I love the felted animalistic brooches, so I'll show you how to make a brooch in the shape of a muzzle in mixed media: by sewing and felting.
Take:
- red faux fur with a long nap (1-1.5 cm)
- white faux fur with a short nap (3-5 mm)
- needle, scissors, a needle for felting
- pieces of faux and genuine suede
- a piece of cardboard
- glass eyes, 7 mm
- plastic (Cernit)
- oil paint brush with trimmed bristles
I cut out the pattern by eye, the muzzle of two parts, ears and the "bottom".
The upper part of the muzzle and the outer side of ears are of red fur, the lower part of the muzzle and the inside of the ears of white fur, the "bottom" is cut out of a dense material such as suede and a circle of cardboard is cut out of a smaller diameter.
Sew the muzzle and ears, turn it outside in. Glue the cardboard circle to the suede.
Sew the bottom circle to the muzzle, when only a small hole is left, tightly stuff the blank with polyester batting and sew up the hole.
Felt and comb the pile in the right direction with the needle for felting: up and to the sides, conceal the junction of white and red fur.
Pin the position of the eyes.
Prepare the eyes, I made the whites of white plastic, so the look of the fox would by childishly funny.
Insert and tighten the eyes, pull the thread down to the bottom.
Trim the ears, sew them up with a concealed stitch and sew to the bottom and red fur.
Embroider the nose. It does not matter if it is imperfect, you'll hide all defects with photoshop toning.
Now prepare two small pieces of faux suede (or genuine), take a piece, coat it with glue (I used Moment, a rubber one) and try to push the edge behind the eye from all sides and partially behind the white with the needles. I could not photograph all this process because my hands were busy with the glue that quickly dries out. If you have questions, ask me. Don't worry about glue on the eyes, when it dries it will be easy to remove, unlike superglue.
Felt the red wool on the inside of the ear, so that it did not stick out.
Now toning. I used Mars brown oil paint, and I think this tube could last a lifetime...
Pour a little paint on a palette lid. Apply it with the needle. So the paint reaches the desired depth and does not smear. Well, right, it takes a long time, but the result is clear.
Draw the nose and mouth with the needle, the ears inside and outside — with the brush.
Again, trim the ears, comb and felt them, where necessary, remove dried adhesive from the eyes. The last thing remains: attach the findings and put it on!
I really like how these brooches look on bags, although they look great on shirts or cardigans, too!
Thanks for reading, enjoy your creativity!