By Victoria Brenan

Last updated at 11:43, Thursday, 13 December 2012

A baa-rmy campaign launched to boost the wool trade has gone global with Shaun the Sheep has got in on the act.

Pom-pom sheep

The Eden Arts Flock project, which started last year with the aim of supporting Prince Charles’ Campaign for Wool, has now been joined by Aardman Animations, creators of Shaun the Sheep and Wallace and Gromit.

Flock encourages budding artists to create pom-pom sheep which go towards large-scale installations, made up of thousands of sheep.

Shortly after the project was launched, Joanne Leary, Eden Arts project officer, said more schools and groups were signing up all the time.

It went global and, at its height during the summer, had seen more than 5,000 sheep exhibited in Cumbria.

Organisers now want to smash the world record for the largest number of woolly sheep The challenge will close in March 2013 when the entire flock will be paraded for visitors in London at a venue to be confirmed.

Richard Starzak, creator of Shaun the Sheep said they were ‘really excited’ to work with Eden Arts and The Wool Room on the project.

“It’s such a creative way to engage everyone and celebrate the versatility and benefits of real wool,” he said. “We look forward to seeing lots of funny, creative and colourful pom-pom sheep to add to Shaun’s flock.”

Eden Arts director Adrian Lochhead said it was brilliant to see the project picked up and turned into something even bigger.

“What started out as a small project with a target of just 250 pom-pom sheep quickly turned into an Eden Arts project that saw people sending their sheep in from all over the world,” he said.

“That it is now going to be expanded upon by Aardman Animations is great. As an organisation based in Cumbria, a sheep farming region, we are really proud of this creative contribution to supporting the UK’s wool industry.”

To download a pom-pom kit, with sheep face and leg templates to attach to pom-poms, see www.jointheflock.co.uk and www.thewoolroom.com/shaunspompomparade.

First published at 11:36, Thursday, 13 December 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk