FLIGHTS of FANCY...

At one of the Christmas shows last year I met Nikki Brown an artist who creates the most amazing miniature fairy shoes from polymer clay, each exquisitely made with such precision and tiny detail... And of course we fell into conversation about fairy wear, specifically shoes & slippers and the possibilities of making some from felt.  I had made some fairy slippers a while ago which I called my goblin boots (these now belong to Nikki) - I knew these ideas could be developed further.

So I let my imagination run wild and made these...

A pair of fairy slippers (or pixie boots) felted together in one piece from 

fine layers of Merino. Once cut from the resist and separated into two
 the slippers were individually shaped by hand. 

A pointy fringe was cut around each opening and the off-cuts made 
perfect little felt leaves to decorate the sides. 
I wanted to create an fairly free, organic effect with hand stitching 
using thick threads and simple bold stitches. 
The finishing touch was the soft green suede for the leaf shaped soles... 

While I was making these slippers the words of a poem by Keats I'd 
learnt at school kept going through my mind

"Ever let winged Fancy roam, Pleasure never is at home...
Open wide the mind's cage-door
She'll dart forth and cloudward soar..." 

He was writing about letting the imagination run free because in truth
the reality of life is so temporary! 

Beauty will fade away, pleasure is short-lived, 

it's only our dreams and imagination that are ever-lasting.

What better way to enjoy daydreaming and the occasional flights of fancy 

than by musing on a pair of felted fairy slippers!!!!

As we all know fairy feet rarely touch the ground!

These slippers are designed to be purely decorative and definitely 
not recommended for tip-toeing over mossy stepping stones 
and skipping along damp forest foot paths !

A complete fantasy...  

And another pair are waiting for decoration!