Punching a Pillow

For the first time in a long time, I have room in my schedule for a personal project. Believe me, I’d much rather be out in the world doing craft shows, teaching workshops, and finding inspiration at a residency, but this pandemic had other plans for the spring season. But I’m certainly making the most of this time!

I took a week-long rug hooking course at the John C. Campbell Folk School in the fall, but punch needle is something totally different (even though they’re both referred to as “rug hooking” in many circles). The traditional rug hooking I learned at the Folk School involved pulling up little strips of cut wool fabric (with a hooked tool) through primitive linen backgrounds, working from the back to the front. Punch needle, on the other hand, uses a large needle that’s threaded with yarn (or other material) and you push the needle through your fabric from the backside, creating loops on the frontside.

As a beginner to both of these crafts, I have found punch needle techniques to be far more forgiving, and I think that has to do with using thick yarn. It fills out your piece more neatly, and you don’t have to constantly worry that your strips of fabric are getting twisted or if your loops are slightly different heights. Punching is also significantly faster so you see way more progress in the same amount of time compared to traditional rug hooking.

I received Rose Pearlman’s “Modern Rug Hooking” book for Christmas and after reading through it, I was able to get right to work. I had tried to teach myself and make some pieces on my own before that, but was having trouble getting things to work. It was simple things I had wrong - I hadn’t purchased the right background fabric, the yarn I wanted to use was way too thin (or thick) for the punch needle I had, etc. However, after reading through the book, I could move on from all of those rookie mistakes.

I’ve been dabbling in some mixed media fiber art pieces, combining traditional rug hooking with punching and even needle felting, so this was my first large scale project that’s created from 100% punch needle techniques. This accent pillow took about 10 hours of work and nearly $100 worth of yarn and other materials, so it’s not for sale (I don’t think anyone would pay that much for a pillow), but I really enjoyed making something just for myself, for my own enjoyment. I know once the pandemic is over and we get back into our busy lives, I would never have the time to invest in something like this, so I’m glad I was able to do this now during this slower season.

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!

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.

Quaranteeny Art Show

I had way too much fun entering the “Quaranteeny Art Show” competition earlier this month. Everything about this contest appealed to me: tiny art, to-scale models, animal figurines. @tinyartshow is one of my all-time favorite instagram accounts to follow and they inspired me to go smaller with my needle felted landscapes. I recently launched a new “mini” landscape size (3”x3”). When I saw Tiny Art Show was hosting a tiny art show competition (during COVID-19 Quarantine), I knew it would be a fun & imaginative way to play around with my own art for an afternoon and more importantly, an excuse to make miniature stuff to go with it all.

I had my collection of 8 wool paintings made & framed fairly quickly. I’ve been needle felting larger landscapes for awhile now, so these little guys were done in record time. However, I needed a gallery setting and a scale figure for the contest, and that took a lot of thinking and experimenting. I’ll admit I wandered around the house for a bit, looking at corners, ledges, any flat surface, really. I finally settled on the kitchen counter because the white quartz countertop looked like terrazzo at the scale I needed, plus the under-cabinet lighting would provide semi-realistic shadows. I propped up two pieces of white foam core and mounted my tiny pieces of art work.

I decided to go a little further with my to-scale gallery. I added some pedestals and a tiny vase, and made miniature stanchions using dowels, red yarn, and thumb tacks. Now, for my scale figure. It HAD to be a sheep! After all, the art in this exhibit is made entirely of wool. I used a little lamb figurine I got at the Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair a few years ago (made by Collin’s Creatures), and set my art-loving creature in the gallery for a look around.

The collection of mini wool landscapes featured in the tiny art show has already sold out on my website and more are coming very soon! I’m thrilled with the response these tiny wool paintings have gotten so far and can’t wait to share more these with my collectors. Take a tour of the tiny gallery and experience the show for yourself!

Now here’s where a good thing gets even better. I submitted my work to this contest for fun, I encouraged other’s to do the same, so all in all it was a great time. But then to top it off, I won first place! I still can’t believe it. There were so many fantastic applications I actually made myself wait to look at what other’s had done until after I submitted my own because I didn’t want to get discouraged. The judges had their work cut out for them!

In the Season of COVID-19

My spring was supposed to be filled with craft shows & art festivals, workshops, and an exciting residency. Things I was very much looking forward and had been planning for many months just disappeared off the calendar as the COVID-19 outbreak spread across the US. Now, like so many others, I’m home, avoiding people and crowds, and settling into a new normal.

