I make my felt animals and other things in the hope of bringing a tiny bit of joy, wonder and delight to the world
Based in Glasgow, Scotland, I've been dabbled in all sorts of crafts over the years—drawing, whittling, sculpting, woodworking, felting, the list goes on. I love taking on different creative projects Trying out new techniques and ideas keeps things fresh and exciting for me. I work in my home which is a tenement tenement flat in Glasgow, with a fabulous sunset view.
Back in the early 1990s, I had a puppet and wooden jewellery stall on Byres Road. It didn’t last long, but gave my friends a good laugh. I did learn a bit about the challenges of selling handmade wares on a street stall. It kept be busy at least and I still have some of those old puppets lying around!
These days, I balance crafting with a part-time job in the third sector, and occasional freelance work creating props for a local community theatre group. Over the last few years I have been really focusing on needle felting, which I love. I have been mainly making custom animal portraits and Christmas ornaments.
I make small batches of original, handcrafted pieces. Some of these designs I return to, others may be one off batches that will not be made in the same style again.
I like to collect unusual things in my own home, and at Christmas, my tree is a collection of memories and treasured gifts that have built up over the years. My motivation in my Christmas decorations is for these decorations to be loved as old friends over the years becoming part of your own traditions.
It my felt pet sculpture portraits, I’m not aiming for hyper-realistic detail. What I like to capture is a convincing impressio.
While I greatly admire the technical skill artists who create lifelike detail, it is not something that I aspire to.
Over the years, I've been asked to create many different animals and II always strive to create the sculpture in the way the customer invisages.
In addition to my crafting I have been lucky enough to have an allotment for the last twelve years. This year I had even more teasels than usual and have harvested some of the seed heads to try and make some items for the shop. I’ve come up with the brightly coloured and quirky ‘Teasowls’ and now I’m trying to make a highland cow using seed heads so watch this space.
Being environmentally conscious, I always leave some leftover seed heads at the allotment for the birds!
