Magical Childhood Memories

Along with the "My Imagination Poopsies" series, I have been working on some wall panels that have small snippet stories from my childhood. These little stories come from memories I have that, at the time I was little, seemed magical or really fantastical. The panels are made of craft felt, with hand cut letters that are then hand stitched unto a larger piece of craft felt. The process of stitching these stories unto the cloth has let me relive them in an intimate way, keeping them somewhat sacred in that they still have that sense of magic.

"And I said what about Breakfast at Tiffany's..."

I was recently substituting a textiles class at the University of Wisconsin Green Bay and was really inspired by a project the intermediate students had completed. Professor Gates, who runs the textile program at UWGB, had her students read "Breakfast at Tiffany's" by Truman Capote and then had her students make a project that was inspired by the book. I love the book and most of all I really love the movie. And I happen to really love buying things from Tiffany and Co. So, I decided to make a little piece myself that was inspired by these things. The cupcakes are made from hand dyed fleece that was felted around two styrofoam balls. The one with the white ribbon has a cubic zirconia earing in it and the one with the pink polka dot has a little diamond earing in it. Who wouldn't love a little Tiffany cupcake?

Felting Workshop at the MWA!

Students are preparing their batting to start the felting process.

Here one of the students experiments with painting on her piece of felt with the kool aid dye. It turned out so pretty!

Here is an example of a student felting three dimensionally.

This is my sample piece, a little felted Valentine.

I had a great time teaching this felting workshop at The Museum of Wisconsin Art! It was so much fun meeting new people and felting for the afternoon! The students in the workshop created some really fun pieces, especially once they started dying their wool with kool aid.

Cakettes!

Here are some of the Cakettes I have been working on. I just shot the photo in my office at school, so I apologize for the photography... I wanted to get the new little doo dads online! I love these little guys and I can't wait to show them in January at the Museum of Wisconsin Art in West Bend!