Soft Rocks Series
River Rocks
Artwork Details
Technique: Needle Felted Sculpture
Dimensions: 24" wide x 12" high
Collection: Soft Rocks Series
Availability: Ready to hang sculpture
It started with a bad little mouse.
An artist friend suggested that I try needle felting, so I bought a kit and followed the instructions exactly. The result was terrible. At first I thought I simply wasn't very good at needle felting. Then I tried making a starfish, this time ignoring the instructions and trusting what I saw in my reference photographs. Suddenly, it worked.
That was the beginning of my journey into needle felting—and eventually, my magnum opus, the "California Seascape."
The first piece in the Soft Rocks Series
A Head Full of Rocks
Not long after making the starfish, I was having a conversation with someone who jokingly told me I had "rocks in my head."
It was one of those unexpected comments that makes a lightbulb go on.
I started thinking about the phrase and wondering if I could actually make a sculpture around the idea. My first thought was a head made entirely of rocks. I had no idea how I would make it, but I knew where I had to start: I needed to make rocks.
So I made a pile of them.
As they accumulated on my worktable, I looked at the collection and thought, River Rocks.
And suddenly I knew I had my first piece.
Building a Riverbed
The rocks were ready. The problem was figuring out how to display them.
A conventional picture frame didn't make sense. The rocks needed something that felt more like their natural environment, so I decided to build my own frame.
Over the years, my father had given me an assortment of woodworking tools—a jigsaw, circular saw, power sanders, drill press, and more. I headed out to the garage.
I designed the frame to suggest the shape of a riverbed, with two organic, flowing curves enclosing the rocks. The irregular edges and warm wood became part of the piece rather than simply a structure for holding it.
The result was exactly what I had been looking for: a little stretch of riverbed, filled with soft, impossible rocks.
And Then Dad Sent a Scroll Saw
I told my father about what I was making.
Not long afterward, a scroll saw appeared on my doorstep.
That gift opened up an entirely new set of possibilities. The next piece in the series, Heart of Stone, would make use of my new woodworking capabilities—and from there, the ideas began to multiply.
I started making lists of expressions and phrases involving rocks, stones, pebbles, and everything in between. There were far more possibilities than I could ever turn into sculptures.
River Rocks was the first.
It wasn't just the beginning of the Soft Rocks Series. It was the piece that set the whole chain of ideas in motion.
About the Soft Rocks Series
The Soft Rocks Series began with a simple question: what if rocks weren't hard?
Using needle-felted wool, I create rocks that look as though they have been gathered from a riverbed, beach, or trail—but are surprisingly soft to the touch. From there, I use them to explore familiar expressions, ideas, and visual metaphors involving rocks and stones.
River Rocks is where it all began.
