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131015 Christine, Linda and Cathy's stack of needle-felted mice in pumpkins. with logo

Tuesday morning, October 15, 2013. This beautiful morning, our craft group gathered in the gazebo outside of The Company of Angels school store at 8:45am for our weekly craft group get-together.

Christine Newell taught our craft group to needle-felt a pumpkin and a mouse. This fall season craft is ideal for the season table and also suitable to use as props for story-telling. In fact, Rachel gave us a delightful little story to go along with this handmade pumpkin and mouse. The craft of needle-felting is usually introduced in Grade 6 in the Waldorf curriculum.

Thank you Rachel Skelly and Christine Newell for organizing our Waldorf School of Orange County weekly craft group get-togethers! – Jzin

Gallery of Past Projects from The Waldorf School of Orange County Craft Group

Click on the image below to view our craft group projects from the past.

121202 Vintage Life photo show girls crafting inside trailer at war times. Post button for Wednesday Morning Craft Group

Tuesday morning, October 15, 2013.

For a $10 craft fee, Christine taught us to make this delightful project. We also had access to all the craft supplies, such as hand-dyed wool roving, batting, felting foam boards, felting needles and such.

Here is Christine’s dry needle-felted pumpkin and its resident mouse, brought in as a reference for us.

131015 Christine's dry needle-felted mouse in his pumpkin house with curly tendrils

Make a Ball Shape for the Pumpkin

Needle-felting wool batting into large ball shapes.

131015 Alena, Anicka, Gisela needle-felting balls of wool batting into pumpkin shapes

Batting versus wool top roving: We used wool batting as the inner core of our pumpkins. The fibers in wool batting are oriented in different directions. Batting is cheaper than wool top and it is easier to needle-felt.

Wool top is finer, more expensive and harder to felt relative to batting. The fibers in wool top run in one direction. We use wool tops to decorate the colors of the pumpkin.

Adding Colors to Felt Pumpkin

Heather radiating joy amidst a pile of fall colored hand-dyed (by Christine Newell) natural wool top roving.

131015 Heather amidst a pile of hand-dyed natural wool top roving

I love Cathy’s pumpkin of variegated colors.

131015 Cathy needle-felting thin strips of variegated orange wool top roving onto ball of batting

Cathy adding thin layers of wool tops to form varied tones on her needle-felted pumpkin.

131015 Cathy adding thin strips of wool tops to form variegated textures on needle-felted pumpkin

As much as I love wet-felting. I think dry needle-felting for this project is a better choice. Wet-felting yields a more sturdy toy. Dry needle-felting gives a more “fuzzy” look which appear more “dreamlike” from a fantasy land.

In case you want to try your hand at wet-felting a project like this (more sturdy for play), here is the cutest little mouse in a wet-felted pumpkin tutorial by Sewn Natural…

131013 Needle-felted mouse in a pumpkin. Sewn Natural

source

Jzin’s Favorite Needle-Felting Tools

Needle-felting pen. You can needle-felt with 3 needles at once! You can hop on by at The Company of Angels to buy these clover pens, or you can purchase on Amazon.com by clicking on the picture below.

Clover felting pen

Here are my favorite fiber artists using the clover felting pens. They are smiling. It means this is a good needle-felting pen.

130216 Nunu and Anicka needle-felting geodes

The magical spiral felting needles! I LOVE these puppies! You can get them from Weir Dolls and Crafts website or via Amazon Weir Doll’s store. Click on the image below to take you there.

The spiral needle has a twist into a spiral shape, makes each stroke much more efficient.
Speed up felting time with a spiral needle, both felts and twists the fibers with each punch, making your felted projects go much more quickly. Our in-house felter now swears by these needles as 3-4 times faster! Jzin says again: “I love them puppies!”

130223 SPIRAL Felting Needles Size 38.

Amazon.com price: You can buy a pack of 3 or a pack of 20 on the above link.

Needle-Felt Ball into Pumpkin Shape

You may want to push down slightly to flatten the top of the pumpkin.

Once Upon a Time. Snow White, Rose Red and Old Widow in front of cottage.Post Pretty. Handmade Waldorf Fairy Tale puppet theater. CastleofCostaMesa.Com

In the picture above, the three little needle-felted pumpkins were handmade gifts from my supermodel friend Angela Hart. She used colorful embroidery floss to create segments on the pumpkin. For the same effect here, we used thin strips of darker roving to accentuate the pumpkin segments.

Sharon needle-felting dark strips of wool top roving to create segment on needle-felted pumpkin.

131015 Sharon needle-felting dark strips of wool top roving to create segment on needle-felted pumpkin.

Geraldine Stopped by…

Lovely Geraldine has been helping out at our Twice Upon A Time store at school. She stopped by craft group to dole out some of her luxurious hand lotion with us crafters. Mmm! Nice! Thanks for the TLC, Geraldine!

131015 Geraldine and lotion in front of Cherimoya tree

Rachel Skelly’s Beautiful Mosaics

131015 Rachel serving our craft group with gourmet Belle Fleur flower petal hot tea

Click here to view Rachel’s website: Smashingmosaics.com

Here comes our Rachel with her refreshment tray. Rachel takes such good care of us. She served us Belle Fleur flower petal hot tea! Oh là là ! Merci, Chérie!

