Hey there, I was just wondering if you've ever heard of the poseable armature that Mohair Bear Making offers. It's a thousand times more poseable than wire, meaning it would take a lot more rough handling to snap than wire. And please just ignore me if I'm being obnoxious; I just feel like more artists who want to make poseable art and produce creations at high quality should know about this product. (I would like to acknowledge that you make art dolls, not children's toys.) Thank you.
Hi! Yes, I am aware of plastic style armature, and it really is great stuff. Not a rude or obnoxious question at all! Unfortunately, it’s not a viable option for needle felted creatures the way it is for a plush doll. Needle felting relies on a firm core, and that means that the wool in the center of the piece is packed very tightly around the armature. With wire, you can maintain some flexibility, although the thicker the part the less it can move. With plastic armature, however, the wool would be packed in between the individual “beads” and eliminate all possible movement.
In addition, hitting a thin, smooth wire with my needle is a momentary inconvenience. I hold my needles lightly, and just pull back and try again when they stop short due to wire. Navigating around the bumps and curves of a plastic armature, which has a rougher texture more likely to catch the point of the needle even without the shape, would be an absolute nightmare and result in a lot of broken needles.
I have a lot of concerns about durability with my work despite the fact that they’re not intended for heavy play. Fortunately, the nature of felt actually helps preserve the wires. Most of the time, wire breakage occurs because a wire is bent repeatedly at a sharp angle, which weakens it significantly. When the wire is tightly wrapped in wool as in a felted piece, there’s a limit to how sharply it can be bent because the wool cushions it. I’d say 90 degrees is an optimistic upper limit on most of my wires, and that’s only possible in very thin areas like Flox legs and ankles. Body and tail wires can only flex a little bit, enough to give the overall pose a bit of a curve but not enough to put significant strain on the wire. Over-play can still wear the wires out eventually, but it would take a pretty good bit of hard bending to really put them at risk. For now, I feel that’s the best option for the medium. Someday, though, I do hope that a more durable solution can be figured out!
