The Animal Kingdom Collection

They hail from distant lands & right in your very own backyard. They’re adorned with tiny crowns, sparkly jewels, and medals of honor. They’re one-of-a-kind creatures, all needle felted with wool fiber, and they would love to rein over your empty wall space. Or, perhaps overthrow whatever is currently hanging on your wall so they can claim their new kingdom in your home (in a peaceful way, of course - they’re monarchy, not monsters).

This new series was way too much fun to dream up. I’ve needle felted hundreds of heads over the years, but never any with royal titles. The tiny jewels and accessories were a blast to create, especially the 3D printed crowns. Check out this process video for the lion portrait, one of the largest animal heads I’ve ever made.

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All 20 royal creatures are on the website and ready to ship. I hope you’ll enjoy browsing the collection.- this was a particularly fun series to start the new year! Shop the collection here.

May I present The Animal Kingdom:

Lion: King Lionel the Fierce

Large Bear: Czar Ivan of the Northern Woodlands & Craggy Ridge

Snake: His Royal Highnesssssss Leonard the IV, Lord of the Rose Garden

Hippo: Empress Henrietta, Supreme Ruler of the River Horses

Chipmunk: Lady Isabelle of the Woodpile

Walrus: Williamina, Duchess of the Salty Seas

Duck: Archduke Webster Waddell of the Murky Pond

Small Bear: Bernard, Prince of The Foothills

Owl, Queen Olivia the Wise, Supreme Ruler of the Hollow Tree

Small bunny: Hazel, Princess of the Clover

Large Bunny: Her Majesty Queen Cottontail XXXIV

Elephant: His Majesty King Tembo the Gray, Ruler of the Southern Savannah

Possum: Penelope, Princess of the Abandoned Barn

Black Cat: Queen Snaggletooth the Curious

Blackbird: Bernadette, Countess of the Old Oak Tree

Mouse: Ingrid, Duchess of the Crawl Space

Deer: Reginald, Duke of the Cornfield

Black swan: Gwyneth, Duchess of the Emerald Lake

Giraffe: Gerard, Prince of the Tree Tops

Squirrel: Lady Sophie of Acorns

Dapper Den Collection

Here we go - the first series of needle felted portraits of 2021! I don’t make these very often but when I do I sure enjoy giving these creatures personalities (and some fantastic accessories too). The new limited-edition collection features nothing but bears, and they’re now available on the website. Hope you enjoy the collection!

I’ve been wanting to focus on bears for awhile, but this kind of series takes way more time than you might guess, and between the holiday rush and moving, there was no room for a passion project in the last few hectic months. Thankfully I’m coming up for air now and back to having creative time in the studio.

Fortunately I had a nice stash of accessories already built up from last year, so I rummaged through my tiny doll glasses, handmade pipes, and faux foliage, and came up with some fun backstories for these bears. Check out the promo video!

Introducing the all new "Dapper Den" collection featuring 10 handmade needle felted bear portraits. These are sculpted with dyed wool fiber and are one-of-a-...

Introducing: The Fancy Cats Collection

These cats are well-accessorized, they have names, and they’ve available starting tomorrow evening (5/6/20) at 7PM EST. All needle felted cat portraits are $85 per and will be up for pre-sale on Instagram @onceagainsam with free shipping for 24 hours. After that, all remaining felted portraits will be up on my website. Hope you enjoy the new series!

This new series of 10 well-dressed felines will be available tomorrow (5/6/20)! All cat portraits are needle felted with wool fiber and are one-of-a-kinds. F...

As you may already know, I don’t make felted animal portraits very often, but when I do, I go ALL IN! It’s such a fun treasure hunt to find these tiny accessories, brain storm features and personalities, and of course, name my creatures before they go out into the world.

Winter in the Woods Collection

My first series of needle felted animal portraits for 2020 is coming soon! I don’t get to make these portraits very often and when I do, they sell so quickly it’s a bit of a blur. I’m excited to share these 12 woodland creatures who are all bundled up for the winter season but I know they won’t last. I’ve got bears in hats, owls in scarves, chipmunks in earmuffs, and I had way too much fun putting together this little trailer that my husband helped fiml in the woods behind our house. 

This new series of needle felted animal portraits all bundled up for the the winter will be available starting tomorrow night at 7PM on Instagram. Follow @onceagainsam for details and a chance to snag one of these rare creations!

Follow @onceagainsam on Instagram for details about adopting one of these woodland creatures. As with my past animal portrait collections, I will be listing them for sale on Instagram and the first person to message me with their email address for payment gets the piece. 

These quirky felted portraits range in price from $50 to $125 depending on size.

Fun fact: my talented mother-in-law hand know those tiny hats! Aren’t they just the cutest!?!

The Return of the Animal Portraits

It’s been awhile (I think maybe 2 years???), but I’m finally bringing back my quirky needle felted animal portraits for a limited edition series! These sometimes-realistic and sometimes-ridiculous wall hangings range from bookish bunnies, to cool cats in hats, and my most recent favorite, a professorial beaver in a bowtie. The 3D wool portraits are large enough that I’m able to develop the head shape and facial details pretty well, and adding just the right accessory – a pair of glasses, a pearl necklace, a pipe, or knit cap (my mother-in-law knit some of these for me!) is one of the most pleasing parts of the whole process for me. Sourcing those small scale accessories can be a bit of a treasure hunt, but they sure give the piece personality.

 I’ve been making these felted animal portraits for many years, but only in short bursts, never in a continuous or predictable fashion. I take commissions year round and am always up for a special request, but I’m rarely producing more than 15-20 portraits a year outside of custom orders. That’s extremely limited when I compare to how many hundreds of wool paintings I make in a year, several thousand pendants & earrings, plus dozens and dozens of Christmas ornaments.

Each summer, in preparation for Indie Craft Parade, a major craft fair here in Greenville, SC, I typically make one small collection of the felted portraits, put them all out at the show, and they’re sold out by noon the first day, so there are no remaining pieces to add to my website. I don’t know why I even have a section for these on my site. It’s permanently empty!

Recently, I started to realize customers outside of the Greenville area (or even those in the Greenville area who didn’t attend the show or got there too late) don’t have the opportunity to purchase or even see the animal portraits in person. This year, prior to Indie Craft Parade, I’m trying something a little different in hopes of giving those interested a chance of adding to their collection. I’m going to offer these quirky creatures for sale in a brief pre-sale / flash sale on Instagram so there will be a short chance to snag one before they ever make it to the craft show (or if you’re local, you can purchase in advance and pick up at the show). Plus, I made nearly twice as many as previous years, so hopefully there’s enough to go around this time!

Hope you enjoyed this advanced look at the pieces available. Please follow along on Instagram for details about when they’ll be up for grabs in early September.

 As always, if you don’t see the exact animal you want, or you have something specific in mind, please reach out. I truly love custom orders!