Wool Teddy Bear Fetuses and Skulls- 03.23.08
“Wow.” That’s pretty much the best i can come up with initially to describe Stephanie Metz’s incredible use of wool for her felted sculptures exambining the anatomy of of the fetal development of teddy bears, and their skulls… and that before you even see her large breasted cow, leggless lap chihuahua, adorable bull dog and rabbits… See more images below, as well as an excerpt on her process to develop these intriguing creatures! I saw these over at DesignBoom, which led me to sweetest blog i can’t believe its taken me this long to discover, Street Anatomy… anyhow, see after the jump for more pics of Metz’s felted creatures!
I love the way she describes her process, must be fascinating to watch these pieces evolve:
Sculpting With Wool Using a Felting Needle
To make wool into felt I begin with cleaned, brushed wool that has been prepared to be spun into yarn. Instead, I interlock the fibers densely together by stabbing the mass repeatedly with a felting needle (approximately four inches long, very sharp, and studded with barbs). In order to shape a piece I stab the wool all over or in particular directions, compressing the surface and making the felt increasingly dense. The process is extremely time- and labor-intensive, as every centimeter of the piece is stabbed to fasten down parts, add mass, and tighten the surface.
I choose my subject matter in response to the wool itself, in a way. Working with wool has led me to explore concepts of hard and soft, starting within the confines of traditional sculpture subjects.
Also check out her mission statement about Genus Ursulus: Teddy Skulls is a pseudo-scientific study of the morphology of skulls of teddy bears here.
WOW
Ive made some tiny felt sculptures with felting needles and they took *forever*! I can’t imagine the patience and time they took.
Brava Stephanie!
----- landry 05.04.08 08:40