For German artist Yyvonne Herbst, going through a single day without creating something special is unimaginable. And this illustrator and former Pixar animator's latest creativity thirst-quencher is pretty wonderful ... just feast your eyes on her amazingly life-like felt animals.

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Felting a life-sized owl takes Herbst 4-5 days. Image: Yyvonne Herbst, used with permission.

"The idea to try felting swam around in my head for a year or so before I just bought a small amount of roving and a few needles," she says.

The process starts with knotting fibres of wool (known as roving) using a sharp, barbed needle, Herbst explains. It's the motion of pushing in and pulling out with the needle that knots the fibres into tight mouldable felt.

It takes about a week for Herbst to create a single felt animal (which, we might add, can be purchased or just 'ahhed' over in her Etsy Shop). And even after over two years of wool-working, Herbst is still inspired by her craft. "I've stabbed myself a gazillion times, but have had a lot of fun," she says. 

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Image: Yyvonne Herbst, used with permission.
felt animals-tortoise-2014-9-1.jpg
Image: Yyvonne Herbst, used with permission.
felt animals-hedgehog-2014-9-1.jpg
Image: Yyvonne Herbst, used with permission.
felt animals-horse-2014-9-1.jpg
Image: Yyvonne Herbst, used with permission.
felt animals-kanga-2014-9-1.jpg
Image: Yyvonne Herbst, used with permission.
felt animals-panda-2014-9-1.jpg
Image: Yyvonne Herbst, used with permission.