PUCHONG, Feb 25 — Ever wondered how people create cute and realistic looking animals with just soft, fluffy wool felt? The answer, we found out, is a lot of hard work as it involves poking the wool felt with a needle until it becomes solid.
“The beauty of the needle.... as you keep poking the wool felt, it becomes solid,” explained Xuan Lim, a freelance illustrator who also runs Mina Planet and hand crafts adorable Japanese Daruma dolls and all sorts of cute items from wool felt.
In 2008, the Batu Pahat native had moved here to study in Dasein Academy of Art, Wangsa Maju where she majored in illustration. When she graduated in 2011, she picked up felting by watching YouTube and books sourced from Japan and Taiwan.
In those two countries, felting is incredibly popular, compared to Malaysia where it’s relatively unknown, except among a small group of crafters.
Xuan Lim explains she picked up the interest after she stumbled upon a sheep made from wool felt when she was studying in Taiwan.
Fascinated by how it looked so lifelike, she did more research on the craft. “After I touched this wool felt, I draw fewer illustrations,” she said about her interest. Her first project was a tiny mushroom, the easiest item from a book on felting.
Essentially, the method involves rolling up a small amount of wool and stabbing it with a needle. The needle creates a situation where the strands of wool will lock together, until it creates a firm shape that can be used to form a sculpture. Different wool can be used for felting with varied results.
Xuan Lim tells us she prefers merino wool. “The finer it is, it’s easier and the outcome will be very fine and it looks very real,” she explained. For her work, she brings in merino wool from Taiwan and Japan, as the quality of the wool she requires is not available locally.
You will notice that Xuan Lim is fascinated by Japanese Daruma dolls. For the Japanese and those who believe, the doll is traditionally recognised as a talisman for good luck.
It’s often gifted to others as a form of encouragement. “I love Daruma. When I went to Japan and saw them, I bought a lot of Daruma dolls,” she said. She created her own design... an adorable version. She adds, “I was influenced by animation hence I did a cute Daruma.”
During her research, she found out there are various colours for Daruma dolls with different meanings. She explains to us the blue coloured Daruma is for good business while the pink coloured Daruma is gifted to those seeking love and romance.
For those in need of fortune, the yellow coloured Daruma is your best bet while black coloured Daruma dolls are said to ward off enemies. For her, she still prefers the traditional red coloured Daruma. “I find it outstanding and it’s the original.”
Last October, she branched out to immortalise her Daruma creations into patches as a collaboration with a local manufacturer since it was quite fun. People can now carry these good luck charms everywhere.
With felt art, it requires a lot of patience. For instance, the huge Daruma, proudly on display in her space, took Xuan Lim around half a year to complete.
For the smaller pieces, it can take up to three to four hours to make one. As they are incredibly tiny, they often are the hardest to do since she needs to be incredibly careful as there are too many details plus the eyes are just dots.
She also crafts bags, phone cases and key chains. Another method she uses is washing the wool felt with soap and water and it becomes solid. This allows her to create multiple layers to make a it thicker. Usually it takes about two days for the each layer to dry.
For her business, she named it Mina after a girl she met. “It’s easy to remember and pronounce,” she explained. For her final college project, she also came out with an illustration of Mina with flaming red hair which she immortalised as a doll later in 2014.
When she decided to name her business, she found out Mina also means “love” in German. The tagline, “Love Makes Us Strong,” was plucked from watching a Japanese drama. “I felt that it fits and it’s inspiring,” she said.
In 2013, she added to the logo, Japanese kanji. She envisions a planet where there are a lot of nice things. “I built a planet for all my creations, made with my love.”
Previously her studio was located in a house in Puchong which she shared together with fellow artisans, an illustrator Space Fantos and pottery maker, Purple Ling. The trio had connected via her college and Facebook connections.
At her studio, Xuan Lim would teach needle felting classes. Usually adults attend her classes. So far, the youngest participant was a 13-year-old who was old enough to handle the needle.
Her next project involves creating wool felt animals that look just like the real deal. She hopes to probably venture to Taiwan later this year to do a course on it. These life-like cats and dogs are much admired in Japan but incredibly new here in Malaysia. Even in Taiwan, there is a two -to three-month waitlist for makers to produce these animals.
Mina Planet
