Before introducing Rosie, I’d like to say a little something about her cousin Polly. Since Polly has a history of dawdling and missing her ride to the airport, I thought I’d better get her ready for our next trip. I’ve looked in all her usual resting places, but she’s nowhere to be seen! Maybe she’s tired of being hauled around in the bottom of my purse and doesn’t want to go to Scotland again. She’s survived many adventures, from standing on a boat railing in Antarctica to wandering the streets of Havana, to climbing stones in Ireland.
Cuba
Ireland
France
Edinburgh, Scotland
It could be that she’s had enough excitement and wants a calmer existence. I trust that she will appear when she’s good and ready to come out of hiding. Luckily, Polly liked to have her picture taken– you can see her travels here.
Despite being so young (she was born yesterday), her cousin Rosie is ready and willing to fill in for her. She’s in a bit of a shock that all Polly left behind were her discarded travel costumes. Rosie’s outfit of a plaid skirt and wool sweater should be well suited for the coolish Scottish weather this autumn.
Rosie may come across as shy and timid at first, but I have a feeling that she will surprise us all. She’s already packed and ready, which either shows her excitement or anxiety, or both!
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This little pair, child stars from my book, Felt Wee Folk, found a perfect shelter from the rain! Like a paparazzi, I whipped out my cell phone, snapped a photo and instantly shared it on Instagram. A few days later, I took a picture of my work table, which shows a new wee folk family in the works. They’re for a charity raffle that I’ll announce later this fall. And if you’re already following me on Instagram, you’ve seen glimpses of bearded men from Whiskers, my newest piece. For a visual person, the urge to capture images all day is kind of possessing and the instantaneous nature of this new social media phenomenon makes it even more irresistible. I still plan to publish more comprehensive posts with lots of photos in the future, but for now I’ll share quick little glimpses into my world.
And soon, we’re off to Scotland again! I invite you to follow along in real time on Instagram.
This is Part 3 in a series about making my newest piece, Face Time. It picks up where I left off in Part 2, which covers the embroidered felt wreath-like frames. Part 1 explains the concept of the piece and shows the making of the heads.
After all 41 frames were finished and each bust was safely sewn inside its own personal cameo, I arranged the characters according to time period. It was like putting together a puzzle, fitting the pieces in chronological order. Characters from the past were rooted at the bottom of the tree and others cascaded upward through time to contemporary folks at the very top.
Tree branches were formed with felt covered wire. Embroidery floss seed stitches on the felt created a bark-like texture. The smaller branches are made of floss wrapped wire. I sewed the branches to the back of the “cameos”, extending the wire around the frame to give each little portrait some structure, like bendable bones.
With this piece, I tried out a new kind of border/frame. Instead of putting fabric on top of and around the sides of a wooden stretcher, I stapled the background fabric to the back, creating a space inside for the 3-d tree. I padded the stretcher bars with cotton batting and covered it with fabric, like upholstering furniture. It required quite a bit of fussing and hand stitching to make the corners look good. This way the finished piece can be hung with or without another outside frame or shadow box.
I made felt covered wire leaf forms for the corners, first embroidering the strips of felt with seed stitches.
And then filled in some gaps with floss wrapped wire doodles.
Thank you for following along through the process! As with Birds of Beebe Woods, I am not selling Face Time and will be entering it into juried shows around the country. Please visit the events page from time to time to see where my original work is on display.
For those of you interested in making your own characters, please refer to my how-to book, Felt Wee Folk – New Adventures, for basic guidance.
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This is Part 2 in a series about making my newest piece, Face Time. It picks up where I left off in Part 1, which is about the painted and wigged wooden bead heads.
I wanted each character to peek out of their own frame, like cameo portraits. I cut pieces out of felt with scalloped shears and embroidered the edges. This, along with stitching the leaves and stems took many, many hours.
I brought them with me on boat excursions near home…
and far away on our canal trip in France. I got a lot done on the plane ride, too.
Finally, all 41 busts had their own wreath-like frame.
The heads are based on the wee folk dolls in my how-to book Felt Wee Folk – New Adventures. This little lady’s bonnet is made with wire wrapped with embroidery floss.
After the wreaths were completed and the busts sewn in place, I figured out their arrangement on tree branches. They would be grouped according to time period, going from the past at the bottom to the present at the top.
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About a year ago, my newest piece, Face Time started taking shape. I took pictures along the way, while its collection of little heads grew on my work table. The piece was completed this past winter after about 6 months of work.
UPDATE: Face Time was the first of 3 collective portraits. Cover Up and Whiskers also focus on bringing to life different people from around the world, using themes of history, style and cultural identity. In each piece, head and shoulder busts peek out of “cameo” framed holes.
