New Felt Wee Folk posters!

Posted on December 5, 2014 by Salley Mavor

poster – Felt Wee Folk

I’m excited to show you these two new 11″ x 17″ posters that I had printed in anticipation of the publication of my upcoming book, Felt Wee Folk – New Adventures: 120 Enchanting Projects. It was a family production; I constructed the scenes and made the dolls, my husband Rob Goldsborough took the photographs, and my sister Anne Mavor did the graphic design. All of these doll projects and more will be in the new book.

Both posters are for sale in my Etsy Shop for a very reasonable price. Sorry about the tacky “WeeFolkStudio.com” watermark across the center of the image — it doesn’t appear on the poster. To celebrate, I will be giving away the winter scene poster with the purchase of my book, Pocketful of Posies on Sunday, Dec. 7th during Author and Illustrator Day (1:00 ~ 4:00 pm), at the Concord Museum in Concord, MA

Felt Wee Folk: New Adventures will be released in last part of February, 2015. You can pre-order copies from my Etsy Shop here. Each book will include an autograph, faux flowers to make 2 fairies and a Felt Wee Folk winter scene poster.

poster – Felt Wee Folk

Books, tree, dollhouse and Instagram

Posted on December 2, 2014 by Salley Mavor

There’s quite a list of business to cover here. I’ll begin with the news that I just set up an account with Instagram! This will be a way to share spontaneous cellphone photos of projects I’m working on and things I encounter in my life that I find inspiring, from the everyday to the extra special. So, if you’d like to follow along, here’s my Instagram address.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Exhibits and a Book Signing:
This little goat (detail above) and a donkey and swine from pages 6/7 in Pocketful of Posies (below) are on public display at the Concord Museum in Concord, MA. It’s included in the exhibit Good Night, Sleep Tight: Art from Children’s Literature, which features over twenty original illustrations from classic and contemporary children’s books woven around the themes of bedtime, dreams, and lullabies. The exhibit’s up for a nice long run, until May 3, 2015, but this coming Sunday Dec. 7th is Author and Illustrator Day (1:00 ~ 4:00 pm), which is held in conjunction with the annual exhibit, Family Trees: Celebration of Children’s Literature. I’ll be there, along with other authors and illustrators, chatting with museum visitors and signing books. There’s a lot going on at the museum that day, so, if you’re in the area, come over and say hi!

A few years ago, I participated in the Concord Museum’s Family Trees event, which I wrote about here. For the past two years, I’ve been using those same ornaments to decorate a tree for the Holidays at Highfield event at Highfield Hall in Falmouth, MA.

My tree, as well as 6 original illustrations from Pocketful of Posies are downstairs in the front hall and my dollhouse is upstairs. Holidays at Highfield is open daily from 10:00 to 4:00 until Dec. 7th.

Stuart & Nancy ~ 50th gift

Posted on November 28, 2014 by Salley Mavor

I had the pleasure of making a 50th anniversary gift for my friend Judy Sue to give to her dear friends Stuart and Nancy. She asked me to include pertinent info like names and dates and suggested that I put in a pair of birds and a heart. As always, I began by drawing thumbnail sketches of the basic design.

About halfway through the process, when I’d already made the birds, I realized that this would be a good project to show how I work. You’d think that this would be automatic by now, but it’s always a challenge to stop and document while you’re engrossed in the middle of something. I took a few photos and also asked Rob to do some filming. You can see high action close-ups of my hand stitching, winding and arranging parts in the video below.

In this piece I tried a new way of handling thread wrapped wire. In the video, you can see me winding wire around another straight wire rod and pulling it out, creating a curled spring.

Stuart and Nancy should be receiving their gift this weekend at a surprise party. It is highly unlikely they will see this post, so I think it’s safe to publish it now. I enjoyed making the piece and it was a real honor to help Judy Sue express her love and friendship to this couple!

See what it looks like finished on the end of this post.

