And of course some totally useless things, but I won’t mention that here… Unless you’d like me to share the failures…

Anyway, later.

OMG where have you been???

Posted on October 2, 2025 by zefiart

Yes, yes, yes. I know. I’ve been busy, I was abducted by aliens, the internet was playing up, the beach called, my suit didn’t get back from the cleaners, I was having an existential crisis and wondering whether I even wanted to keep blogging. Other things seemed more important.

Then for some strange reason, tonight, I had the urge to post again. Not that I have much of importance to say… just the usual rubbish I write about.

But for anyone out there in cyberland who may have been missing me, I am still here. Still alive. Mostly. Ok, I’m fine, I’m just being dramatic. Mom is fine. She’s been getting better all the time. I tell you, I’ve never met anyone as stubborn as my mom. In the best way. The doctors brought her back from the brink after she lost 2 of her sisters within a month of eachother (the youngest who dropped dead of a stroke without warning and the oldest who’d faded away over 6 years with dementia in a nursing home). The doctor and the physio visit to check up on mom regularly and she does whatever they tell her – she gets up every morning and does her exercises.

*I* don’t do exercises. Mom, at almost 94, does.

Ok, so I have been exercising. Before summer I finally decided that joining the gym (and actually attending) would be a good idea so I began pilates. Then soon as aqua aerobics started I switched to that. Let me tell you, nothing is as good as working out in the sea. No matter how awful or painful something might be, its better in the water.

Once aqua stopped mid September, a friend and I continue doing our own workouts. We meet at a convenient and protected beach and swim and work out with our leg and hand held ‘weights’ (of course they’re foam, not metal, we’re not suicidal!) So I’m keeping fit(ish).

I’ll be taking mom back to Athens soon, she insists, she’s getting better, I can’t refuse to let her go to her own home. And once I get back I’ll reinstate my gym membership and start doing some weights as well as pilates. And the plan is to keep swimming through winter. Its meant to be great for your immune system. Not to mention your skin.

I tell myself I’m going to swim in winter every year and soon as it gets cold I bundle up and pack away my swimmers. But with a partner in crime who actually swims in winter, I think I might be able to do it this year…

I have ordered a neoprene swim jacket. And a microbre hooded poncho I can wear and change under. That might help.

Stay tuned.

We’ve had a very busy summer. The entire family from Australia came to Greece this year. Everyone except for my brother and his partner. But my niece and nephew came, heaps of cousins came, my niece brought her partner and kids, my brother’s ex wife and her new partner. The place was hopping.

Its one reason mom bounced back. All those people to see. Especially the great grandchildren. So gorgeous. So cute. So loud…

On other fronts, work has been okay. Grooming dogs and doing workshops. All good.

Very little creative time. Too much happening to concentrate on creativity. But I have begun needle felting again, plenty of painting stones, some smaller stuff. You know… I have to do something or I go crazy.

I leave you with a photo of the most recent needle felted creations for Christmas… made by upcycling felt dryer balls by needle felting and adding accessories (bought and made).

Hopefully I’ll be back again soon, with catch up posts.

Till then,

z xxx

Shared at Funky Junk Interiors Upcycle Ideas Party

busy with my etsy shop

Posted on December 31, 2024 by zefiart

Etsy sale for the month of January 2025.

I have been absent but that seems to be the way I roll lately.

I roll out of bed, walk Vincent, have coffee, get online, do minimal housework, walk Vincent, do some errands, roll onto the couch…

However, despite my seemingly endless nothingness, I have been busy needle felting. The couch has become my new workstation. As you saw in my last post, I have been infected with the needle felting bug again.

I have been spending almost every single evening with a pointy weapon in hand, stabbing at innocent balls of wool with wild abandon.

And experimenting.

So far, here is the first lot which I have managed to put up for sale in my store:

A rabbit with his morning coffee and newspaper.

And of course you’ve already met the little rat with his heart in his hands.

You can see more pics and details of each of these guys in my store.

My store has been very quiet lately, so it was time to put selected items on sale and promote it more, so please visit and share it with friends. I offer commissioned work – paintings, remade dolls – wall art for a nursery, felted and papier mache sculptures… all kinds of things.

