Wool pictures by Elena Koltunova

This is a guest post by an artist who works in a felting technique. Have you ever seen felt pictures? Me neither! :) Let's see how they are made!

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Hello all! My name is Elena and I lay all sorts of things out of wool, mostly toys. Sometimes I lay pictures. Today I'll show you how I do this.

Wolves are a very popular theme as people often order pictures with a pair of wolves for the wedding anniversaries. I love wolves too and I'm happy when I get these orders!

Here are two pictures and two different pairs of wolves.

First I need to choose a design. Let's work on this one:

Then I need to start with the laying of the basis of the picture, which is a piece of a thin felt of a desired size. I use a marker or a felt-pen to draw the picture first. I do not need any details at this point, just the outlines. If I could not draw, I would print a picture out, cut it out with the scissors and outlined it :)  

Now it is time to cover all the lines with the wool by attaching it with a needle. I have to admit that it is easier to work in color than a monochrome palette.

Here is what I've gotten for now: 

I pin the felt down to a foam so it won't move.

All the outlines are filled now, so I start working on adding more shades of gray. The more shades, the more vivid my picture.

The technique allows me to create a shaggy wolf fur. So, this is what I am going to work on now. The wolves will look more natural this way. To achieve it I attach thin and short strands of wool at the one end only, leaving the second end free. I keep working until I cover all the areas of the picture that need it ( and I need to remember about the shades here also!)

It is all done!

Now the picture just needs a frame with a glass cover (and a small moth plate!)

How many shades of gray do you see? :)

Here is another pair that I've just finished:

Elena Koltunova

Online shop (in Russian)