Mr. Henry the Fisherman My first Needle Felted Rock Doll

Good Afternoon!

Meet Henry the fisherman. He is quite the little character.  He is needle Felted using 4 rocks in different places.  1 rock for his head(of course), 1 rock that fits his bottom and is flat on one side perfect for sitting,those long hours waiting for fish.  I then decided he really needed to protect his feet when walking to and from the lakes.  You never know if a rock may fall on them.  Get it! :)  So he has Rock toed boots on. 





Henry the Fisherman

Ok now he is ready for any kind of fishing.  I got to thinking when working on him, my Dad and brother both tied flies for fly fishing in Colorado.  They both have since passed away.  So we had a metal fly box put up of their flies and Henry has 2 of them in his hat. Then my brain even went further, I loved fishing for bull heads here in Minnesota with my grandpa as a child with the bamboo poles and then for my miniatures I had picked up these 2 small lures at one time, they are for ice fishing. 
Now Henry is ready for any kind of fishing.  You all should have been here when he met Uncle Frank and Fred, the stories and tall tales they were telling him.  Henry is just so laid back, he just smiled and kept sitting on  his log.  But he did plan a fishing trip with the both of them, when they get back from the Fishing Expo in New York.  Henry is just not up to making that long trip, he is more content just sitting back and relaxing. 









Close up of Henry and his hat

Henry sits at 5" tall and I did his clothes out of Merino Pre-Felt.  I really love using it.  I used black elastic for his suspenders with gold brad.  The guy just needed to keep his pants up, no one wants to see that rock bottom, even though he does have cheeks felted in. 

Here are a few photos of how Henry came to life.  I have had a lot of questions on felting rocks.  I love any questions any of you may have.  I also got asked if Henry would ever be sold and no I won't sell him, he is my first ever complete doll done with Rocks. 

My little guys just love these rocks and are always looking for new rocks for me to do. 

The Rock I used for Henry are small and My husband calls this size River Rock.  I use all different sizes,living by fields here in Rural Minnesota its easy to find rock. 

Henry is not heavy at all and weighs under a pound.  

My 7 year old little girl loves to tell everyone at school, my Mom Needle felts Rocks.  Now that is all she says, they all smile and just say ya thats nice.  (Not having any idea what I really do).  So she has this wonderful 1st grade teacher, my daughter just adores her, and this teacher could care less that she has learning disabilities.  She did the spelling test and came home one day with YOU ROCK! on the test.  Well let me tell you my daughter was beaming from one ear to the other.  She said, mom my teacher is proud of you and me!  This child has even brought me home gravel from school.  What a kid!  

I also get asked how do I felt around a rock.  Carefully.  I felt side ways with the needle.  Now I do break probably one needle per project.  But I get these wonderful needles from  http://www.needlefeltingsupplies.com/.  Kay Petal and Patti, Kay is Felt Alive and Patti has Dream Felt.  Anyway they have this great web site to order needles and wool from.   Kay has come up with double needles and I have not broken one yet. 

Even when I felt around a insulator it is done sideways.  I do no wet felting or glueing to my rocks to get the wool to hold. 

So here are a few pictures of how Henry came alive to me.

Top picture is Henry's Head isn't it cute.  Now the bottom picture is Henry checking out his bottom and chest.  I did the chest first in core wool.

Here is Henry checking out his belly and bottom put together, I have no idea how he is looking at all this an approving, I hadn't even given him eyes yet.  But he was!  Now you can see the smaller rocks that I used for his "Rock Toed Boots".  This was my first time I ever made hands too, NO ROCKS(this time)  :). 

Doesn't he look happy and ready for detail!  A little fuzzy here, but happy.  Look Mandy is in the background here she can't wait to meet him.  More business for the Beauty Salon,she is thinking.  HA! HA!  He is bald.  
I hope you enjoyed reading about Henry.  I will be sure to tell you if and when he catches a fish.  You never know.  Take care  Pam