A 6-inch Needle Felted Kili Doll

I finally made a Kili doll! Despite the fact that he's definitely one of the most popular characters, it seems like we had never gotten around to making a doll of that particular dwarf. I'm holding off on Kili and Fili in the large set of needle-felted dolls until last, because they have challenging faces --- and I want to make sure that we get the perfect materials for them.

So, when I got a request to make a 6" Kili doll a few weeks ago, Elizabeth and I were pretty excited! His outfit really lends itself to felting, so that was no problem and actually a lot of fun to make. His beard is definitely the challenging thing, but well worth the finished doll. Elizabeth's favorite part is the right-hand glove with three gloved fingers for archery.

These 6" dolls are fun to make. It can be challenging to get the details small enough for this size, but using Merino makes the clothes fine enough to add wrinkles, layers, etc. To see more photos of Kili and the others, CLICK HERE.

This makes the eighth different Hobbit character that I've made in the 6" size, and they really look fabulous. Here is a Photoshopped group of them (I've never actually had more than three of them in the house at one time.):

I've got another order for Oin the Dwarf in this size, so I hope to have it finished in a few weeks.
More later.

Make Your Own Hobbit-Themed Wooden Box

In today's entry, we thought it would be fun to spotlight something made by another special friend, Bethany (Oliva's sister! --- see previous entry). She made two gorgeous boxes by following a tutorial for transferring photos onto wood. This would work with any theme or photo that you like. These two boxes show Bilbo and Elrond in scenes from The Battle of Five Armies. She was nice enough to explain just how she made them, so that others might enjoy trying their hand at this as well!

She bought boxes at her local craft store in the unfinished wood aisle. She added legs to match which were also unfinished wood in the same aisle. She stained the boxes and then followed this tutorial for decorating them:
https://www.mykitchenescapades.com/photo-transfer-to-wood/

Once the photos were transferred onto the wooden boxes, she sanded the edges of the photo area to give it the worn look, which fits with the style of these photos.

**She mentioned that you need to be sure to put enough of the gel medium on the wood. More is better than less with this project!
This is the exact gel she used on both boxes:

After the box was all finished, she coated the entire thing with a Krylon spray, putting two to three coats on before everything was done.

And there you have a fabulous box that's good for keeping almost anything safe! You can carry this farther, of course by decorating the inside. Bethany used a shiny and decorative paper to cover the insides this way:

And for what is one of the sweetest and most unique aspects of these particular boxes --- she turned them into "Open when . . ." boxes! Enclosed were five sealed envelopes. One of them was made to open at the time of receiving the box. All of the rest came with a note on the front specifying a special time to open the envelope. Isn't that so clever?!

Tolkien-inspired Knitting Patterns: Mittens

With all of the cold weather right now (in this half of the world anyway!), it seems appropriate to look at some knitting patterns for mittens. Knitted items in general give you a real Hobbit-y or Dwarf-y feeling, since they wear so many fabulous woolen items --- but here are two really cool options!

These patterns are available for a small fee ($5.00 USD or less) at Ravelry.com. In case you're new to that name, Ravelry is a site for anything to do with knitting and crocheting. Patterns, pictures, etc. There are a lot of free patterns there, too, and we'll be highlighting more of those in future posts. Happy knitting, and stay warm!

If you want to dress up with the "Hobbit" theme, then these mittens are just what you're looking for, since they bring to mind Tolkien's original drawings:

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/hobbit-mittens

And if you're more in the mood for The Lord of the Rings, then maybe you'd like these mittens which are based on Tolkien's illustration of the hidden door at Moria.

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/the-gates-of-moria

Bilbo & Fili Large Plush Dolls

Almost every Middle Earth character seems to lend themselves to at least one style of handmade doll. Many of them seem to have endless possibilities. I mean, Bilbo and Samwise seem like they are perfect for every type of doll. Maybe it depends on your love of dolls . . . but I've always loved dolls, so they seem like a natural combination with Tolkien's fabulous characters. Between the two of us, we've made a variety of dolls (cloth, wool, wire, etc.) over the years, but today's spotlight falls on some of the neatest creative endeavours that we've gotten to see personally (based on Middle Earth characters). These dolls were given to us by one of our best friends, Olivia. She and her sister are artists, but they are so creative that they can make just about anything you could think of!