Cover UpWhiskers
I’m often asked how long it takes to make a large piece like this (24″ x 30″). It’s hard to say for sure, because my days are interspersed with so many distractions having to do with the business side of being an artist. Of course, I’d rather be stitching every day in my studio, but I fear that that would lead to an obscure life, without a presence beyond my studio walls. At least 50% of my work time is spent promoting my art in some way; e-mails, interviews and other publicity, Etsy Shop, editors and publishers, social media, writing blog posts, arranging exhibits, etc. OK, that’s enough of a reality check–shall we stick with the romantic notion of spending all day stitching in a window seat?
I’d like to take you through the making of Face Time, so you can have a sense of what’s involved. If you’ve read my post, When to tell how and when not to, you’ll know that I don’t always show my process, but this is one of those instances when I’ve taken enough photos to warrant a 3 part series. I’m excited to share the new direction my work has taken!
Face Time
For Face Time, I started in the usual way, thinking about the idea for a long time before jotting down tiny drawings in my sketch book. While I worked, the concept remained strong and constant, while the overall design changed with time. I also considered how the parts will be rendered in embroidery and 3 dimensional needlework.
I wanted to show different people from all over, evolving through time, from long ago civilizations at the bottom, to present day people at the top. I wasn’t so interested in making a personal family tree, but a depiction of a collective heritage. I envisioned a group of faces from a variety of backgrounds and cultures peeking out of the greenery, all linked to a tree-like form.
Researching fashion history was very fun! Online, I found pictures of hair styles, beards, hats and garments. In addition to wigs and painted facial features, each wooden head had a bit of clothing showing at the neck and shoulders. They expand on the wee folk doll projects from my how-to book, Felt Wee Folk: New Adventures. Wire glasses were something new, which I thought contributed to the individuality of some characters.
Over a period of many weeks, the heads grew in number, filling my already crowded work table.
There ended up being 41 heads in all, covering many centuries. Here they are, in a group shot, before they were separated by leaves and branches in the finished piece. I will show more about that in part 2.
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Polly is proud to show-off her new outfit, which she’ll be wearing during her next trip. She’s especially fond of her Glengarry bonnet! Polly will be visiting relatives in Scotland (my grandfather on the Mavor side was born in Glasgow) and hiking the Great Glen Way from Fort William to Inverness. She’s sure to bring back lots of pictures and stories of her adventures!
My Etsy Shop is closed during our trip and will reopen June 16th.
The whole Woodland Folk family recently ventured out into the bugle weed forest for some fresh air. Ever since they had the excitement of posing for my new book, it’s been dismal for them, all cooped up inside. The wee folk couldn’t get enough of the natural surroundings!
Many of you have made your own versions of these dolls by following the directions and patterns in Felt Wee Folk – New Adventures. I hope that you are having as much fun as I am! The book is available through your favorite book seller or from my Etsy Shop (autographed, with extra goodies).
My husband Rob and I had so much fun putting together this 2 min. video to spread the word about the Fairy Family RAFFLE for the benefit of Highfield Hall. While I worked on the dolls, I kept having to pester him about coming to film different stages of the process, from wrapping their bodies, to dressing them, to painting their faces. Make sure that you watch long enough to see these process shots, as well as the animated close-ups of the fairies.
Here’s the info about the RAFFLE:
Take a chance to win a fairy family of 5, handmade by Salley Mavor. 3 tickets for $5.00. Tickets may be purchased online or at Highfield Hall and Gardens in Falmouth, MA, where the fairy family is on display. The Fairy Houses of Highfield Hall outdoor exhibit will be held from June 28th to August 31, 2015. The raffle drawing will be August 30, 2015. The prize will be sent to the winner anywhere in the world! Good luck!
The wee folk have been getting a kick out of seeing pictures of themselves on the pages of my new book, Felt Wee Folk – New Adventures! The brides, woodland and winter folk, and Mary and her lamb are tempted to walk back into their familiar scenes, but they have new separate lives now.
Supplies to make the wee folk dolls, including wool felt can be ordered from A Child’s Dream. I sell faux flowers to make fairies, as well as the book (with autograph and extra goodies) in my Etsy Shop.
I am excited to introduce my newest creation — a Fairy Family! All five doll-house sized family members, Mom, Dad, brother, sister and baby were specially made for a raffle to benefit Highfield Hall and Gardens in Falmouth (Cape Cod) Massachusetts.The raffle will be held from now until the end of this summer’s outdoor exhibit, the Fairy Houses of Highfield Hall, which I am curating again this year.
If you visit this blog regularly, you’ll know that I don’t sell one-of-a-kind dolls, so this is a rare chance to have a unique family of wee folk, all hand-stitched by yours truly.
To make the fairy dolls, I gathered faux flowers in a purple and blue color scheme. For the felt clothes, I cut out patterns from my new book Felt Wee Folk – New Adventures. The book also has directions for adding breasts to make shapely, more womanly fairies, instead of just flat chested nymphets. I used some unusual acorn caps that have been hanging around my studio for years. For the life of me, I can’t remember where they came from. Here are the fairies on my work table, before they were given wings. The children are already flying around and having adventures! It’s going to be quite the fairy summer on Cape Cod!
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SALLEY MAVOR 