I don’t mind being at home, but it’s different lately. I’m usually working in my studio because I have orders to fill and shows to prep for, but now I have time for personal projects, organization & cleaning, and online updates. Beyond that, I’m also enjoying spending time in new mediums and learning.

Here’s my top 5 list of things I’ve been enjoying during this period of isolation. I would love to hear what you’ve been doing to brighten your days!

1. Read: I usually only listen to audio books while working in the studio, but lately I’ve made time (every night before bed) to read with my eyes. So far I’ve finished “The Dove in Bathurst Station” by Patricia Westerhof and “A Zoo in my Luggage” by Gerald Durrell. I’ve also started “The Late Night Muse” by Bette Pesetsky and “Little Weirds” by Jenny Slate.

2. Run (or walk) daily: I usually run 3-4 times a week, but now I’m getting a walk or run in 7 days a week, sometimes twice a day. It feels good to wear myself out even though I’m stuck at home.

3. Paint: I get so much joy out of painting, I really don’t know why I don’t do it more often. It’s so relaxing, even though I’m rarely happy with my final piece. My goal is to paint once a week now, and it’s a wide open goal - could be landscapes, could be botanical, could be abstract, and I’m excited to work in acrylic, watercolor, and alcohol inks.

4. Take A Class: I took my first SkillPop Anywhere online course last week and it was a fantastic experience! I’ll definitely be on the look out for more internet courses. I’m using this downtime to invest in myself and learn new things and I can’t recommend it enough. I typically take 2-3 art classes a year (in person) but now I’m looking to do one a week just to keep my mind active.

5. Make Time for Simple Things: plant flowers, bake cookies, wash the car by hand, sit by the fire, do a puzzle, kick a soccer ball. It’s been years since I’ve done many of these things, and I realize now that making time for simple things, for slower things, is good for my soul.

Although things are not ideal right now, I do believe they’ll get better. Personally, keeping myself occupied and making the most out of this downtime is playing a huge part in my positive outlook. During this time of uncertainty, I feel so thankful for everything I have. My family is healthy and safe. We have a home and staying in isn’t a huge deal (but we do miss eating out!). I still have my part-time day job, which I can do from home. My business has slowed down and I’m not able to earn much right now, but it’s okay because I have very low overhead and a savings fund, so this will not shut down Once Again Sam. It’s all going to be okay for me and my family. But what about other people? There are so many individuals and families who don’t have a place to stay, they didn’t have the option of stocking up on groceries, they’ve lost their job. What happens to them during times like these? I don’t know the answer but I do know lots of local charities are working overtime right now to help these people, and I want to contribute.

Now through June 1, I’m donating 100% of the proceeds from these new laser etched ornaments to Miracle Hill Ministries. 2020 will be an unforgettable year, and this ornament commemorates this moment in history, for better or worse. To purchase an ornament, please visit my website, and to learn more about Miracle Hill, or donate directly, please visit their website.

The Bunny Project Continues

Spring is in the air and bunnies have been spotted (both in my backyard AND in my studio)! I’m pleased to announce my next collection of needle felted animal portraits, a continuation of The Bunny Project, which is a bunny-only collection I started many years ago and add to periodically. This season’s additions are all portraits intended to be hung on a wall, and each bunny has its own personality. They’re all needle felted with dyed wool fiber, feature some sort of accessory that gives them character, and are mounted on a variety of wooden backers.

This week, I’m doing a pre-sale of the bunnies through my Instagram stories. I’ll post each one with its name, dimensions, and price, and the first person to message me with their email address (for invoicing) and shipping info, gets to adopt the bunny. The bunnies will be slightly discounted during the pre-sale and I’m offering free shipping this time as well. Whatever bunnies remain after the 24 hour pre-sale ends on Instagram will go up on the website, but they’ll be full price and I do charge shipping for website orders.

Have a look at the bunnies, pick your favorites, message me with any questions you may have, and get ready to claim yours this week. These bunnies are all one-of-a-kind, and while I can recreate some of them to a certain extent, there are elements I’ll never be able to source again (like some of the accessories or backing materials), so if you have your heart set on something in this collection and love it exactly the way it’s shown, please know I’ll most likely not make it again exactly the same way.

As always, if you have another animal or specific accessories, colors, or sizes you’re wanting for a needle felted animal portrait, I’m more than happy to do custom orders. Send me a message and let me know what you have in mind, and I’ll get back to you with a quote and estimate of delivery timeframe. There’s never any pressure to buy – quotes are free! If you decide to proceed with the commission, I do ask for payment upfront, and I’ll always send you a photo of the finished item before shipping.