Girl Savage: Feltidermy Queen

Oh, that little Hare guy above just kills me! One look and you already know who my super fantastic guest is today, her work is so distinctive, charming and original. Kate is the genius behind Girl Savage and I have been stalking her shop since I first joined Etsy. Grab a cup of something delicious, sit back and marvel at Kate’s wonderful creations.

Tell us a little about yourself, the media you work with and your creative process.

“I live in Chicago with my husband, two spoiled cats and one even more spoiled muppet-like dog. I’ve been creating things as long as I can remember. My mom says when I was little you could hand me scissors and paper and I would be happy for hours cutting out shapes. I guess I finally figured out to take my shapes, cut them out of wool felt and stitch them into animals.”

“I love working with wool felt, it has such warmth to it and can be made into just about anything. My creative process is sort of as scattered as I am. I sit and think, what do I feel like making today and then make it. I think I have a strange knack for picturing how to make something 2D into a 3D shape. I will take a side view sketch of an animal and make into a 3D pattern.”

From where do you draw your inspiration: music, books, people, nature etc?

“Most of my inspiration comes from cartoons that I watched as a kid and Richard Scary books, I was fascinated with them. I also draw inspiration from nature and folklore.”

If you could talk briefly about the background to one of your pieces which would you choose and why? Tell us the story behind the piece.

“I guess I would have to choose feltidermy. They came out of a request from a video director who wanted to know if I could make a deer head that was mounted to a plaque and could be used like a puppet to lip sync. Oh, and he needed it delivered cross country in about a week. I had to laugh, but it got me thinking about mounting a plush head to a plaque like taxidermy. There were not many people doing faux taxidermy at the time and none like this so I gave it a try. I wanted to set mine apart from anyone else, so while stitching the first one together, I came up with the word feltidermy. I ran to the computer to look it up and the word was not being used anywhere, so I started using it for my work. Oh and don’t feel badly for the little animal that lost it’s head…these guys never had a body to start with, they wouldn’t know the difference.”

Thank you so much Kate for giving us this fantastic insight into your work. I am so glad that the little disembodied creatures are happy and unscathed by their experiences! If you would like to visit Girl Savage you can find Kate in these places:

Girl Savage Etsy Shop
Flickr
Blog

Yay! Another inspiring interview, who is next I wonder? Well, as the ‘Monday’ interview appeared on a Wednesday this week I have to confess that the next interview *should* have been part of my spring/birthday week. For various reasons I decided to hold off for a little while but I am nearly ready for the grand reveal! You are going to love it I promise you. Back soon kitty cats. X