Making a Needle Felted Dog Head

This is an ongoing post on how I make these dogs , eventually I hope it will be a full pictorial guide on how to make your own dog. I was helped so much by internet how to blogs . This is my way of giving something back. 

STAGE 1 .

This is the very beginning , making this takes about an hour to form , use your hands and needle to mould the wool to shape . The best fleece to use is Corriedale , Cheviot ..... most downland types of fleece with a short staple length of fibre.

Come back next time and see the head take shape with the inclusion of Reborn Eyes.

The very start of a Frenchie head ......this is simply a fistful of wool.
This is washed lambs wool of an English downland sort of sheep .

I mostly use a single needle felting needle called a 38 star
I have made an extra little mound for the snout..
Needle Felt them together and then layer corriedale top over the whole shape..
It will seem very floppy at this stage but do persevere.

STAGE 2.

This is how it looks after lots and lots of needle stabbing with a 38 star needle
I will make an extra post about the eyes I use , they are called Reborn eyes and they are
usually used for dolls . To shape the head use the shape of your hands and mould the wool to shape along with
the actual needle felting . Push it around until you are happy. I look at dog skull shapes online to help me
with shape and eye socket placement. I do not worry too much about complete reality because these are fantasy
dogs, that said you do have to base them on some level of the reality ladder.
The eyes are acrylic and half domed. I carefully pull some fibre from the corriedale wool and glue a little wad into each eye. . Then I needle felt  them onto the front of the head. Picture details to follow.