Unique animal sculptures by IGMA artisan Sarah Grace
Here at AnimalsInMiniature, you can find unique, realistic miniature animal sculptures for dollhouse hobbyists or collectors by IGMA artisan Sarah Grace. Each sculpture is original, and one of a kind. They are lovingly sculpted, flocked, and furred free-hand from start to finish without the use of molds, and are usually made to specific dollhouse scales (most often 1:12).
All of the sculpture are completely hand made either through a process called needle felting, or sculpted from clay and hand furred. There are no molds or patterns used to make them. They are original pieces of art that are sculpted free hand with much love from start to finish.
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How are the hand-furred/flocked clay sculptures made?
The hand-furred clay animals are made by Sarah Grace who in 2021 received an artisan certificate in the category of miniature animals from the International Guild of Miniature Artisans. These sculptures start with hand sculpting the animals out of high quality polymer clay.
The sculptures may go through multiple stages of baking before they are ready for the carving of extra fine details. Then a coat of paint is applied and finally the sculpture is ready for its most challenging step - its coat of fur (usually alpaca fiber and sheep wool). It is applied a tiny bit at a time with tweezers and adhesive, and the fur must be applied carefully in the growing direction for a realistic look. This step takes the longest as the glue for the different layers of fur need to dry before applying the next along with precise trimming of the coat during and after application.
These sculptures are all made to specific dollhouse scales (mostly 1:12) and though they are usually sold in auctions elsewhere online, they are occasionally listed here on Etsy too!
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What is Needle Felting?
Needle felting is a very time consuming process that is done by poking wool fibres with a barbed needle which hooks onto individual fibres and pushes them into each other to interlock and mat them together into different shapes. It takes many hours and thousands of pokes to create this kind of sculpture.
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