The iPhone game Angry Birds has become unbelievably popular for a casual game – it’s almost reached the ranks of casual game perfection, where titles like Bejeweled and Peggle reign.
Now it’s been turned into a crafty work of art by Brookelynn Morris, who created needle-felted versions of the iconic red bird, the demolishing yellow bird and a villainous egg-stealing pig.
The idea of needle felting was always a bit daunting for me to grasp. I find it hard to wrap my mind around the idea of how repeatedly stabbing a ball of wool roving with a needle will turn it into a perfect and firm sphere – but that’s really all there is to it.
You simply start off with a fluffy ball of wool roving and by pressing the barbed needle into the wool evenly around the ball, the fibers get tangled up. The eyes are made out of smaller tufts of wool and again, repeatedly poked at until they’re the right shape. Ditto for the eyebrows, beak and crest.
It’s still important to get the general shape of the body part right before you begin poking it onto the body, though – for instance, the beak needs to be made out of a pinch of wool folded over to make a point. It also looks like it would be much easier to felt each component before attaching it, as you have more room to manoeuvre.
It seems that once the wool is tightly tangled, the individual pieces are no longer able to fall out, and the bird will stay intact. That’s perfect – all you need is a slingshot and you can now play Angry Birds in real life! Of course, it might be pretty hard to fling them around; they’re made of wool and wool isn’t exactly known for being weighty. You could also just use them as pincushions if you happen to be crafty in the sewing department, but that’s not nearly as exciting.
The Angry Birds have been featured in everything from bento lunchboxes to delicious (and fully playable) cake – and if you’re interested in getting to know the individual birds a bit more, this infographic will give you an idea of what they’re like.
