Koala Conundrum

My daughter loves koala bears. Can you blame her? They're so cute and cuddly-looking. So, having a mom that's a lampwork critter bead artist, she naturally has asked me to make her a koala bead. But after looking up images of these bears online, I just couldn't figure out how to make their tiny arms and feet. Plus, I wasn't much good at making regular bear beads, so the exotic koala seemed much trickier. I was defeated before I even tried. Great attitude, I know.

Some time went by, and I'm browsing through Etsy and I come upon this Plumpie Koala:

Is that not the cutest koala bear you've ever seen? It's from BirdonWireStudio on Etsy, where there are lots more adorable little needle-felted friends to keep him company. I kept going back to look at the koala, and soon I realized that I was making the koala bead too difficult. It didn't need arms and legs. It could just be the koala head and belly, just like Plumpie.

So here is what I came up with:

And then I couldn't take it anymore, and I purchased a mini needle-felted koala and a panda bear to keep it company. Right now they're hanging out on my computer, but I do plan on giving the koala to one daughter and the panda to the other - just waiting for the right moment.

Aren't they sweet? I love being inspired by other artists in different mediums. Needle-felting is something I had not heard of before Etsy. But Abigail, the artist who made these little darlings, explains the process so well in her Etsy profile.

For more of Abigail's needle-felted creations, head on over to BirdonWireStudio ~ you won't be disappointed!