131015 Belle Fleur flower petal gourmet fragrant tea

Rachel has been busy working inside The Company of Angels store these days and unable to join us for craft. However, she has also been busy mosaicking!

Here are some of her mosaic work.

131015 Rachel Skelly red flaming floral radiating sun with concentric blue discs

 Her entwined serpents mosaic…

131015 Rachel Skelly. Entwine double helical segmented serpents on a blue and black back ground mosaic

Rachel led our past year craft group project for our Waldorf School of Orange County auction: The Ocean Themed Mosaic Planter. Click here to view more photos and the process of our work.

Octopus under the sea mosaic planter. Waldorf School of Orange county. Wednesday morning craft group. Company of Angels. Mosaic with Rachel. CastleofCostaMesa.Com

Adding Stems, Leaves and Tendrils

Gina adding greenery to her orange pumpkin.

131015 Gina adding stems, leaves and tendrils to her felted pumpkin craft project.

Sharon and Liz’s special Mommy and Me time needle-felting-pumpkin-morning at craft group.

131015 Liz and Sharon Mommy and Me needle-felting pumpkin morning at craft group with logo

Cutting a Door into the Felt Pumpkin House

It is helpful to needle-felt (draw) out an outline of your door before you poke through your pumpkin surface with a sharp pair of scissors to make a door.

131015 Gina watching Christine cut a hole into her needle-felted pumpkin to make a door

Use a good sharp scissors to make the initial hole. Pull out roving from inside. If your door is too thin, you may add more roving to it (the door) to make it more sturdy. Or embellish the thin door with colorful borders.

Josephine pulling out some (not too much) of the innards of her felt pumpkin.

131015 Josephine cutting a door in her dry needle-felted pumpkin mouse house

Making a Mouse for the Pumpkin House

Start by rolling up some wool batting into a rough cylindrical shape. Tapering one end to form a pointy nose. You can pinch and roll, then needle-felt the nose into a pointy shape. We added pink noses to our mice. Attach a sturdy tail at the other end.

Josephine busily 畫龍點睛… I mean 畫鼠點睛 …

131015 Josephine deep in focus needle-felting eyes on felt mouse toy 畫龍點睛

Josephine’s blog, in mandarin chinese: 柳橙海岸記事 Momentos of the Orange Coast.

130924 Josephine Lo's blog. Square with English and Chinese titles

Linda adding a tail to her mouse.

131015 Linda needle-felting a tail onto her little felted mouse.

I love how the coat color of Linda’s needle-felted mouse was build up using two layers of contrasting colors to form a realistic fur coat.

131015 Detail view of Linda's needle-felted mouse using two layers of contrasting colors to form a realistic fur coat.

Linda’s handwork. Squeak! Irresistible cuteness!

131015 Linda's dry needle-felted mouse in his pumpkin house

Our Completed and Almost Completed Projects at the End of the Morning

Josephine was the first one to finish her work. There was joy and cheering all around for this success!

131015 Hurray! Josephine holding up her newly completed needle-felted mouse in a pumpkin home with Christine and baby Elizabeth rejoicing along side.

Josephine’s mouse, peering from his little pumpkin house.

131015 Josephine's needle-felted mouse peering out the door of his orange pumpkin house front door on foggy morning

Thanks to my kibbitzing her work, Josephine’s pumpkin house now has a window, in addition to a door.

131015 Josephine's handmade needle-felted mouse atop pumpkin with door and window

Hurray! Anička (with help from mom Alena) completed her needle-felted mouse in a pumpkin house in time for her French lesson in town. Dépêchez-vous Anička! Mlle Sabine vous attend!

131015 Hurray! Alena and Anicka completed their felted mouse in a pumpkin craft project

Anička has made plans to display her felt handwork away from her 3 curious kittens at home.

131015 Anicka with her completed needle-felted mouse in a needle-felted pumpkin house

Gina and her work from this morning. Sweet!

131015 Gina and her needle-felted mouse peeking out of the pumpkin house.

Sharon’s gorgeous handwork by the end of the morning.

131015 Sharon with her handmade felt pumpkin from this morning

Gisela’s mouse and her pumpkin with spirally tendrills.

131015 Gisela's needle-felted mouse on pumpkin with twirly tendrils. square cropped.

Heather’s little brown mouse perched atop his little pumpkin house.

131015 Heather's Brown Mouse perched atop her pumpkin house with front door flung ajar

Super crafter Gloria started late. She joined us after her Mommy and Me Playgroup session. Yet Gloria managed to get her pumpkin to near completion at the end of our crafting session.

131015 Gloria with her needle-felted pumpkin at the end of the morning

131015 Laughing Sharon, Liz and Cathy trio at craft group needle-felting table

That’s all for this week, folks. Make sure you come to craft group so you don’t miss out on all the fun! – Jzin

Maple Seed Pod Child Happy Fall Autumn Greeting. Handmade Waldorf Fall Season Nature Table Puppet Dolls.  Needle-felted handstitched miniature Waldorf doll with face and nose by CastleofCostaMesa.Com

Click on the image above to see some of my Fall season table dolls. – Jzin

Last Week’s Craft Group Project: Wet-felting Flowers With Luxurious Raw Mawata Silk Hankies Embellishments.

