Altered Clothespin Doll

I haven't stopped needle felting. I just wanted to add a blog about a doll I made, a while back, for a swap. I couldn't post her, as I did not want to spoil the surprise for my "swapper".

This is "Primal Singer". She is altered on a clothespin using hand-painted fabric, hand made beads and embellishments and one of my hand-sculpted, high fired faces. She is my first doll in this format, though I have made dolls for most of my life.

Not your grandmother's clothespin doll...though I love those, too!

I have several other dolls, like this, on my work table...which I have not seen since I started needle felting in the "Satellite Lab" (the bed *wink*). I am really feeling the itch, though, to start combining all my skills, again, so more of these may be forthcoming...with a little needle felting worked in!

I'm also going to include a pic of my latest flat felted piece, a dragon and "The Green Man's Cat", though I'm not really liking the scans I'm getting of him. Also, he might need some whiskers. I'm still thinking about it.

Well, I'd better get back to The Lab!

Needle Felting Abstracts

Well...my computer went down for a bit, so I was inspired to work more on "real-time" art. These scans are of my latest, needle felted "paintings".

I recently acquired some new wool from my new friend Doxie, at The Special Tea Shop on EBay. These fibers are unlike anything I have purchased, so far and are very fine and short. Unexpectedly wonderful for shading! Lots of new, intuitive art is showing up, so look for more, very soon!

In the mean time, I hope you will enjoy these little works. The one on top was fun to do, but I haven't thought of a title for it, yet. It is an ACEO (2.5" x 3.5") and will be listed soon.

The other one is an abstract that just showed up, called "Bird Watching". It's 2.5" x 4.5". Birds show up, a lot, in my work, especially in the abstracts.

Look for a new needle felted character, soon! He's finished. He just has to be photographed, so the next blog will showcase "The Green Man's Cat".

Tootles!

Needle Felting: "Farmer Jack"

It's that time of year, again.

Here is my offering for Halloween. "Farmer Jack" is needle felted over a wire armature. I like doing these characters, but they are so time consuming. I know I say that, a lot, but it can't be expressed, enough, in my opinion.

I've read where some people think needle felting is easy...and it can be, depending on what you want to achieve. The hardest part, to me, is making hands and feet...the same size. You have to get a feel for how much wool will needle down into the size you want. This character had entirely different hands, before I ripped them off, because I had used too much wool and just couldn't get them down to the size I wanted. That was a three hour lesson. Now, I know that less is better, to start with, as you can always add more, but taking away is extremely difficult.

I know I am getting a little faster, at this, all the time, but it takes the time that it takes and rushing only causes...well...three hour lessons. Also, I like my work to be firmly felted. This takes hours of additional time. Add to that my obsession with details ( I really had to reign that in, with Jack, as I wanted him to be more accessible, price wise) and you can get work that must be compensated by hundreds of dollars, if one needed to make a living from their art, as I do.

I guess what I'm hoping, here, is that anyone reading this will understand the monetary value of time. If "Farmer Jack" sells for the minimum amount I listed him for, I will have made around two dollars an hour for labor and then there are all the listing fees, final value fees and other overhead. If I didn't love doing it, this could be very discouraging.

Well...fortunately...I do love doing it, so I'm not complaining...just educating, a little, I hope. At any rate, in the future you may see work that is priced according to the amount of time and love I put in. I always like to have pieces that are accessible to everyone who wants to invite my work into their homes...which I consider an honor, by the way, but some of it may be out or reach for some. I can't let that stop me from putting all I am into my work.

I'd love some comments on this. Should artists expect, at least, minimum wage for the time they put into their work?

Needle Felted: "Devotion"

Here's another quick update with pics of my latest. I've become fascinated with miniature, needle felted pictures. My latest is a two inch oval called "Devotion".

See my other tiny "paintings", as my friend Melanie calls them, in my EBay listings. There is so much love and passion in my work, lately. I just can't get enough wool! This will be a great art form to curl up with, this winter!

I'm also adding a pic of "Fishies".

I still haven't listed "Harvey and His Pooka". It's so hard to detach, sometimes.

Many blessings of creativity!!