I’ve been wanting to needle felt Humpty Dumpty for a long time; I saw the kid’s movie Puss in Boots the other day and all the cute fairy tale characters in the movie inspired me to finally make him. I didn’t have a detailed image of Humpty in my mind before I started him, I just knew that he should look like he just stepped out of the pages of Mother Goose’s nursery rhymes.
I also imagined that my Humpty would be living his life to the fullest, taking chances and not always taking the “safe road”. I wanted Humpty to balance on the wall he’s so famously known to be sitting on. How did he just fall off a wall while sitting there; he doesn’t really look athletic to me, but really! So my Humpty is walking along his wall, dancing, moving and balancing.
Of course the face is my favorite part of the doll, I’ve come to the conclusion that one of my next projects should be needle felting a “portrait” or bust of a real person to see how close I can come to achieving a likeness. Portraits were one of my favorite things to draw and paint; I haven’t done one in quite a long time.
My kids think my Humpty Dumpty is “creepy”, but then they think all dolls that don’t look young and storybook beautiful are ugly. I asked them to imagine who this guy is, what does he do for a living and why is is cavorting on a stone wall! I think Humpty looks kind and is probably an eccentric. What do you think?
Humpty Dumpty is needle felted from wool. He has glass eyes. He stands 11″ tall x 4.5″ wide.