Click on photo below to see more of what we did last week.

131007 5 wet-felted flowers embellished with mawata silk hankies made by craft group sitting in cherimoya tree

Next Week: Baby in a Bunting.

Tuesday  October 21, 2013. Christine will show us how to make a baby in a blanket. This is in part a simple knitting project. We will be using worsted weight yarn and  size 8 knitting needles. In fact, Christine will show us how to make own needles. The Grade 1 students at the Waldorf schools are taught to make their own knitting needles. Supply cost for this project will be $10 including all materials.

Rachel and Christine are looking to gather long pine needles for basket weaving (Grade 9 curriculum) in February 2014. If you are planning a trip to the mountains, please help us bring back a bag or two of pine needles before the snow covers the ground. We need the dried needles that lay on the ground.

Hope to see you all next Tuesday!

Christine Newell’s Next Upcoming 16 inch Waldorf Doll Making workshops

October 15, 2013. Here is the latest flyer regarding Christine Newell’s Handmade Doll workshop:

131015 Flyer for Christine Newell's next Waldorf 16 inch Doll Workshop.

Here are handmade 16 inch Waldorf Dolls made by Christine Newell.

121219 Two 16 inch Waldorf cuddle boy dolls handmade by Christine Newell on cherimoya tree

Click here to see gorgeous photos from her past workshops.

Cost: $100 all materials included.

Waldorf School of Orange County, Wednesday mornings 9am to 11:30am:

  • day 1 Oct 2nd, 2013
  • day 2 Oct 9th, 2013
  • day 3 Oct 16th, 2013
  • day4 Oct 23rd, 2013

Waldorf School of Orange County, Thursday evenings 6:30pm to 9:00pm:

  • day 1 Oct 3rd, 2013
  • day 2 Oct 10th, 2013
  • day 3 Oct 17th, 2013
  • day4 Oct 24th, 2013

Maple Village School, Long Beach, Thursdays mornings 9:30am to 12:00pm:

  • day 1 Oct 3rd, 2013
  • day 2 Oct 10th, 2013
  • day 3 Oct17th, 2013
  • day 4 Oct 24th, 2013

The purpose of doing consecutive workshop allows you to join any of the 3 workshop at any location and time, you just need to complete day 1 through 4 to have a completed doll.

  • Sign up sheets will be in the WSOC Company of Angels and the Office of Maple Village School.

Recycled doll workshop:

Waldorf School of Orange County, 9:00am to 11:30am

Maple Village School, 9:30am to 12:00pm

  • day 1 Oct 31st, 2013
  • day 2 Nov 7th, 2013

Cost : $50 all materials included

Again you can join any location and time just need to complete days 1 and 2.
That’s all for now, looking forward to seeing you and sharing new crafts.

Support Our Local Waldorf Community/ Place a Free Ad

If you are interested in placing an ad on “Support Our Southern California Waldorf Community” (free if you are a member of Southern California Waldorf community) please e-mail me a good picture and a link.

Meanwhile, please support our local peeps! Thanks! – Jzin

Waldorf Seasons Table Dolls by Castle of Costa Mesa

130924 African Merprince Summer post pretty

130925 Windswept hair, red lambswool sweater, yellow kite blonde handmade Nova Scotia Kite boy Fall Autumn Waldorf Seasons Nature Table post pretty.

130924 Waldorf Season nature table dolls for all seasons.  All Seasons The Wanderer post pretty

Castle of Costa Mesa’s Etsy Store

You may support my crafting mania and justify my obsessive hoarding of craft supplies by shopping on my handmade Etsy store on the link below. Please do! – Jzin

Click on the image below to enter Castle of Costa Mesa Etsy store

130127 The Sailor prince and Mermaid Merah mirage on Corona Del Mar Little Beach

Just for fun, click here instead view a gallery of my handmade dolls.

Castle of Costa Mesa Handmade Doll Giveaways

Fall 2012 Handmade Doll Giveaway mermaid by CastleofCostaMesa.Com

I give away my lovingly handmade dolls periodically. If you “Like” my Castle of Costa Mesa Facebook page, you will be notified of upcoming giveaways. Click here to view the list of my past giveaways. Perhaps the next winner could be YOU?

Like Us on Facebook black and white. Fairy Tale Dolls, Handmade With Love. I want you to love learning mandarin chinese!CastleofCostaMesa.Com

Our School Store Company of Angels has a Facebook page!

If you use Facebook, please “Like” our school store “The Company of Angels”. Also, please tell all your local facebook friends about our school store! Thank you!

The Company of Angels WSOC Waldorf School of Orange County, Southern California school store  logo

Photos from Waldorf School of Orange County Craft Group

121202 Vintage Life photo show girls crafting inside trailer at war times. Post button for Wednesday Morning Craft Group

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