We were simply awestruck by this amazing felted playhouse for children that we just had to find out more. With such elaborate detail and sturdy structure, it was difficult to imagine that the artist had just discovered needle felting.
“My sister sent me a small needle felting kit for Christmas this past year. After felting a snowman (the kit came with instructions for this), a cat, and a figure skater, I got the urge to felt a fairy house play-scape and send it to my sister’s two daughters as a thank you for introducing me to a fun new craft.
The tree stump and its base are made from core wool covered mostly with colored merino batt. The tree mushrooms and beach are covered in merino top. I used mohair locks around the base of the tree stump and to make the waterfall. The tree branch has a plastic drinking straw inside it to help it hold its shape, and there is a fern frond with a thin wire running through its middle. Other than that, everything is wool.
The house has some inhabitants and guests made by my daughter and me. Their names are Terra, Lily and Leif.”
As far as the construction, I put most of the bark texture on the trunk while it was a flat sheet, then when I made it into the cylinder shape, I just had to add touch ups and the texture over the seam. I formed the main trunk over a circular cardboard box and formed the larger top branch over a piece of pool noodle (which made it convenient for felting over the seam, too). I cut the doors and windows out after I already had the cylinder shape.
” I filled the inside with a corrugated sort of structure of felted sheets made from the core wool to make it sturdy.“
-Elena Driskill Valencia, CA
