Why Did the Needle Felted Chicken Cross the Road?

Well to measure stuff, of course!
Sharry Jo of Rutledge, TN makes the most amazing
needle felted tape measures…like Lucille here!

“Introducing my little sweetheart, Lucille Chicken. Now she was a real challenge!

 

Ever seen a Frizzell chicken? I hadn’t until someone requested that I felt one for her. I used Living Felt’s CW-1 Core wool for the structure of the chicken. When this core wool first came out I hadn’t made up my mind if I liked it or not. I was used to the old core wool that had to be poked and poked to form the shape and I’m not one to make changes. But after using it a couple times I found it became my best friend and felted so easily it almost did my job for me. Now I wouldn’t create my critters without it.

 I then used the shiny smooth Santa hair to cover the head and breast in white and give it that shiny smooth look and used Merino top wool in red for the comb and waddle (I think that’s what it is called – apologies to all chickens if I’m wrong). These are the fuzziest chickens I have ever seen. I used Santa’s curls to emulate her “fly away” feathers. From what I understand these feathers grow outward instead of inward.

Then found an embellishment of tiny white feathers that I could stitch around her upper body to save me much time and I glued in a couple larger feathers in her wings. She is unbelievably soft and cudly, you just want to squeeze her! She makes a terrific pin cushion plus my signature feature of course. Pull her fluffy tail out and you have a tape measure, retracted by a button in the shape of a heart under her wing.

 

She was destined to warm the heart of any chicken enthusiast. When finished felting and poking in feathers here and there I gave her a hair cut to form the shape I wanted on her wings and tail. No armature was necessary in this fluffy baby. Their feet are just as fluffy as their body so I didn’t even have to use wire for the feet, just poke in more of Living Felts Santa curls to a base of CW-1 Core wool plus a few marbles to give her stability. I think she tops the “fun meter” in my creations. Now on to my next project. Can’t wait to start I already have it in my head!

Sharry Johnson

www.sharryJo.etsy.com