WORK IN PROCESS

I am working on a special order for 3 standing angels.  The customer wants ethic angels so they will have dark skin and hair and colorful garments/wings.  She will give them as gifts to her elderly mom's caretakers.  For this reason I am using a heart theme.  She is grateful to these 3 ladies who care for her ailing mom.

I'm using a 3.5 inch wooden peg base from Casey's Wood Products.  Here I have painted part of the head brown, not for hair but for skin color.  I will use wool roving for the hair.

I have made a pattern on paper for the wings and garments and cut it out from 100% wool felt.  This felt I got from Mercurius USA.  They supply Waldorf schools and import the wool from Europe.  I notice there are also shops on Etsy that sell wool felt and I intend to check them out more thoroughly when my stash runs out.  The printed fabric is cotton fat quarters from Joann Fabrics.  They have weekly coupons for 40% off.

You will notice that the angel "dress" has hearts punched out.  I used a large heart punch made by Martha Stewart that is intended for paper but works on felt (with a little muscle!).  The magnetized top and bottom detach from each other so you can position it where you want.  When you have it in place the magnets hold it securely.  What a great design!

After painting the faces I glue on cotton fabric to the wood body.  I like to use a similar color which also contrasts so it can be seen through the punched out hearts.  Sometimes I just use felt instead of patterned cotton.

I will begin to sew and embellish the garment and wings with hand sewn embroidery stitches, beads and/or charms.  No two are ever alike.

I will show you the completed angels soon.