The process of creating a felt figurine

I'd like to share with you my creative process and the steps involved in making my Balberg shop wool felt animals.

I'm Manon, and I design and make simple, natural toys with ecological values for your children.

Choosing the right animal

Depending on the season, my whim or the whim of my little boy or my customers, I choose an animal to create in wool felt. I look at photos and study the animal's typical anatomy and attitude, to get closer to what best characterizes it. This research enables me to draw the first lines of its silhouette, a minimalist silhouette with just the right amount of curves and detail to find the animal.

And then I continue to learn about animals. Often, the animals I make are no more than a few individuals living in their natural habitat, and making them exist in my hands connects me to them. I remember when I wanted to develop the Balberg shop giraffe, at the same time there was a terrible drought in Kenya that took many giraffes with it.(1) It was difficult for me to confront this reality. The animals that dominate children's imaginations are either hunted, exploited or on the verge of extinction. It frightens me. But what about you?

The choice of wool

You may be wondering why I use wool to make my toys, since I deplore animal exploitation. First of all, wool is a material with wonderful qualities, and I'm very grateful to the sheep that have made it possible for this magnificent wool to be in my hands. 

I'm also against synthetic or mixed materials. They pollute when they're made and they pollute when they're recycled (if they make it that far), and if they're thrown away in the rubbish they end up like the rest, buried or burned. It's bad for the environment and bad for our babies and children. 

A baby manipulates a toy or an object in all directions, studying its shape and deformation, its solidity and resistance. If we offer him healthy, quality materials, his experience will be risk-free and he'll be able to study with peace of mind. But if we offer them plastics derived from petrochemicals, yes from petroleum, then the fibers that degrade when handled with the hands or in the mouth will disperse their plastic particles. Today, we know. We know the dangers, the damage both to human health and to the health of the planet(2).

So I chose local wools for the stuffing, from Ariège, Brittany and Corsica.

Wool felt comes from South America and Southern Europe, countries where mulesing (3) is forbidden by law. Wool is dyed and felted in Holland.

From design to pattern

After this stage of information and connection to the animal to be shaped, I refine my drawing, adapt the dimensions to the animals already made, and project in my head the number of pieces the pattern will require. 

Using my supplier's felt color chart, I select the colors closest to the animal. Often, natural, undyed wool felts, i.e. the pure colors of sheep's fleeces (shades from off-white to mottled black, including beiges, greys and browns), are the most suitable for providing the realism children need to build their image of the world.

The dyed felts have high-quality colors. They are Oeko-Tex 100 certified, giving Balberg shop toys an added quality to their safety and ecological features.(4)

I draw and cut each pattern piece on cardboard. Then I place them strategically on my felt-tip pen to minimize waste. 

A taste for detail 

I assemble the pieces together by hand with cotton thread in a color close to or contrasting with the color of the wool felt. The cotton thread is Oeko-Tex 100 certified. 
The stitch I use for sewing is essentially the festoon stitch. It gives a nice finish and is strong. I embroider the eyes and sometimes the muzzle.
As I sew, I stuff the legs, head and neck with flocked or carded wool, which I choose from France (Corsica, Brittany or Ariège). 

Finally, I finish sewing on the animal's back. I add the tail or other hair, if any. The animals I've made so far have manes and tails in Oeko Tex 100-certified cotton yarn, but wool yarns may be used in the future. Characteristic details, such as spots or stripes, are added by small strands of carded wool that I needle-felt onto the felted animal's body.

Thank you for reading this article to the end. I hope you've been able to obtain all the information that was perhaps previously mysterious. 

Don't hesitate to write to me if you have any other questions about my work or my approach in general. 

Press articles
(1) https://www.francetvinfo.fr/monde/afrique/environnement-africain/video-rechauffement-climatique-on-n-avait-jamais-vu-de-girafes-mourir-a-cause-de-la-secheresse-l-image-qui-a-choque-le-monde_5114950.html
(2) https://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2022/02/17/des-polluants-du-quotidien-deleteres-pour-la-construction-du-cerveau-des-jeunes-enfants_6114151_3244.html
(3) https://www.thegoodgoods.fr/mode/le-probleme-du-mulesing-dans-la-laine/
(4) https://www.thegoodgoods.fr/mode/instagram-video-igtv-label-oeko-tex-standard-100/