Imagine how thrilled we were to receive these two large plush dolls for Christmas! She made Fili for Elizabeth and Bilbo for me (having made Thorin for her sister). In the picture above, you see the pair seated happily in their new home . . . and having donned a scarf and some socks!

Olivia watched a few YouTube tutorials about making plush dolls, and she read up on different needle-sculpting techniques online. To make the hands, she actually traced her own hand and then sized it down on the computer to the different sizes for a dwarf and a hobbit.

The dolls are made of anti-pill fleece and measure 30" (Bilbo) and 36" (Fili) tall. The Hobbit hair on both his head and feet is made of a special faux fur material, as is Fili's beard. Fili's braids and hair are made of two different types of yarn.

What's really fun about making dolls this large, is the fact that the door is opened for a vast amount of creativity in dressing and accessorizing them.

Here is little Bilbo wearing size 6-months Baby Osh Kosh pants and an 18-24 months onesie top. We're going to sew a vest and jacket for him, but that's a future project!

Accessories are a lot of fun, too. My Dad carved this wooden Sting for Bilbo. I think that I'm just going to polyurethane it once it's warmer outside. That would give it a kind of cool toy-like look while still protecting the wood.

Old purses can be turned into great backpacks for these dolls, too!

We've posted more info and pictures about these dolls and their accessories on our website here:
http://sarahbethonline.com/middleearth/bilboandfili.html
We'll also continue to update with more creative ideas to do with Bilbo and Fili on this blog!

Customized Playmobil: The Fellowship of the Ring

Almost anyone growing up in the 1990s will appreciate this one. Kids in that decade played with Lego or Playmobil (sometimes both, but you usually collected one or the other), both brands of toys doing wonders to build active imaginations. We loved Playmobil. Collected sets and sets of it, played for hours, made our own characters, enacted stories, etc. In the later '90s, the company even released a few sets that may not have been called after Tolkien's characters, but they certainly were based on them! There was Galadriel's pool with a woman in a white dress with long blonde hair and a scruffy guy in dark clothes that looked like a good Aragorn type. There was the little set with a hooded black rider  on his horse. There was the large tree with a face on it . . . and so on. Well, for those of you who (like us) still have your Playmobil put away, take a look at this fabulous way to make your favorite toys correspond with your favorite Middle Earth characters.

A really clever fan in Italy (user Marco5417 on Deviantart.com) took some of his Playmobil pieces and turned them into The Fellowship of the Ring:

We asked Marco how he did this (posted originally on the TORn forums), and he was kind enough to share some pointers for those of us who would like to try something similar.

• The Hobbits' vests are hand painted with acrylic paints, as is the fur on their little feet.
• Boromir's beard is painted, but Aragorn is the scruffy Playmobil face.
• Gimli's helmet is made on the base of an original Playmobil chainmail coif helmet. Then, he used hard paper and modelling putty to form the correct shape. Once dried and painted, the helmet is even removable!
• Legolas, Gandalf and Aragorn also feature some extensive painting on their clothes.

This opens up a world of possibilities, since the accessories and variations on these toys is pretty amazing. I mean, could you imagine a little Playmobil version of Elrond?

Sewing Our Own Frodo Flannel Blankets

One of the really exciting events of last year (2017), as far as LotR fans go, was the release of Lord of the Rings fabric by Camelot Fabrics Company. A full line was put out by the company for release in quilt shops around the USA. These included prints from LotR and The Hobbit, but they are only digitally printed on demand, which means that they are very expensive. Thankfully, three prints were released at JoAnn Fabrics, a chain store across the country. One was flannel, one was cotton and one was fleece. For more info on the whole line of fabric, check out the entry from my personal blog here: https://littlekumquat.weebly.com/little-kumquat-blog/camelot-fabric-releases-lord-of-the-rings-and-hobbit-material

This entry will deal with our project made of the Frodo flannel available at JoAnn's. Right away, we both knew that we wanted to make something fun . . . but we had no idea what. In that case, what do you do? Buy the bolt of eight yards, of course! We did, and it sat around for four months before we decided to make something. After hashing out some more complicated ideas, we decided on simple double-sided flannel blankets.

