Fancy a purr-fect replica of your very own feline friend? This Japanese needle-felting artist recreates kitties in stunning, realistic detail to order.

Needle felting is a new and exciting hobby which promises hours of wool-stabbing entertainment (and plenty of screams as you unwittingly stab your vulnerable flesh with a barbed needle), but the results for first-timers can be disappointing—it’s hard to make something look amazing using nothing but a needle and some coloured sheep’s wool! That’s why this needle-felting artist’s creations are so impressive.

Artist Hinali has been in the needle-felting trade for over five years now, and during that time she’s managed to completely master the currently on-trend art of creating photo-realistic kitties out of wool. In fact, she regularly posts pictures on her Instagram and Twitter showing the commissions she’s received to recreate people’s pet cats in the material. In some of the photos, we can’t quite tell at first which one’s the real cat and which one’s made of fluff, stabbing, and magic!

Check out this gallery of awesomely sweet kitty felt sculptures to see what we mean!

One of many commissions, a work-in progress of a blue-eyed beauty. While the head is spot-on, the body still needs many more hours of work to match its real-life pussycat doppelganger.

This sweet pair of black-and-white tuxedo kitties have been faithfully recreated, down to their distinctive muzzle markings!

This rather grumpy-looking yet fabulously furry puss has his own mini-me, complete with impressive whiskers!

https://www.instagram.com/p/zn_aacuJLL/?taken-by=hinali_felt

Hanali doesn’t just create full kitties, though, she’ll also whip up a head for you and a nice frame to put it in!

https://www.instagram.com/p/zbWrokuJHX/?taken-by=hinali_felt

This blue-eyed puss has a secret heart containing real fur. One of Hanali’s creations could be the perfect gift to soothe someone who’s had to part with a much-loved companion.

A cheery New Year’s kitty in a basket!

And some festive pusses in boots!

Hanali can even whip you up a nice bouquet of kitties!

Is this Scottish Fold real?

Just look at those tiny toe beans!

Such realistic kitty poses!

https://www.instagram.com/p/w6MAmcOJN9/?taken-by=hinali_felt

Hinali’s long-haired cat creations have the perfect amount of realistic floof.

Kitties in frames are all well and good, but we’d never be able to resist taking him out for a cuddle!

However, like most artists, Hinali’s abilities are a result of talent and daily hard work. She’s been creating felted critters since 2011, when she first picked up a DIY felting kit and caught the felting bug.You can really see how she’s progressed as an artist!

In fact, her cats are so realistic, we find the pictures of the half-finished ones sort of unsettling!

Eeek, it really looks like a disembodied kitty foot!

Besides her main passion of crafting cats, Hinali is also a master of creating felt versions of all kinds of loveable critters, including:

Tiny hammies

Sweet bunnies

And, of course, dogs!

Hinali usually takes between four and five weeks to craft each cat, but when there’s a specific kitty model, she can take months to make sure every single feature is recreated.

Hinali is currently taking a hiatus from commissions to prepare for an upcoming art exhibit, but be sure to follow her work on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook if you too have fallen for her sweet felt creations!

Source: Iroiro, Hinalifelt.com
Images: Instagram/hinali_felt