This is a hard but wonderful time of year. I have the time to create, but no regular income. I’m loving the time at home and being able to experiment and play, but having to juggle bills sucks. Luckily, I have tons of art and craft materials on hand thanks to my inability to stop buying it! I think I have enough to keep me busy for MONTHS.

needle felting once more

Posted on December 13, 2024 by zefiart

Its been years since I picked up a felting needle and wool, but recently I’d been seeing a ton of posts on FB of needle felted animals created by some talented people and it brought back the memory and joy of needle felting. You can see some of my past projects here, here, here and here.

I had the supplies in the basement, so soon as I returned from my trip to Athens to visit mom I went down and brought up two boxes of wool and tools.

Unfortunately, most of my felting needles had rusted and/or broken, but I still had 5 that worked, so I began to think about what I’d create. I wanted to make something with a wire armature so it would be moveable unlike anything I’d ever done before, and I knew I didn’t want it to be realistic. I wanted to make anthropomorphic critters cause I think they’re so cute.

The first one I made was this little mouse. He’s about 15cm high (about 6inches). I began by sketching the shape and making an armature out of some (probably too thick) aluminium wire I had on hand, making sure to curve the ends so as to not have wires sticking out of the ends.

The coarsest wool I had was a dark burgundy colour (why on earth would I have bought dark burgundy???) so I began by felting the body with that, then adding the coloured layer on top.

Once i made the head, I joined it to the body (sorry no pics of the process) and decided to make him a heart to hold. I added whiskers (bristles off a house painting brush) and eyes. I had some small and tiny eyes in my collection of ‘stuff I will use one day’.

Here he is before I stitched on the nose and mouth.

I decided his feet needed something and I was about to make him slippers when a voice suggested bunny slippers. Perfect!

I also made him a colourful vest cause he seemed incomplete without a stitch of clothing. I made it using a pair of socks I had and never wore. It seems I’m always cutting up my clothing items when I need to make something… hm… What does that say about me?

I used a small bead as a button to keep the vest in place. I liked the curling edges so left that as it was, opting not to iron the vest.

His tail was made by wet felting – using hot water and soap to felt onto a piece of wire so he could be balanced and stand.

And here he is, finished.

For now he’s sitting on my bookcase watching me work. He’s for sale, but for now I’m not sure where I’ll put him up for sale – Facebook, Etsy, Tedooo? I just joined Tedooo and haven’t quite worked it out. I’m really not so good at all the social media stuff…

But there he is. Ready for his new home!!

In the new year I’ll be organising some needle felting workshops. I really am looking forward to that!

walking dead dolls

Posted on May 9, 2021 by zefiart

I know I’ve shared a couple of my Walking Dead doll remakes, but I found I had this post in my drafts folder and it includes one previously unshared doll: Sasha.

This is Sasha in the show:

And this is my Sasha, complete with a high powered rifle with moving parts.

Remaking Sasha included a total repaint of her face and a new hair style. I made her singlet top and she wears Bratz jeans. I bought her gun on ebay as I’ve bought various other accessories at times when I can’t make them myself. I already have a crossbow to make Daryl… I just have to get there.

Let’s revisit the other girls… Firstly my all time favourite: Michonne. This is how she began, a very messy Bratz girl I bought in an op shop. That’s one thing I miss here (among other things…) No op shops. I’ve never seen dolls I can remake for sale anywhere for instance. I’m glad I brought a ton with me! When I eventually get around to re-making some again.

This is Michonne on the show…

walking-dead-michonne-danai-gurira-season-3-amc

And this is how my interpretation, complete with a katana and a chain to hold her pet walkind dead.

In Michonne’s case I had to do a total overhaul. I had to remove her hair and make dredlocks by wet felting a combination of wools. I made her top, including a leather vest plus a studded belt. Her jeans are original Bratz jeans as they’re just too hard to make.

Last but not least, Carol. This is Carol on the show:

This is what the doll looked like before I started. A typical overdone Bratz doll with wild hair.

And this is the finished Carol, complete with a gun, a military warrier knife and bag.

