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A common thread for miniatures

Girl’s works are labor of love

Submitted Photos Top: Emma doing her craft at the SUNY Fredonia Makers Faire this past October. Above: A display of Emma’s work for sale. A needle felted gnome, bird and owl made by Emma.

Needle felting is Emma Dubois’ passion. To see her work is to enter the realm where imagination rules. Emma has created miniature replicas of her friend’s pets, a fire breathing dragon, little fairy people and even a griffon.

What catches your eye as you look at Emma’s work is the attention that she gives to very fine details. One brown dog is actually panting, curled pink wool tongue resting on tiny white teeth. Its eyes are so expressive and finely worked that they appear to have been painted on while the realistic legs are ready to spring into a run.

A pocket watch key chain has a windup button, Roman numerals and tiny hands. You expect to hear ticking when you glance at the time on this life size replica. The griffon spreads large wings consisting of single worked and shaded feathers, looking so real you expect it to take off at any moment with a terrifying screech.

Emma learned to needle felt from a kit she received for Christmas one year. She followed the instructions and went on to complete projects from needle felting books before attempting her own designs. During the past five years, Emma has adapted her felting skills to create detailed, realistic sculptures. Emma works a lot from photographs to create felted animals that look exactly like the ones in the photograph. She has a reputation for making customized felt sculptures of people’s pets and receives many commissions.

Wool is the fiber that works best for needle felting. The process of needle felting uses dyed wool roving of many colors, a needle with a barb on the end to catch the fibers in the roving and compress them together, and a foam block to work on. Thick felt-like pieces can be made and fashioned into many shapes, or the roving can be rolled into a ball and shaped with the needle as the form comes alive. This is the process for making birds and the bodies of the animals. Emma has also worked with wet felting where the wool roving is soaked in warm soapy water and then rubbed vigorously on a washboard or between the fingers.

Emma enjoys watching the three dimensional pieces take shape as she works. She explains that with wood sculpture, some of the wood is taken away to expose the form. With felt however, pieces of wool roving can be added until the desired effect is achieved.

A blue felted vase displays this technique of adding on wool fibers until the form of the vase was built up, then pieces of contrasting colors were added on to make the decorative designs. For some pieces Emma uses wire to strengthen the form, as displayed in a graceful heron with wispy feathers standing on one leg. The griffon is constructed of added on felt pieces thick enough to make the wings stand out. On the dogs and other animals, felt is added to the connections between pieces to make it appear smooth.

One nice thing about needle felting is if you don’t like the way a piece is shaping, you can just take some off and rework it.

Emma has been motivated to create more and more complicated designs through working with commissions. One of Emma’s first shows was at the Fredonia Farmers Market.

This opportunity became the creative inspiration for small felted projects such as birds. Inspiration is everywhere for Emma, even at the Farmers Market. For the maple syrup vendor who provides a weekly pancake breakfast for the public, Emma designed realistic looking felted pancakes complete with melting butter. Two of these made a unique set of earmuffs.

Although some of Emma’s felted sculptures can take as little time as an hour or two, the more detailed pieces can take months to complete, even years as in the case of the griffon. Emma says the process of needle felting is easy.

She spends this creative time listening to music or books on tape, her favorite being the Harry Potter series.

Emma’s felting won the Judges Choice Award at the Chautauqua County Fair in 2014. The heron and red fox were displayed in the Under 100 show in Jamestown. Emma demonstrated her work at the Maker’s Faire at SUNY Fredonia in 2016. Currently, Emma’s felted sculptures are currently on display at the Portage Hill Gallery in Jamestown.

Not a bad resume for a home-schooled high school student. What’s next for Emma? She plans to expand her galley exposure in the local area and study other forms of sculpture such as metal or wood. She’s letting her imagination take the lead.

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