Felted Lion head

Lion head made from felted wool and live edge locust wood with green eyes and multi-colored dreads for a mane.

There has been a lovely piece of locust sitting in my shop staring at me for awhile now and it finally revealed itself as a lion head just before the holidays.

Live edge slab of locust to be used to create a felt and wood lion head
Live edge locust slab

First, had my hubby stretch his bandsaw skills to give me the foundation.

Live edge slab of locust that has been cut down for a lions head
Slab cut out for head

Then I started on building the face and deciding how to tie it into the wood.

Needle felted lions face with pink nose and green eyes dry fit against locust slab of wood
Lion face in felt

Next came multiple batches of dreads and dry fitting. I think I created 4 batches in the end, thinking each time that I would most certainly have enough and being wrong.

Once I had enough dreads and was happy with placement, I started gluing and felting them in place. I then hung it for the first time and decided it was too heavy on the bottom left. Also realized I forgot ears!

First hanging of felt and wood lion head  with wool dreadlock mane
Lion head first hanging

I moved some of the longer dreads up to thin that section out and added in the ears and this is the final product. He has a lion king kind of vibe to him that I really dig!

Wood and felt lions head with dreadlock mane
Final felt and wood lion head

Never one to waste wood, I took the bark cut off from the original locust slab and created a cute little owl with him. I call him Night Terror. Sorry I don’t have any in progress shots of this one.

Wet and needle felt brown owl with deep blue eyes integrated into locust bark.  Titled night terror
Night Terror – The Locust Bark Owl
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