America’s Next Top Plush Model: Creature Couture by Felt Mistress

I’m going to go on record as saying that Felt Mistress is one of the most unique toy artists out there today. Every girl with an etsy account is making plush these days, but Felt Mistress is making soft sculpture. If that sounds too affected, I like to call her genre “stitch kitsch”. Not to sound too affected myself, but I coined that nomenclature in this interview with her here.

Felt Mistress takes great inspiration from fashion and regularly works in collaboration with her partner, Jonathan Edwards. Together, they bring couture creatures to life. Edwards illustrates in 2D, and Felt Mistress cuts, sews and stuffs in 3D. They recently opened a show called “Hey! Who’s That Guy?” at London’s Nobrow gallery.

Felty writes on her blog:

It was a great night, I had so much fun. Thanks again to everyone involved and everyone who came, and everyone who helped to promote it with blog posts and Tweets, and all my lovely friends for their support and to Kirk Originals for supplying some amazing eyewear for the pieces and to the guys at Nobrow for being great hosts.

Man, I wish I could see these in person! Luckily, we have the Instagram pic (above) of the elusive Edwards and G’goob for scale.

SCANDAL! That is NOT Nigel Barker above. (It’s actually Dan Berry.) And speaking of elusive, it’s no secret that Felt Mistress and Jonathan Edwards and I share common musical stylings (Hey! It’s World Goth Day!). And it’s also no secret that we share the guilty pleasure that is America’s Next Top Model. Further, it’s not at all a secret that I am an avowed anglophile.

Well I’ve got some Tyra Mail for you Ms. Banks! Now that you’ve fired Nigel Barker, Ms. Jay and Mr. Jay, here’s some “free advice” for future “cycles” of your “hit” show. First, bring back Janice Dickinson. Second, hire Amphibina De Lorian. Third, I’m available, and we could make it ANTM meets MST3K!

While my suggestion might not lead to insights like that in the caption above, it would definitely lead to lots of riffing on said insights. ANYWAY. Felt Mistress is amazing. If you can get to London, you should see her work in person. If you can’t, you can buy this double-sided concertina print featuring all the characters from the exhibition. One side shows color photographs of the Felt Mistress creatures, and the other side features their biographies and character sketches by Jonathan Edwards. It’s all tied with an organza ribbon and comes with a pin badge for £3.50 here.