Needle-Felted Wool Sculpture

Kanan Jarrus Needle-Felted Wool Sculpture (as seen in "Star Wars Rebels" shows)


After having pushed my needle-felting to a back burner for awhile, I decided to get back into the swing of it with a couple dolls before getting back into Thorin's Company of Dwarves from The Hobbit film trilogy. I thought it might be good to make something totally different, which led to an 8-1/2" Pin-trading Jawa as a surprise gift for a friend (photos of that here). Once he was finished, I was ready to tackle another special subject as a not-so-secret gift for a very special friend. This friend is crazy about Jedi Knight Kanan Jarrus from the Star Wars Rebels animated shows, so it seemed like a fun thing (during all the craziness going on in the world these days) to have this project to concentrate on together over some video chats. I started working on Kanan at the end of January and just finished him at the end of September 2021.

He stands 10-3/4" high, which makes him the second largest wool doll that I've made to date (Elrond is the only one to stand taller). He weighs three ounces and took 77 hours to complete – which also makes him the longest felting project I've made so far! He was made with .40 and .42 gauge needles.

When it comes to fiber, Kanan's legs, arms and torso have a solid-wool felted base made of Romney wool that I just love. It's dark brown (which you never see on the finished doll) and makes such a sturdy base for these dolls. His skin and clothes (including his two-tone shirt, pants, two-tone boots, holster, belts, buckles, knee pads, gloves and hand/forearm armor) are felted of 100% Merino wool – all from Ashland Bay or England. His hair is made from a really cool piece of blended fiber that I've had for more than ten years. It was just enough of a piece to do this, and my guess is that it's a mix of Corriedale wool and Llama fiber. And the facial details are made of various wool -- almost all Merino.

Elizabeth made the fabulous shoulder armor and weapons for this doll. Because Kanan doesn't weigh very much (being wool), the trick was to figure out how to make such substantial pieces in a light-weight way that the doll could support. She ended up using Crayola Model Magic, which is an extremely light-weight air-drying modelling clay. She then painted it and coated it with clear coat. The armor and pistol are completely made of the Model Magic, while the lightsaber was finished with extra details made of a silver-tone endpin attached to a Hematite bead – and steel washer. Kanan also has a steel hook on his belt, and a specially made Comlink.