These pictures show the blanket. It's the same on both sides. We didn't want batting or anything fluffy inside, so we decided to use something different. Elizabeth's has a white 100% cotton table cloth in there, which makes it very drapey and cuddly. Inside mine, I picked an old cotton "summer-weight" blanket that we've had for years. It's really thin and cuddly --- and absolutely no static in the winter! The finished blankets are quite large, as you can see, though we didn't make them to actually use on a bed. We wanted something to use while watching movies, but not as small as the typical store-bought throw. --- something that you can use to totally cuddle up in a chair. That is my double bed above, and it spreads out to cover it (not draping down, of course).

The flannel isn't the quality of good quilting stuff. It's like the typical JoAnn's "Snuggle" flannel, which is lower quality fabric. We pre-washed and dried it before sewing the blankets --- doing this on high in each machine makes sure that everything shrinks as much as it is going to before actually putting anything together. The blanket and tablecloth, of course, were also totally pre-washed and dried as well. To make the blankets wider than the yardage (which was about 40" wide once washed and dried), we cut three 2-yard lengths. One of those lengths, we took and cut in half the long way (making a piece approximately 2-yards long by 20" wide). Then, we sewed a 20" wide piece to each of the full 40" pieces. The finished blankets are about 60" wide by 75" long. They are each slightly different, due to the different inside layers and the seams needed for those. It was a lot easier to sew the flannel to the cotton blanket, because the pieces of fabric stuck to each other. The cotton tablecloth was pretty tricky, because everything was prone to sliding around --- but it does make it with more of a drape.

This fabric has been in the stores at JoAnn's since May, so I would recommend that anyone interested pick up their yardage as soon as possible. If our local store is anything to go by, it looks like the stores are selling what they have and not stocking any more on the shelves. It's all still available online though, so don't be afraid to order that way. Sign up for their mailing list and coupons, because you can get good deals that way! If others come up with interesting projects to use with this fabric, we'd love to hear about it.

Welcome to Shire Made . . .

Hi! We are twin sisters in rural Ohio in the USA. Our names our Sarah and Elizabeth, and we are both big fans of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Not only do we enjoy the books, but we are also huge fans of Peter Jackson's two film trilogies (dare I admit that I actually prefer The Hobbit trilogy to the book?). Having been crazy about collecting all kinds of themed memorabilia and prop replicas, it wasn't a big step to start creating our own "fan art" and projects.

Together, we have had a lot of fun making everything from our own handwritten Elvish book to dolls to Kili's rune stone (on real Labradorite, of course!). We even kept scrapbooks for the whole year between the release of The Two Towers and The Return of the King. Over the years, we've been able to talk to other fans, e-mail with them and search online for inspiring images and/or tutorials of other really cool project ideas that other creative fans have come up with at different times. But none of the great fan sites for LotR and the Hobbit have any feature that highlights the amazing fan art that has arisen from the followers of the books and films. So, we have decided to start this blog to fill that hole.

We'd like to highlight any ideas and projects that we find that seem neat to us. When you're trying to come up with creative ways to combine various skills with the theme of Middle Earth, it can prove so fabulous to see what others have thought of and created --- which is what this blog is all about! If you know of a really cool project, pattern or tutorial that's available out there, don't hesitate to contact us. We just post anything that seems helpful or appealing to us as we are able to find it, so help us out if you don't see something here that you feel should be here.

We are also planning on reviewing and discussing all kinds of collectibles and books that have been released for fans of the film trilogies. Sometimes it can be really hard to find out which piece is a better option, or just how many different character pictures were released in that set of Hobbit character dog tags! Hopefully, these reviews will prove helpful to others, like us, who are always adding to their collection.

Thanks . . . and have fun creating your own piece of the incomparable Shire.
Sarah & Elizabeth