Part 10 concludes the series about making my piece Summertime. This post features photos and videos documenting the process of creating the wee folk characters seen frolicking in the warm summer breeze. A complete list of previous articles about making Summertime is at the end of this post.
Summertime is the summer scene in a series of four seasonal landscapes that capture the wonder and magic of the natural world. Posters, note cards, prints, bookmarks, and jigsaw puzzles of Summertime and the other scenes in the series (Frosty Morning, Mossy Glen and Harvest Time) are available in my Etsy Shop.
WEE FOLK
In the beginning, I’m never sure who is going to appear in these landscapes. The wee folk just show up one by one and claim their spots. After spending many months building places for them to live, it feels satisfying to finally meet the little characters and see them settled into their new homes. You can meet them yourself in the following video.
The figures are similar to the acorn-capped dolls described in my how-to book, Felt Wee Folk, only smaller in scale (1.5″ – 2″ tall).
Rather than bending pipe cleaners, I used 24-gauge jewelry wire to form the armatures. With this choice, you have to wind a lot of floss around the wire to beef up the limbs so that they look proportional and not too spindly. One advantage of this method is that it eliminates the hassle of dealing with pipe cleaner fuzz, resulting in smoother and more refined doll bodies.
In the figure below, I used both cotton embroidery floss and tapestry yarn to wrap the wire armature. To give the illusion of a knitted vest, I chain stitched yarn around the torso.
For some of their outfits, I embellished wool felt using cotton embroidery floss.
The following 3 videos demonstrate how I made different figures from start to finish, from winding armatures with thread, to stitching clothing, to fashioning hair.
STITCH MINUTE VIDEOS
If you’ve followed me on Instagram and Facebook recently, you’ve probably seen some of my Stitch Minute videos. These short clips offer a glimpse into different aspects of my creative process, like peeking over my shoulder as I work.
While I enjoy sharing these visual moments, I kindly ask that you refrain from seeking in-depth explanations of my techniques beyond what is already shown on my blog or described in Felt Wee Folk. Much of my creative work is guided by intuition, and I feel that examining my process too closely might take away from the magic that makes it special. For those interested in understanding my philosophy on teaching and sharing knowledge, I invite you to read my post to teach or not to teach.
I hope that you’ve enjoyed learning about the making of Summertime. For a more comprehensive understanding of my process, I encourage you to explore previous posts in this series: Overview of the piece, Part 1 – Tree Trunks, Part 2 – Tree Houses, Part 3 – leaves, stems and branches, Part 4 – Baltimore Oriole (body), Part 5 – Baltimore Oriole (head and feet), Part 6 – rose vine, Part 7 – raspberry plants, Part 8 – stitching flora, and Part 9 – moss, sky and stone wall.
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SALLEY MAVOR 