Name: Sweet Tooth Giraffe Felted Wool Charm
Brand: Carding House Co.
SKU: CHC-ORN-F-013
Price: 24.00 USD
Availability: InStock

Sweet Tooth Giraffe Felted Wool Charm

$24.00 USD

100% New Zealand Wool
Open pasture, naturally soft, cleanly spun, and extraordinarily resilient.
Individually Hand-Sculpted
Wet-felted and needle-detailed so no two pieces are identical.
Naturally Fresh & Durable
Breathable, odor-resistant, and easy to spot clean.

Description

A felted giraffe sitting back on his haunches with a red lollipop in both hands and an enormous set of teeth.

The grin is the whole animal. It is a full embroidered dental grid — white felt divided into individual teeth by fine brown stitching, upper and lower, taking up a third of his face. Most felted animals get a curved line for a mouth. This one got a complete set, and the effect is somewhere between delighted and unhinged.

It is also, strictly, impossible. Giraffes have no upper front teeth at all — just a hard pad where incisors would be, the same arrangement cattle have. A grinning giraffe showing a full top row is a thing that cannot happen, which is exactly why it is funny.

Two small brown ossicones stand up between his ears — the proper name for a giraffe's horns, which are bone covered in skin and fur rather than true horn — with the hanging cord coming out between them.

Big round ears set wide with pink centres, a pink blush on each cheek, two black bead eyes and a pair of stitched nostrils.

His spots are irregular — different sizes, uneven spacing, some running off the edge of a leg — rather than a repeating pattern.

The lollipop is a red felted ball on a white stick, held in both forepaws and angled up toward his mouth.

Made from New Zealand wool.

Please note: small parts. Not suitable for children under three.

New Zealand wool, felted.
Dyed yellow, brown, red and pink with cream.
Embroidered teeth in white wool with brown stitching.
Black bead eyes.
Felted ball lollipop on a wound cord stick.
Cream hanging cord.

The grin is the whole animal, and it is the hardest thing on him.
It is a full embroidered dental grida panel of white felt divided into individual teeth by fine brown stitching, upper row and lower row, running a third of the way across his face. Every division has to be straight, evenly spaced and the same length, on a curved surface, at a scale where a stitch out of line is immediately visible. There is nowhere to hide an error on a grid.
Most felted animals get a single curved line for a mouth, because it is quick and it always works. This one got a complete set of teeth, and the effect lands somewhere between delighted and unhinged — which is a far more interesting face than a smile.
It is also anatomically impossible, and that is the joke underneath the joke. Giraffes have no upper front teeth. Where incisors would be there is a hard dental pad, the same arrangement cattle have — they strip leaves by pressing them between the lower teeth and that pad. A giraffe grinning with a full top row is showing you something that does not exist.
The two brown nubs between his ears are ossicones, which is the correct word for them. They are not horns and not antlersthey are bone, covered in skin and fur, fused to the skull. Getting the cord to emerge between them rather than through the crown is what keeps the top of his head looking like a head.
The spots are deliberately irregular. Different sizes, uneven gaps, some running off the edge of a leg and cut short. A real giraffe's pattern is unique to the animal and never repeats, and the fastest way to make a felted one look machine-made is to place even spots at even intervals.
The lollipop is a felted ball on a wound stick, angled up toward the mouth and held in both forepaws rather than tucked to one side. Both hands on it is a child's grip, and it is what makes the lollipop read as the thing he cares about rather than a prop he is carrying.

Pure New Zealand pasture wool naturally repels dust and light spills thanks to its dense, organic fiber structure.

Day-to-dayair him rather than wash him. Wool sheds dust and odour on its own given a few hours somewhere with moving air.

The teeththe grid is fine stitching on a curved surface and a pulled thread shows immediately. Keep combs, zips and hooks away from his face.

The lollipopthe stick is the slenderest part of him. Do not carry him by it, and do not use it to adjust how he hangs.

The ossiconesthey stand upright and the cord runs between them. If one leans, work it back with your fingers rather than pulling the cord straight.

Hanging himuse the cord at the crown, not an ear or the lollipop.

Spot cleaningblot with a barely damp cloth and dry upright. Never submerge — red and brown over a yellow body will run, and once the white teeth go pink the face is gone.