Monday, December 21, 2015

he-haw, another soft sculpture






















In October our wedding photographer, Hollie Lytle, and her husband, Brandon had a new baby girl. I chose the Donkey because Hollie loves Donkeys and aspires to own a Donkey one day. They are well on their way since they already live in a farm house. They are also a sweet Christian family, so I loved that this was a character with some significance in the birth story for Christ as well. 

I decorated her with some felt flowers, that I also hand-made, for a girly touch. I knew her Bohemian momma would work in some colorful touches in the rest of the nursery. 

I chose the passage, "Though she may be little, she is fierce", it sounds biblical, but it's a passage from Shakespeare, not sure which. Knowing the fiery conviction of all members of the Lytle family I was just guessing that this little lady is going to have lively and vibrant spirit. 

  

soft sculpture for my friend erin's nursery















Earlier this year a some friends of mine had their first child. A baby boy named Wyatt. 
As a gift to the new parents, I made this trio of soft sculptures to decorate their nursery.

This was my first time making mounted soft sculpture, so it was a bit of trial and error. I developed the patterns myself, also something I've never done. I started first a rough pass of the pattern, I sketched the shapes that I thought would work. Then I cut the felt peices, sewed them up and then drew on top of the sewn dummy in the places that I wanted to edit the pattern. I then, tore the dummy apart and re-cut and re-stitched until it looked good. Then I again dismantled that version and used the soft pieces to make the final pattern. 

I used basic poly craft felt sheets for the main portions of the plush. I added the orange pom-pom trim for a hit of color on the elephant, something I took off of the hem of an old skirt and re-purposed here. For the lambs "wool" I used some yarn with the curly texture, and sewed the yarn to the felt base, this was probably the most time consuming part of the whole project. I did some traditional needle felting with wool roving for the muzzle, nose, chest and inner ear of the deer.  

For the eyes on all I used single hole buttons, with a little dab of paint for a highlight.

My husband stained the wood plaques, and attached picture brackets to the back for hanging. 

I chose the animals for the variety in shape, color and texture.
I have this wonderful vintage children's book, The Wild and Wooly Animal Book by Nita Jonas and illustrated by Dale Maxey with corresponding passages about the animals that I wrote on the back (no picture to show).


Photos: Katey Penton Photography