Tag: art doll

I invited some of my Felt Alive online students to join me in a challenge to capture the essence of Hilda – A vintage plus-sized pinup caricature by artist, Duane Bryers.

Starting at the BOTTOM row- it’s FeltingFever!

Then in the middle we have Germa’s Felting

Then on the top row we have me – feltalive

What a fun bunch of Hildas!!

I entered several of my characters into the Alaska State Fair – I was thrilled with how well they were received by the judges and it is very exciting to have them on display for Alaskans to see, adorned with all of their pretty ribbons.

Cyrus is the largest Felt Alive character to date! He stands about 23 inches tall and is a pretty hefty guy. He is solid needle felted wool and is fully jointed with seamless needle felted joints. No sewing, no stuffing, just felted wool!

My Great-Niece Chloe with her new friend, Cyrus!

My nephew Nick and his girlfriend, Mindy, stole away to the mountains the other day with several of my characters in tow. They returned with the most fabulous photos!

There’s more pictures – Here is a slideshow of their day!
http://www.flickr.com/slideShow/index.gne?group_id=&user_id=&set_id=72157606216105643&text=
Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

I can only seem to catch these little critters if I stay up very late at night. I’ve been told they are called Droits!

This guy was so fun to create! I blended 4 colors of wool batting together to give him this wonderful skin tone. My little niece named him Doc Treeboat. She is my official character namer.

Mindy loves to play outside in the yard! She is an adventurous little thing; climbing trees and dreaming of sailing away to explore far away lands!

This is little Rufus – He sits about 6 inches tall. He is soft and flexible and such a good boy!!

This is my first soft-scultped dogs. I made the little guys in my sled dog team but they are sculpted quite hard and are not as lifelike as Rufus.

This is little Gladys! She is such a silly little thing!

This is Alice – Don’t ask why – he’s just Alice! He looks like a laid back old surfer dude to me. I just love him! What a character!

And I’m pretty sure Alice is Crackers’ Bro’ I caught them down at the lake shore soaking up the Alaskan springtime sun! They are a couple of Laid Back Dudes!

Meet Mac! He is my crazy little Scotsman with a penchant for Irish Whiskey. I planned on making a grumpy little old man in a wool suit. When I was ready to get Mac dressed, I decided to let him pick out his own outfit. So – it’s not my fault!

It’s a full Scottish Moon!
It’s censored for the blog.
Here’s a link to see the the Real Mac

Party’s Over!!

As you can probably guess, I had a blast creating Mac. In my online classes, I stress the importance of relaxing and having fun! I certainly practiced what I preach when it came to my little Mac. He is about 8 inches tall and solid needle felted wool.

These were SO FUN to create. They are each roughly 8 inches tall and are 100% wool. They are both rather soft and flexible.

Here are a couple of my latest creations! I have several more in the works! These are so fun to make – I made these using the same soft sculptural techniques that I teach in my online class. It’s fun and easy to learn! No patterns, no sewing, stuffing and no seams – just solid needle felted wool!

This is Santa during his off time. He is wearing his red Union Suit and wool socks. He is about 20 inches tall and is very soft and huggable. I think I captured the twinkle in his eye!!

I think her name is Hazel. She just jumped off my felting pad today. She is really difficult to photograph and is SO much cuter in person. She is another example of a wool soft sculpture – she is so soft and huggable. In her seated position she is about 8 ” tall. Make sure to watch the little video of Hazel. The background music is “Way Long Timey Ago” by The Red Clay Ramblers

http://www.youtube.com/get_player

Here is my latest character to leap off my felting pad. His name is Cheider and he is the largest I have made so far. He stands about 20″ tall to the tip of his hat. He is made of 100% wool with no wire armature. I wet felted his hat and it is removable. Make sure to watch the video to see him in action.

http://www.youtube.com/get_player

I just can’t help it – these two crazy kids just showed up on my felting pad. I do find it unusual how this old man bears an uncanny resemblance to my late father. I didn’t mean for there to be any resemblance but it is striking. My four year old niece who only remembers him from pictures took one look at this guy and said – “Oh – that’s my Grandpa Vern” I know it would just crack my dad up so the name stuck!

Dad had a great sense of humor and would love the fact that he gets to wear Superman Underoos.

I don’t know, however, if he would appreciate the fact that his girlfriend resembles his late mother (again – not my fault!)

I really don’t have any plans when I start needle felting a doll. Funny things always happen which might explain my addiction to this craft.

I made a little video show of Grandpa Vern and his gal enjoying a little music. (Music is “Boogie” by John Hartford)

http://www.youtube.com/get_player

I find it unusual how this old man has an uncanny resemblance to my late father. I didn’t mean for there to be any resemblance but it is striking. Dad had a great sense of humor and would love the fact that I put him in Superman underoos. My four year old niece who only remembers him from pictures took one look at this guy and said – “Oh – that’s my Grandpa Vern” I know it would just crack my dad up so the name stuck! Like my Dad, this guy is a little bit naughty so please enjoy the video of Grandpa Vern in action!

This is Cookie! She knows that a curve is the sexiest distance between two points and she is proud of her voluptuous figure. From a Yiddish word meaning ripe and juicy, Zaftig has come to be understood as pleasantly plump.

Cookie is needle felted out of 100% wool. She is very soft and is fun to pose. Her gorgeous red hair is from dyed curly wool.

Cookie dropped something!!

I created Cookie using soft sculpture techniques that I learned from Birgitte Krag Hansen. She is not totally complete yet as I have to do much needling to create a less fuzzy skin. I just had to share her because she makes me laugh! When I get her done I will post a video of Cookie in motion!

Hi everyone! I’d like to share my fantastic experience that I recently had. In late August, I learned that my needle felting idol, Birgitte Krag Hansen would be in Alaska in early September putting on needle felting workshops. I was so lucky to be able to take not one but TWO workshops with her. The first workshop was a one day event titled “Funny Theatre Figures. This class was in the tiny, remote community of Kenny Lake; I had to drive 4 hours in each direction to take this one day workshop. It was so worth it! Our class was in a little library with only 9 people in the class.

Birgitte is on the porch and that’s Penny Wakefield, her host from the Fairbanks Spinners and Weavers Guild.

There wasn’t even running water – we had to use the outhouse out back!

We had so much fun learning how to make these funny little theatre figures! The little guy I made is in the video below. His name is Kleebus. He only has one hand (and that is at the end of his neck/body) but really, he needs no more! He is fun to play with and kids absolutely love him. Birgitte taught us how to work the wool so that the characters come to life. I hope you enjoy the video of Kleebus as he hams it up for the camera! Sorry about the backgroud noise – its one of my big dogs having a big drink of water!

http://www.youtube.com/get_player

This is Hailey! (My 4 year old niece is in charge of naming my creations)

I made her in the 3 day workshop I took in Fairbanks with Birgitte. This was so intense and I learned so much. Luckily, I took a flight up there because the 6 hour drive each way would have kicked my butt.

The workshop was called “Figures in Motion” and I had the idea that mine would be sunbathing. The end result was more like she was flying!

The last pictures were taken during the workshops – Birgitte’s Workstation is quite interesting. I love the one of the family of characters that were made in the class. There were some fun and talented people there!

I entered some of my felted creatures into the Alaska State Fair and was pleasantly surprised at how well they did.

My dog sled team took a first place ribbon in the category of Fiber Arts – Needle Felted – Other. It also won a special recognition from a sponsor – which I believe means a cash prize – not sure yet though!