To keep up with new posts, subscribe to this blog (top right column on the home page). If you’d like to see more frequent photos tracking the projects in my studio, please follow me on Facebook and/or Instagram.

France (Marseille streets)

Posted on November 24, 2014 by Salley Mavor

One evening, before the restaurants opened, we wandered around Marseille in the Le Panier section of the city. The streets were alive with families playing and socializing before heading inside for the evening. This city is gritty and real, but has an appealing esthetic quality. I loved the pastel shades of the houses and window stutters. Every narrow street had a story to tell.

playful week

Posted on November 21, 2014 by Salley Mavor

April Prince, Judy Sue Goodwin-Sturges and Salley Mavor

I spent the week playing with friends, both real and imaginary. Judy Sue and April from Studio Goodwin-Sturges came to visit. It was so fun to have them over! Judy Sue and I go way back to my art school days, when she was my teacher at RISD. She is still inspiring and challenging students to find their own way of working. In fact, she makes a point that her classes are about “making art”, not illustration. She’s all about opening up possibilities! Hearing her talk excitedly about her current classes made me feel lucky to have had her guidance early on.

The next part of the week was spent playing with dolls. I set up my doll house and Pocketful of Posies Tree at Highfield Hall for their Holiday’s at Highfield event (Nov. 28 ~ Dec. 7). You can see more photos of the house in last year’s post here. My doll house is inhabited by antique Santas and a family of dolls from my new book, Felt Wee Folk – New Adventures. I just found out that it’s release date is Feb. 16, 2015 and copies can be pre-ordered from C&T here. And, when the book is printed, I’ll be selling autographed copies (with an extra goody) through my Etsy Shop. This is the 3rd year I’ve decorated the Pocketful of Posies Tree and the 2nd year it’s been at Highfield for the holidays. I’m always happy to unpack and hang the nursery rhyme ornaments and spool garlands. I hear that people who see the tree are disappointed that the ornaments are not for sale. But, I’d rather display them together as a group every year, in a place where lots of visitors can see them. If you’re local, come join the festivities at Highfield Hall!

France (Canal du Midi)

Posted on November 18, 2014 by Salley Mavor

Last month, my husband Rob and I went on a barge trip along the Canal du Midi in France. We were part of a group of 18 friends who rented 3 barges for a week. Rob put together photographs he and I took, along with videos of the trip. He made the film for our barge friends, but I really like the way it came out, so I thought I’d share it with the rest of the world.

France (doorways w/vines)

Posted on November 11, 2014 by Salley Mavor

La Redorte, France

Let’s go back to our recent trip to southern France. Among the gazillion pictures Rob and I took of doors and windows, there are more than a few which feature trained leaf vines and other plants. It was so odd to see vegetation growing out of the pavement, with no dirt in sight. I love the way a bit of greenery frames and softens the straight angles on the buildings.

Carcassonne, France

Mille Petit, France

Argen, France

Argen, France

La Redorte, France

La Redorte, France

Bram, France

Marseilles, France

Marseilles, France

new Ltd. Edition Fairies

Posted on November 9, 2014 by Salley Mavor

Ltd. Edition Fairies; Holly & Birch and Lilly of the Valley

OK, I’ve learned to never say never again! 3 years ago (in this post), I announced that Pansy would be my last Ltd. Edition Fairy. Looking back, I needed to close that chapter of my career, so that I could move forward and grow as an artist. It was an important and necessary step to take, but I’ve found that the desire to keep my hands busy has won out, especially while away from home. The portable nature of wrapping bodies and stitching felt clothing for these wee folk dolls is perfect for traveling. So, for 2 years I’ve been slowly working on a group of dolls, with the goal of eventually selling them in editions of 25. In keeping with my original intention of banning mass production work from my studio, I only worked on them when traveling, in airport waiting rooms, planes, boats, and trains. This arrangement allows me to have a stitching “fix” while away from my studio and there is no pressure to complete the set of dolls by a certain time.

