The fairy making habit is hard to break. Time and time again, the urge to make these little dolls gets the better of me, even though I swore off making multiple copies years ago. Fifteen years ago, when the sale of the “last” set of limited edition fairies was announced, my intentions were good.

Looking back, banning mass-production in my studio was an important and necessary step to take, so that I could move forward and grow as an artist. But ultimately the desire to keep my hands busy during long stretches of travel time won out, resulting in new groups of fairies showing up in my shop every few years.

UPDATE: Thank you ~ the fairies sold out immediately!
I’m happy to introduce SAPPHIRE, the newest fairy! A Limited Edition of 24 Sapphire Fairies will be added to my Etsy Shop on Sat., July 18th at 10 AM (Eastern US time). The dolls will sell for $125 each, on a first come, first served basis, so please act quickly if you really want one! Sorry, no pre-orders ahead of time. Also, since the cost of shipping overseas has become prohibitive, my shop is only processing sales from the US and Canada.

Despite the decision to move on, I haven’t weaned myself entirely from making sets of lookalike fairies. I’ve had to put limits on myself at home or else I would make them all the time, instead of pushing myself to do new work. It’s such a nice relaxing, portable activity when traveling.

On a recent trip to Oregon to visit family, I brought along fairy making parts to work on in airports and during cross country flights. This arrangement allowed me to have a stitching “fix” while away from home, without it becoming a form of procrastination back in the studio.

For those of you who are new to my work, these fairies are similar to the designs found in my how-to book, Felt Wee Folk. Sapphire’s hair is different, though. Instead of wool fleece, I used single ply, fingering weight Merino yarn, which is easy to braid. Unfortunately, Flying Finn Yarns, the small cottage industry I bought it from, is not currently in business.

I was able to complete many of the labor intensive steps while traveling, like wrapping the pipe cleaner bodies and stitching the little peplum jackets. But there were plenty of finishing touches to take care of after I returned. This video shows how I finished the fairies back in my studio.

It was fun revisiting the fairies after a two year gap, although the repetitive process did remind me why I rarely mass-produce products anymore. Now, I’ve got to switch gears and continue working on some new pieces for an exhibition in the fall of 2027 (dates TBD) at the Cahoon Museum in Cotuit MA. This may sound odd, but I look forward to the coming winter, when I can focus, without the distractions of warm weather!

Below are some of the fifty different limited edition fairies and wee folk dolls I’ve made since 2003. When all added up, that’s 1,250 wrapped pipe cleaner bodies, embroidered felt outfits, and painted wooden bead faces!

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