Finding a Style

I took a needle-felting class over a year ago and was taught how to make sheep -- standing and lying down -- because a. The class was given at the WS&WF and b. Xmas is perpetually 'right around the corner.' There must be a creche somewhere without a purchased ovine totem and I have the needles and wool to correct that deficiency.  

It's taken over a year but the idea of needle-felting something fun has been bubbling away in the dark recesses of my mind and I've finally unleashed that unholy desire.

My first attempt at needle-felted Day-of-the-Dead Catrina earrings was successful in that the eye-pins are the right length, and the sterling ear wires are easy to manipulate.  I have plenty of wool that is just this side of unspinnable and plenty of bits and pieces of spun and unspun materials. My ideas on hair styling work very well and I'm pleased with the little buns and soon (hopefully) Pompadours.  The one thing I don't have is a style. 

In cruising the Internet for inspiration, I ran across a critique of a painting of a Day of the Dead celebrant with Catrina-like make-up.  The critic blasted the artist by assuming he/she was attempting to make some sort of statement with half-baked zombie imagery.  The critic made much of the 'sewn lips' and the 'racoon eyes.'  It's a good thing several passers by left comments correcting the critic's under-educated assumptions, otherwise my google search for "Catrina" wouldn't have pulled it up.  It's also good because that's the main problem with my first earrings.  They look more like shrunken heads than Catrinas, which is okay of course, but not what I was trying for here.

I started with a different size and shape of wool blob for the second set of earrings.  I also started with an idea that Frida Kahlo deserves more than just standing on the sidelines while Catrina has all the fun.  The Braid Experiment was a success as was the use of dark gray alpaca for the eyes, nose and limited success with tooth definition.  I just don't like the skull shape.  And I hated the Kahlo uni-brow so much I pulled it off.  I'll use her hair styles but she gets to keep her signature facial hair.  

The second set are fun but I'm still not happy with the shape of the skull.  While there are plenty of people who are horse-faced and plenty of Catrina images that represent that homely caucasian bone structure.  I'm looking for the apple-head shape.  

I think.

Starting with cylinders isn't the way to go then.

Which didn't stop me from trying it again, at least to get a better handle on the tooth construction.  The third set of earrings will be more abstract in construction as far as shape is concerned.  I will be using more of the Catrina type paraphernalia to accessorize them as well.

I can see that there will be many permutations of these earrings as I work towards the style I want to use for each type: Catrina; Zombie;Shrunken Head.  I know there are enough people who are going to want these earrings all year long and so there will be no reason to force their construction into the two-months before Halloween.

The single most important thing about these earrings is the weight.  I love big earrings but they can be painful and disfiguring if they are heavy, and they usually are -- very.  My felted earrings are so light that they don't tip over this empty plastic cup.

 More Halloween later ....