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Erin Carlson

Specialty: Fiber

I create needle felted wool sculptures of plants and animals, often arranging them into whimsical scenes with tiny handmade props. Needle felting is a process in which wool is stabbed by hand with specialized needles until it packs tightly, tangling with itself and allowing for the sculpting of solid shapes. Differently colored wools are applied by the same process to complete the pieces with facial and surface details.

Erin’s Biography

Erin Carlson creates decorative wool plants and animals through a process called needle felting. Each piece is entirely unique and is crafted by tangling, condensing, and sculpting wool fibers by poking the material thousands of times with specialized needles. Felted wool lends itself to soft, organic forms and the inspiration for her work comes from a love of nature and fiber tradition. Having dabbled in many art forms, Erin is continuously drawn back to Fiber Art and the joy of creating sculptural work with natural materials. Her love of nature and a bit of whimsy pairs well with the texture and properties of wool. Erin’s needle felted sculptures range from realistic life-sized animals to more fantastical beasts and plants. She is always drawing new inspiration from the natural world and has begun to explore the possibilities of story telling and illustration while creating miniature felted scenes. Erin now lives and works with her husband and two cats in a red cottage with a large garden in Sewickley, Pennsylvania.