Some of us are serial monagamists, sometimes some of us eat cereal and beer for dinner, and more than a few things have serial numbers as well as serial ports. I am a serial artist. Or as Emilie Wapnick terms it, a “multipotentialite”. I suspect most miniaturists are.
At the 1975 GRAMMY Awards, when the impossibly fabulous David Bowie addressed the audience, “Ladies and gentlemen… and others…” something zigged and integrated in my awareness about all the way things could be. I remembered his words when I recently came across Jessica Peill-Meininghaus’ The Gnome Project, an engaging book chronicling “one woman’s wild and woolly adventure” making a needle felted gnome every day, for a year.
For a year!?…
Of course I had to see what this was about. I had a bunch of wool roving, chenille stems and felting needles on hand from other (abandoned) attempts — I wasn’t instantly as good as Victor Dubrovsky, for instance — and Jessica’s gnomes looked doable-enough.
I learned a lot from making the first one, dubbed Gnome001. Like needle felting is very, very repetitive and stabby.
And even more on the second one, Gnome002. Needle felting can be very, very painful, stabby sharp and barbed. And as Keli added: bleedy.
These two took me what seems like a disproportionally looong time to make over the course of two days. How a woman with four children at home made one gnome every day for a year is beyond me.
Last night, because of Hallowe’en champagne, they got braids :)
I have a Scandinavian tomten and nisse heritage, plus my elemental preference is more elven :) so I want to make these guys more my own “other”. Thinner, with ears, and boots.
Here’s the beginnings of GnomeOther003. Wish me inspiration, patience, an accelerated learning curve, and financially appropriate amounts of time?
Also: This year’s raccoons are total hooligans!
nancyland.com 
Sooo adorable! Until recently one of my neighbours looked exactly like Gnome 002, although in all fairness it was an undercover disguise ‘Multipotentialite’ – is that what we used to call a ‘Renaissance’ person? (I’m a Jack of all trades, master of none.) I never cease to be amazed by your work.
Hah, thanks, BW! I think those are all “nice” terms for restless with no stick-to-ativeness. Emilie’s TED Talk rang all kinds of recognition bells for me, as did “The Gnome Project”.
I prefer the term multi-disciplined…primarily because I enjoy the homonym.
Stabby is a very good word to describe needle felting…as are ouchy and bleedy, which is why I haven’t pulled my basket of felting supplies off the shelf in years.
The gnomes are cute, and I enjoyed the journey you sent me on with the links. It’s nice to have a fresh start to a new day.
Glad you liked the backstories, Keli. I’m still giving needle felting a try. It’s a small enough project I can keep it on my work desk for random stabby breaks. My goal is to get good enough to make passable 1:12 animals. All the gnomes and others will be given away because I don’t want them to gang up on me :)
I am polycraftual as it’s the different disciplines I’m drawn to and not so much the multiple variations within each — a fancy way of saying I have many WiPs too.
Nisse/tomten/gnomes make up the majority of our holiday decorations (mushrooms too) so I’m delighted to see your progress on these. One a day does seem ridiculously ambitious but it must go faster the more one practices.
I have to think that too, Christina, both the production rate and improvement through practice. I like your term “polycraftual” = WiP x
They’re so cute-I like the braids! Thank you for making them gnomes rather than elves. It’s way too early for me to start thinking of elves.
Thank you, Cyd. Would it help if you thought of elves as year ’round helper citizens?