Do you remember..

When these were popular?

Ceramic flying ducks

When I was a little girl in the 70's they were definitely 'in' and I loved them.. though I don't think anyone in my family ever had any.  I remember they had a lovely set in our local chip shop :)  and I used to admire them while we waited in the queue for our 10p bags of chips (you struggle to buy a bag of crisps for that these days).

Well a couple of weeks ago I suddenly remembered the flying ducks.. their lovely colours and how they made me feel happy just by looking at them  when I was little (or was that anticipation of the chips..? :).  I decided to have a go at making a set in felt.. You know how much I enjoy making critters..

1st step.. make a duck shaped resist

Enclosed in 2 layers of white merino fibre.  The 2nd wing resist
was carefully positioned, enclosed in merino, then covered with thin plastic to
prevent it felting into the other wing

Then the colours went on..

To decorate the 'insides' of the wings I placed a piece of plastic over the body
then carefully folded the wing back on to the plastic..so opening them up.
Once wetted, I put plastic back over the back wing and carefully put the front
wing back in place.

And finished decorating this side

Then I felted it..  Part way through I removed the plastic between the wings and allowed them to start to fuse together.. it was mostly the fluffy feathery bits sticking out past one wing that felted into the other wing.. it's enough to support the front wing and stop it drooping but it looks like 2 separate wings.  I removed the resists and finished felting.

Looks good so far.. couldn't wait for it to dry so I could stuff it :)

Stuffed with wool fibre and with a beady glass eye

I added a ring to the back for hanging.. the patch covers where I stitched him up

And then he needed some friends..

Flying..

:)

xoxo