Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Guest Artist






The guest artist is non other than my 11 year old daughter. All of these were created by her. She had the opportunity to spend a few days with a felting friend, Denise, while Denise was doing an artist in residence stint. Denise makes absolutely beautiful felted creations and Mira really learned a lot while she was with her. Denise does mainly wet felting, which is something that I know only a little about. I never realized how little until I saw what Denise was doing. Denise showed her how to felt over a balloon and gave basic instructions on flower making. These were the results.



Next came the seahorse. Mira made a pattern, cut him out, stitched him up, and beaded him. He is 7" tall. Pretty impressive if you ask me.



Did anyone out there see "Finding Nemo"? Do you remember the Angler Fish at the bottom of the ocean? This was actually one that she made after Denise gave her a 30 second tutorial on wet felting one day a few weeks ago. He was made in white fleece and I dyed him red at her request. Other than that, she goes into her room, or the bathroom if it involves water, and comes out with things like this! She is about 10"x6.5". We know that it is a she because the he's are very small. Angler Fish females can get up to about 4 feet. The males, once they come across a female, actually fuse themselves to her and act like a parasite. But seeing as they are only an inch or two, it doesn't make a whole lot of difference to her. And she is lucky enough to get a permanent male to fertilize her eggs. Some females actually have several males attached to them. I bet that is more than you ever wanted to know about Angler Fish.



And lastly is her Dragon Snake. She worked on him for weeks. He is made out of Fimo, which for those of you who don't know, is a polymer clay that comes in many different colours and hardens when baked in the oven. All of the spots of colour were all individually rolled balls that were then squashed flat and then applied to the snake body to make the scales. Some of the colours were mixed by her if she could not find a particular shade that she wanted. I didn't even turn the oven on. She did the whole thing. He is 5"x3.5".

So, people, what do you think? I am sure that Mira will enjoy reading your comments, so say something, okay?

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mira! it's all good, wow!

Leigh said...

Wow, Mira, I am soooo impressed! You are a true felting fiber artist. Please keep it up and have your Mom give us an update from time to time.

Anonymous said...

Mira's father here. I have to say that it's wonderful to be father to a daughter who creates such delightful art and craft work. As Jackie said, she'll disappear into her room for hours at a time and emerge with these creations that are so precisely done it's amazing. She has had these great powers of focus and concentration since we got her an easel about the time she was one and a half. She has very nimble fingers and seems to pick up on how to do these things as easily as breathing. Definitely inherited her mother's talents. And art aside she's just a wonderful person. Can you tell her father is proud of her? :-)

Anonymous said...

The flowers are pretty,but the sea life is really impressive! And the use of color is pretty swesome, too! (Someone is oging to have a gallery opening of her own very soon.

f. pea said...

holy mackerel, your daughter's work is amazing! i especially love the seahorse. the snake is beautiful, too.

Cathy said...

They're all just wonderful! I especially like the seahorse and the Fimo dragon snake. I'm preparing for my first felting project... I only hope mine turns out half as good as Mira's felted beauties!

Anonymous said...

Mira's talent and creativity never cease to amaze me. :) The snake dragon is especially impressive.

Auntie Chrisebear

Anonymous said...

Wow Mira! I don't know how you did it! I would never have been able to make those - not enough patience. And the dragon was absolutely amazing!
-Anna

Anonymous said...

Mira, as always your work blows me away! I especially liked the anglerfish---I did a project in school once on the Goosefish which is either similar or just a different name for the same creature in any case I always had a fascination with the ugly little things---the way you made him, he's positively endearing---reminds me of my brother-in-laws dog: a cross breed with an underbite, so homely he's cute. In any case to stir up that many feelings and remembrances in just me, one person, not to mention everyone else, I think you've got a real gift and I'm sure you'll use it well, you already are.

Mia said...

Oh my gosh Mira! Excellent job! At first, when I was looking at the flowers.. .I didn't even realize they were felted, and had to go back and look again! The detail on the seahorse is amazing (can I have it? *grin*) I have worked with Fimo before and I know how tricky it is.... that Dragon Snake is totally awesome! How old is this girl?????

Erin said...

That is one talented girl! You definitely have a crafter on your hands. I love the Dragon Snake, it looks like a lot of time went into making that creation!

Anonymous said...

Holy Moly! I am jealous.

LaurieM said...

Beautiful work Mira. You are a wonderful artist in both creativity and technique. Amazing work for any age, let alone an 11-year old!

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