So I was inspired, after yesterday, and made a movie on my desk with my model Lambie, who is looking a bit worse for wear by travelling home wrapped in some tin foil in my handbag.
I need to re-think my model Lambie. Any ideas? Any volunteers? I want to use real wool fleece (I can supply this)
It is a steep learning curve (ie, don’t turn something sepia as there is no undo button I could find to put it right!).
But it was fun to play with.
Meanwhile, in my real life world, I saw the “swimming” sheep again!
As you can see she has been sheared now and is perfectly happy eating the bogbean.
She even looks carefully for the best plants.
I think she is one happy hill sheep.
Once she had enough, she walked out of the loch.
She shook the water off, like a dog.
And then trotted off on her merry little way.
She is one cool sheep, in every way!
Good job! That’s not easy…
And I can only imagine how good the water feels for that “swimming sheep”
And she’d make an “interesting” mate for Lambie (even if he’s fixed). Two very special personalities, a little quirky and obviously smart, at least “street” smart. .
Water-sheep is an absolute rockstar!!!
I can highly recommend having a go at needle felting for your animated Lambie. Comb your fleece with dog brushes. Brush it gently like trying to untangle a toddlers hair after she’s been doing headstands.
Then wrap it around your wire frame and stab repeatedly with a barbed needle. Try not to get too much blood on the finished article, as eventually you’ll stop paying enough attention and stab a finger or two.
It’s a type of sculpture really,but on a small scale. I’m the most unartistic person and I’ve made something that is recognisable as a sheep. The needles are v cheap on eBay x
thank you x
I agree — needle-felting is fun and the finished object is always cute/clever. The expensive part of needle felting is fleece, so you have that covered. BEWARE the felting needle, as it is VERY painful (it has tiny barbs on it). It’s almost impossible to make something without at least one self-inflicted stab wound, so have Band-Aids (in UK, plasters?) ready. Totally worth a drop (or ten) of blood though.
PS Cute Lambie movie!
You might try going through your pictures of Lambie. Look at how Lambie’s proportions match the models. You might even print out front, side, and top views at the full size of the model to help make your pattern. Make any adjustments you feel to the wire. Make notes about where to bend to wire so that it matches the actions of a sheep. Then look at Lambie’s markings for the fleece.
IMHO, I think the more the model looks like Lambie rather than a generic sheep, the cuter it will be. Of course, Sean the Sheep moves more like a human than a sheep and he’s way cute too…
I would love to see a stop-action of Lambie trotting into the house.
Clay Lambie needs “uppy” ears and some black spots to look more like his namesake, but I still think he’s cute!
Truly be careful with the felting needle -VERY sharp! Like May’s suggestions on looking at Lambie’s movements and coloring. Can’t wait to see another Frances Film.
Looking forward to Lambie’ s second movie. Love the swimming sheep!