Floofing the Fluffballs

I love felt dogs, they're fantastic. In my opinion, they're a much better option than what you can get from Mattel. Maybe they'll come out with a fluffy dog like the ones from Integrity Toys at some point, but so far, that doesn't seem to be a thing.

Unfortunately for me, Etsy and I had a bit of a falling out. The result was that they closed my account, which wiped my purchase history (sigh), so I didn't have any way of finding the person I'd originally ordered Krull from. I'm not ready to spill the full tea on Etsy, but if you want a taste of what people have been through, just Google "Etsy TOS violations." There are whole subreddits and hours of YouTube content devoted to the chaos. Etsy really needs to get its shit together. But, like I said, that's not for this post.

Anyway, information gone, I spent over an hour combing through reviews on random shops and not finding the one. I ended up ordering from a different shop, just to give them a try. I sent a picture of Krull as a guide, including his measurements, then I sent photos of Loki and Fenris. Respect to how fast this shop owner is, she had them made and shipped within days. I was shocked at how quickly they got here.

They're cute!

But I felt like they were a little too shaped and clean cut for me. I know I'm being picky, I was just hoping for more "floof." I love the wild fur on Krull, it says "I need to be brushed," and that really adds to his personality.

I know Pomeranians and Pomchis both get shaped like crazy at some groomers; it's in fashion to have a little dog that looks like an anime character. While that's adorable, it's not really the look we go for with our boys, we go for more of a "natural" shape. The one time Loki was with a new groomer and got cut like that, I thought my husband was going to have a meltdown. I thought it looked cute, but I'm glad it was temporary. Just to be clear, I would never cut their hair myself, they wiggle. But that doesn't mean I can't try and tweak the felt versions, right?

Now, to be clear, I know absolutely nothing about felting. Zip, zero, zilch, nada. I watched a couple of YouTube tutorials and thought, "Huh, that seems simple enough, maybe I should try that."

Famous. Last. Words.

I have my materials, and I bought this little safety cover felting needle setup. It felt like overkill, but it wasn't. Especially when you have hand tremors. Then it's really, really not overkill. If you're like me, you'll probably stab yourself multiple times when you "get going" and a tremor hits at the wrong moment. I wasn't bleeding, but it wasn't pleasant, either.

You know when you get a papercut and don't notice until you reach for the hand sanitizer? Yeah, it's exactly like that. And it sucked.

Now, I'm not building a dog from scratch, all I'm looking to do is add a few tufts of untamed fur to the chest and tail on my little fluffballs. After about twenty minutes of testing and shaping, I felt confident enough to give it a go.

Yes, I added way too much. He looks like he's going to shout, "You shall not pass!" before telling a bunch of hobbits to run and kicking a Balrog's ass. But I trimmed it back, trimmed it back more, and more, and re-added, and re-trimmed. It was...a process.

I'm not sure how successful it was. It's the right color for Loki, absolutely, but I bought way too much of it. I need a slightly darker shade for Fenris, and he'll be getting the same treatment. I'm hoping I can shape his tail differently.

I wish I'd been able to find the person who created Krull, but well. That's how the cookie crumbles when Etsy decides to be totally unreasonable.

Have a good week, everyone.