Embroidery / Illustrated products / Sculpture

Felted Peacock Sculptures Pay Homage to Their Brilliant Plumage

Jill Ffrench felt bird sculptures

Fiber artist Jill Ffrench crafts felt­ed bird sculp­tures that pay homage to their volup­tuous plumage. Using 100% pure felt, she stitch­es the hand-held crea­tures and adheres them with embroi­dery thread, wire, and wax. When com­plete, the soft fig­ures don orna­men­tal long, tails, which fea­ture a com­bi­na­tion of lay­ered felt and dec­o­ra­tive stitch­es to pro­duce a spec­tac­u­lar effect. (The detail shots are my favorite.)

Jil­l’s inspi­ra­tion comes from trav­el, and she spent most of her 20’s tra­vers­ing the world. “It’s mem­o­ries of this that I some­times think of when I begin a bird project,” she explained to MrXStitch. Con­tin­u­ing,

In Africa I fell in love with the col­or­ful roller birds that live in the Aca­cia trees. In India I was drawn to the bright col­ors of the hand dyed saris against the hot dry desert plains, and of course the stun­ning Indi­an pea­cocks that strut through palaces and temples.

Like many artists and mak­ers, Jill is always think­ing about push­ing her work for­ward. “In the future I am inter­est­ed in devel­op­ing my bird pat­terns fur­ther,” she tells me in an email, “and com­bine all of my work tech­niques to devel­op larg­er scale soft sculp­tures that can be dis­played in pub­lic spaces.” Yes—I would love to see these twice or three size what they are now.

If you want to adopt one of these bird sculptures, you’re in luck. Jill has them for sale in her Etsy shop, Fantails and Feet.

Jill Ffrench felt bird sculptures

Jill Ffrench felt bird sculptures

Jill Ffrench felt bird sculptures

Jill Ffrench felt bird sculptures

Jill Ffrench felt bird sculptures

Jill Ffrench felt bird sculptures

Jill Ffrench felt bird sculptures

Jill Ffrench felt bird sculptures

Jill Ffrench felt bird sculptures

Jill Ffrench felt bird sculptures

Jill Ffrench felt bird sculptures

Jill Ffrench felt bird sculptures

Jill Ffrench felt bird sculptures

Jill Ffrench felt bird sculptures

Jill Ffrench felt bird sculptures

Jill Ffrench felt bird sculptures

Jill Ffrench felt bird sculptures Jill Ffrench felt bird sculptures