FoxWoolDesigns

I am a dollmaker and creature creator. I never understood why growing up should mean leaving behind the things of beauty and whimsy I loved as a child. So I didn’t. My abiding love of nature and a childlike sense of wonder drive my work. Through each creature I make, I invite those who see it to participate in telling a story, a tale about finding one’s way into Faerie -- a path from ordinary life into the worlds of magic that underpin our daily consciousness and haunt our dreams.

I work primarily with a technique called needle felting. It is a newcomer to the world of craft, allowing age-old materials of wool and fiber to be used in revolutionary ways. With the sharp, barbed needles, I sculpt wool into many forms as if it were clay. The journey from fleece to figures of solid felt is endlessly fascinating to me, and I start with fiber in different stages of that journey depending on the work at hand, sometimes using a palette of pre-dyed wool, and other times choosing a fleece from just the right sheep and gathering leaves and flowers to imbue it with colors that reflect the landscape from which they come.

Felt has an almost living warmth and softness that is perfect for conveying the feeling of welcome I wish all my creatures to bear. My ethos as an artist is that art is for everyone, and I am happiest when my felt inspires someone to step closer and marvel at an unexpected detail that caught their eye.