www.cdhm.org April 2009 CDHM Featured Category

Hippity Hoppity
Easter's On Its Way! By Alice Bell
CDHM Assistant Editor CDHM category feature for easter in dollhouse miniatures

CDHM category feature Hippity hoppity, Easter's on its way!

Chocolate bunnies - solid or hollow, there's a raging debate as to which is the best - colored eggs, chocolate eggs, marshmallow eggs, tiny toys and a stuffed bunny all in a woven basket just waiting to be discovered on Easter morning. Or is a stuffed bear in the Easter basket better?

"I think Bunnies should be in an Easter basket. But if I had to pick a favorite it would be dogs," said Juliet Kebell, who creates plenty of Easter basket potentials through her art of Needle Felting.

"I would have to say a bear wearing bunny ears - then you have the best of both worlds," said Karen Ferrier of Karen's Mini-Bears. CDHM category feature

These two talented artists create more than just bunnies or bears. They make tiny works of art for the dollhouse that would be equally at home either in a child's room or practically anywhere in the house.

"I started Needle Felting when a friend asked me to make a 1:12 scale sleeping cat for her dolls house. I wanted to make it look as life-like as possible and had heard of Needle Felting so I looked into it and gave it a go. From there I was hooked," said Juliet.

CDHM category feature How about a kitty in the Easter basket?

But who can resist the cuddly joy of a teddy bear? Especially if he happened to be wearing bunny ears.

"I started making bears when my mum bought herself a dolls house around 12 years ago and I made some bears - amongst other things - to go into her house and got quite addicted," said Karen.

Karen's bears are created from polymer clay and some are even flocked!

"It is very time-consuming flocking bears and I find that I get back ache when sitting balancing the glue pot and the fur pot on my knee," Karen explained ruefully. CDHM category feature

"I quite often use full-sized teddy bear fur as you can get some lovely textures from them. But it's trial and error of which ones will look good enough on the tiny bears. Sometimes when you have cut the fiber up to look in-scale you can lose the look that you were going for, so it's best to try different types and textures of fibers," said Karen.

Gluing fur to a bear is as time consuming and back-straining as punching wool fiber over and over with a needle to create a shape. And it's just as tricky to get the right look.

CDHM category feature "I would advise a new Needle Felter to study the subject they are making thoroughly and be sure to have a good selection of needles. Each needle has a different set of barbs and thickness for different wools and finishes," explained Juliet.

And someone wanting to create a bear of their very own - with or without bunny ears?

"The advice I would give to someone starting out in making bears is to start with a simple bear and study full-sized bears so that they can see where the eyes and ears should be. I love making bears from polymer clay as I can add bits on and take away as needed. "But I think the most important thing is to have fun making them," stressed Karen.