For those of you who are new to my work, these fairies are the same designs found in my 2003 how-to book, Felt Wee Folk: Enchanting Projects. The long awaited follow-up, Felt Wee Folk: New Adventures will be published in March, 2015.

Well, the dolls are finally ready to show themselves and have been added to my Etsy Shop! Two editions of 25, Lily of the Valley and Holly & Birch have been created in transit around the world, across oceans and continents, including America, South America, Antarctica and Europe. The dolls will only be sold through Etsy with a credit card or Paypal, on a first come, first served basis.

What happens when these sell out? Will there more in the future? Possibly, but realistically, it would be a few more years before they make an appearance. It all depends on how much idle travel time there is!

Working on fairy tunics on a train en route to Toulouse, France

Lily of the Valley has blonde braids, a green wool felt tunic and a white flounced petal skirt.

Lily of the Valley Ltd. Edition Fairies

During our barge trip in France, Rob took this photo of me engrossed in stitching felt fairy tunics, while waiting for a lock to fill along the Canal du Midi.

Lily of the Valley Ltd. Edition Fairy

Holly & Birch are a girl and boy pair with dark brown hair and black and red wool felt outfits.

Holly and Birch Ltd. Edition Fairies

Holly and Birch Ltd. Edition Fairies

2 exhibits, many miles apart

Posted on November 5, 2014 by Salley Mavor

detail from “Birds of Beebe Woods”

I’m excited to let you know that some of my most popular pieces are included in 2 group shows which are both opening this weekend, one locally in Fall River, MA and the other way across the country in Arizona. Since it’s close to home, I’ll be going to the opening at the Narrows Center for the Arts and hope to meet some you on Sunday, Nov. 8, 4:30 – 7:00 pm.

detail from Rabbitat 2011

Rabbitat and Birds of Beebe Woods are included in the group show, ART QUILTS XIX: Permission to Play, Storytelling Art Quilts at Vision Gallery , Chandler Center for the Arts, Chandler, Arizona ~ Nov, 7, 2014 – January 17, 2015.

Click on this poster to read the list of artists in Art Quilt XIX:

And the other show in Fall River…

detail from Self Portrait : A Personal History of Fashion 2007

Self Portrait: A Personal History of Fashion and Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary (from Pocketful of Posies) are included in this group show ~ MODERN SPIN: CONtemporary TEXTiles in an Historic Mill at the Narrows Center for the Arts, Fall River, MA. Nov. 7 – Dec. 27, 2014. Opening Sunday Nov. 9, 4:30 – 7:00 pm.

from “Pocketful of Posies” 2010

Click on the poster below to read the list of artists in Modern Spin:

New wee folk cards

Posted on October 30, 2014 by Salley Mavor

A Wee Gathering

In anticipation of my new how-to book coming out next March, I’m excited to be offering a series of new note cards. It was hard to narrow it down to six images from the many project and inspirational photographs in Felt Wee Folk: New Adventures. (Update: Pre-order autographed copies from my Etsy shop.)

Felt Wee Folk: New Adventures 2015

A year ago, my husband Rob and I were busy setting up scenes and taking photographs for the book, which I chronicled in these posts. I’m happy to finally share some of the scenes, which give a glimpse into the newest wee world! Cards can be ordered from my Etsy Shop. Of course, the Wee Folk Studio watermark will not appear on the printed cards. They come in sets of 4 of the same image, or a 6 card variety pack. The new cards include A Wee Gathering, Winter Play, A Buggy Picnic, Beach Babies, A Family Outing and Mary Had a Little Lamb.

Wholesale inquiries from retail shops are welcome. Please contact me for a price list.

A Wee Gathering and Winter Play bring to life a variety of doll projects from the book.

Winter Play

A Buggy Picnic is in the book’s photo gallery. The book includes directions for making the little girl doll in the doorway, but the houses and insects are added for fun and inspiration.