In Carol’s case I did a repaint of the face, gave her a haircut and coloured her hair grey. I made all her clothes and made a pair of Bratz sandals into boots by painting and adding laces.

I miss remaking dolls. Its one of the things I planned to work on in winter but never got around to it for two winters in a row. This winter I was working on sculptures and last winter who remembers… All I know is that time never seems to be enough.

And I get bouts of laziness and inspiration blocks.

I should really be working on things like this constantly but instead I spend hours doing all sorts of things instead of creating. I really work best when I have a ton of projects going at once cause then I can pick what I want to work on at any given time. Space becomes an issue in a 2 room flat.

Last night I was up till 12.30 working on one of my new (old) cabinets. I didn’t even realise what time it was till I saw it was pitch black outside.

I love it when I’m in the zone like that.

a bunny ear-phone holder

Posted on May 11, 2018 by zefiart

Have you seen the cutest little bunny ear-phone holder on Pinterest?

Well. I had to try it. Its just so darn cute! (I’m not the only one who tried it. You can see other examples here.)

So, meet my bunny. I made him out of extra thick felt and put stiffener between the front and back on the body to make him stronger. The ears and tongue are made from regular thickness felt squares.

Pretend you don’t notice where I went off kilter with the sewing machine on the ear…

I gave him a little something extra… a pom pom tail!

And, I couldn’t make him without making him more ‘mine’… hence the button eye and the X eye. My little imperfect bunny.

Since I finished him I’ve also added a little clip to his side so I can now clip him to my bag. That keeps him from getting lost (falling out of the bag or falling to the bottom of the bag requiring me to empty to entire bag to find him), and keeps him handy.

I’m happy with my little bunny.

meet mr fox – in felt

Posted on October 30, 2015 by zefiart

Hello Mr Fox!

Here is Mr Fox going for a drive. And below he sits on our gate post as the horses do a good job of mowing our driveway.

He’s such a happy little fellow. Mainly cause I gave him a little grin when I needle felted him.

My what big ears you have Mr Fox!

Here I was ridiculing the Fox Eradication Program… They spent millions of dollars to eradicate every single fox in the state.

Well, it worked! I’ve never seen a fox, have you?

Oh! Wait! There’s one!

Perhaps they were right… there ~~were~~ ARE foxes in Tasmania!

needle felted rat-like creature

Posted on March 28, 2015 by zefiart

I’ve been looking at a lot of incredible needle-felted animals on Pinterest lately. Some people are so talented! The expressions, the realistic shapes…

I decided to make my own little dressed up mouse. Its been a while since I made a needle-felted animal. I love working with felt but I’m not exactly consistent.

I had planned to make a mouse but he looks a bit more like a rat. Not to worry. He’s still cute.

I needle felted him entirely, except for the white collar on his little orange vest, and his yellow bow tie.

His eyes are needle felted, with a little white twinkle highlight. I stitched his nose and mouth with black thread.

I had these little metal shavings in my shed… I don’t know what they’re from, I found them on the ground when we took a load to the tip last year. Hard to see in the photos, but they look like little flowers to me. I made a little stem and leaves out of wire and gave them to my little rat-like creature to hold.

Yep. He looks cute in his perpetual grovelling, apologetic, flower-offering stance.

Shared at:

elmer the emu

Posted on May 20, 2012 by zefiart

The other night I got into the ‘zone’ again and made another felted animal. I had an emu in mind cause we’d made an emu at work with clients last year and really enjoyed it. In that instance it was a papier mache emu and we couldn’t find a way to get him to balance on his long skinny legs, then I accidentally broke a leg… so we ended up putting him in a wheelchair. It was great. How perfect is a disabled emu made by a group of people with a disability? He was exhibited at the Cosmos Art Show and sold.

This is the only photo I have of him, unfinished.

Wheelie Bird, made by Day In The Hall clients at Cosmos Inc. (website designed by me, incidentally)

But back to my emu who looks like a cross between Big Bird and Beaker.

Elmer, the emu.

See the resemblance?

Anyway, I think he’s adorable. I made Elmer and Kangarat to enter in a competition being held in Salamanca in Hobart but now I’m not sure. It costs $15 per entry, then I have to price them for sale and drop them off and pick them up if they don’t sell. I think I’d be better off reviving my Etsy shop and selling them through there.

