This Artist Crafts Stunningly Realistic Cat Portraits Out Of Felted Wool

Japanese artist Wakuneco creates stunningly, and sometimes uncannily, realistic 3-D portraits of cats, crafted entirely of felted wool.  

A post shared by 羊毛フェルト🐱わくねこ (@wakuneco) on Jul 19, 2018 at 6:16am PDT

 

Each three-dimensional felted feline takes approximately one month of painstaking work. Wakuneco uses the traditional needle felting technique, which involves poking layers of wool with a needle until the fibers slowly and steadily compact and form into solid shapes.

 

 

A post shared by 羊毛フェルト🐱わくねこ (@wakuneco) on Jun 30, 2018 at 3:54am PDT

 

The artist combines this technique to create realistic fur and markings and adds striking glass eyes and faux whiskers to craft these hyper-realistic wool sculptures. Wakuneco has generously posted her creative process through a series of videos on Instagram and YouTube. 

 

A post shared by 羊毛フェルト🐱わくねこ (@wakuneco) on May 5, 2018 at 1:43am PDT

 

 

 Here you can see the artist using a special barbed needle used especially for felting techniques. 

 

A post shared by 羊毛フェルト🐱わくねこ (@wakuneco) on Apr 22, 2018 at 9:54pm PDT

 

Here is a work in progress ...   

A post shared by 羊毛フェルト🐱わくねこ (@wakuneco) on Apr 8, 2018 at 12:05am PDT

 

 ... and the finished result!

 

A post shared by 羊毛フェルト🐱わくねこ (@wakuneco) on May 18, 2018 at 5:24am PDT

 

The portraits are based off real-life cats ...

 

A post shared by 羊毛フェルト🐱わくねこ (@wakuneco) on Mar 16, 2018 at 5:33am PDT

 

 

And the artist really manages to capture all the tiny details, down to individual markings and even expressions.

 

A post shared by 羊毛フェルト🐱わくねこ (@wakuneco) on Sep 10, 2017 at 6:18am PDT

 

Watch Wakuneco's amazing process below.

 

Find out more info about Wakuneco on their website, Instagram, and YouTube!