Inspired by nature - dry and wet felted Snail tutorial, by Zuzu&me

 

When her little ones discovered rainforest snail shells in their garden,

Arzu - of 'zuzu&me' - was inspired to bring them back to life.

Dyeing fleece with brown onion skins, a little needle felting and wet felting,
resulted in this natural looking snail, with a real shell.

Of course her little boys were very excited 
to discover 'Mr Snail' the next morning!

reprinted with permission:~

step 1 (optional) - onion skin dye fleece.
of course you don't have to dye your own fleece - any colour that's believable will do just fine...

step 2 - pack stuffing into cavity then needle felt the 'snail' colour leaving ends as shown

step 3 - wet-felt fleece around a pipe cleaner using hot water and natural soap

step 4 - needle felt a flatter base for stability. then needle the straggly ends from the shell onto the body. secure with hot glue to get the balance just right.

 I am so pleased to be able to share this idea with you, 

which would work with so many of the more robust snail shells, 
from the garden or beach.
  

I had a go too.

ღ