Then again, if I’m going to be selling items through Etsy (or ebay) I should really have a regular list of items for sale, right? And I’m too scattered to do that.

Seriously. I have a million projects on the go at any one time and another gazillion whizzing around inside my head, bouncing around like dodgem cars.

Plus, I have a serious affliction. I’m addicted to tip shopping. I can try to resist but its futile. I give in and I’m in there, on my knees going through boxes of rusty stuff, getting my hands dirty, unearthing some small bit of something which I know will be perfect for some project I have in the back of my mind. Or seeing stuff I think would be perfect for xxx, or would look great if I just did xxx to it.

I just can’t help myself. I’m like that bug in A Bug’s Life who flies toward the light saying “I… can’t… help… it”.

Yesterday I asked Wayne to help move a cabinet which weighed as much as a small tractor into the workshop area of the casita for me. I believe it was some kind of sorting cabinet for paper in a previous life cause it has tons of small slots in which paper would fit perfectly. I think it’ll be really handy to sort my ~~junk~~ inventory in some sort of order. All the knobs in a box in their own slot. All the hinges in another. All the nuts and bolts in another. You get the idea.

A wise friend of mine pointed out that until I start to actually use the stuff I’m collecting to make stuff (and by that she means FINISH stuff) I’m nothing but a hoarder in training.

I have to face reality. She’s right. My desk is covered in post-it notes with To Dos. I have a notebook full of To Do lists and all I seem to do is cross off one, add 3 and reshuffle the rest. I need to actually finish some of my projects. Then I can justify the stuff I collect…. cause I ain’t about to stop!

Perhaps letting the ideas out of my head will give me some peace as well. As it is, getting to sleep at night is really hard when I’m lying there thinking of solutions to problems I haven’t actually faced yet.

its a kangarat!

Posted on May 15, 2012 by zefiart

Yes, yes. I know. Its been AGES since I last posted. I don’t know how those ‘other’ bloggers do it. I just can’t blog on a regular basis when I’m working. I seem to push blogging down the list as other things pile on top.

However, I have been busy. Not as busy as I’d like given the wrist pains. For instance, this last week I haven’t done much at all.

One thing I did do was finally finish my lightbox. This is a lightbox made from a cardboard box, white paper, a tip shop sheet and a desk lamp. The desk lamp came from a garage sale a few months ago. I bought it despite the fact that it didn’t have the clamp to hold it to the desk cause I thought we could make a base for it. I asked Wayne to make a base for it on the weekend and this is what he made:

The base is made from 2 offcuts of wood from our deck extension and corregated iron strips which have been hammered flat and nailed on. Pretty cool. A bit of overkill I thought, but hey. It works!

And the proof that it works is in the photos! This is my felt kangarat. I took these photos in my new lightbox using my simple point and click camera.

I’ve tried various felting experiments in the past. Most of them were dismal failures. Or mediocre failures at best… First is a small felt purse made with bought felt with a felted toy poodle on it.

Then there’s the throw with felted poodles playing on it. This one I think I buried in the back yard.

In fact I think this is my favourite felt project till recently. My favourite polar fleece jumper had lots of small holes on it from puppy teeth (thanks Bonnard!). I cut up pieces of felt and felted on the patches. I love the colour spots on my jumper now.

So… when I decided to have a go at a three dimensional felted animal I was diving into the deep end. I started with some pieces of a scarf I wet felted and would never wear. I cut a piece of the scarf and created a cone shape. I filled it with felted scraps, then I started felting the two tones of grey onto it to make the kangaroo colour.

The head, ears, legs, arms and tail were all made separately and felted onto the body. It was interesting, and other than impaling myself on the felting needles a few times, it was easy enough.

I decided my little kanagroo needed a jumper so I simply felted a square piece of blue, created holes for the sleeves and folded over the collar.

When I showed it to Wayne he said it looked more like a rat than a kangaroo.

Hm.

I will call him a kangarat!

And I think he’s gorgeous!

junk4joy

painting, recycling, creating and living on a greek island

Category Archives: felting