I was recently asked this question and it is a great one.  I create these darling little needle felted animals, but so do a lot of other people.  There are amazing artists out there! So how are mine different?  What do they offer you? 

Their primary purpose is to provide you with energetic support for your own healing path.  They accompany you on this path, a reminder, a motivator, a meditation buddy, an item that makes you smile, and yes, a piece of art to add to your home.

Spirit animals are easy to listen to.  They give clear messages based on their actual characteristics, and if you don't know what those are, they are easy to look up.  Since we love animals, we are more likely to listen to them, say over our spouse or parent.  If my husband tells me I am overreacting to something and to stop digging my heals in, I am likely to really show him what overreacting is (I am an Aries after all).  But if Butterfly comes to me and says "lighten up and trust where the breeze is taking you" I am delighted.  Or if I am spinning my wheels over a project that I just can't quite see the next steps, Eagle can swoop in and tell me to take a step back and look at it from a higher perspective, and then zero in on the details that actually matter.  Eagles literally have some of the best eyesight of all animals, and they soar high above everything to assess the situation.  

One of the many things I like about my needle felted spirit animals is that they are small, compact, and not very breakable.  While I love my Rufus painting, I also have a photo of one at my art table to remind me of his energy while I create art.  He helps me remember my goal and mission for creating energy art to help others.  If I had a needle felted version of him, not only could I take him around with me, but he would be infused with the energetic footprint of a humming bird.  I think this is him telling me to do that!

Once completed, I figure out the flower, gem, or color essence that matches the vibrational message of the animal, and infuse it through a special process you can read about here.  Included with each animal is a card that tells you the message they carry for you, and the essences I infused it with to compliment the message.  

​So now you have a physical art piece that you can take around with you that essentially radiates out the vibration of the message of the spirit animal.  Talk about being with you on your path to wellness!

You can look through the animals I have made, or you can request your spirit animal from me, I can and love to make anything new!

May find and listen to your spirit animal today,
Claire
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I create fiber art angels, angels that are an artistic representation of your actual guardian angel.  Here is the story of how they came about and why they are so special.

I taught myself how to knit to honor my Nanny when she passed as a way to honor her- she was a master knitter.  I am a decent knitter but one can only make so many hats and scarves.  My Mom gave me a kit to knit and then felt a purse.  I was hooked!  As I started looking at all the possibilities for felting (way to many hours spent on Etsy, I am not sure Pinterest was around yet…), I saw these darling figures people were making by needle felting.  And then I saw brooches of wet felted flowers, all lovely and talented.  I wanted to do this, I just knew it was my artistic calling.  But what to make that was unique?

I started making angels since they are such an important part of my life.  As I would make them, they would come alive with personality.  They seemed to be talking to me, telling what color hair they wanted, what color wings, dress, etc.  The more I made them, the more it seemed that I really was getting little messages and visions of what to do with each new angel.  At the same time I was taking Doreen Virtue’s course to become an Angel Therapy Practitioner.  It seemed that when I was “in the moment” with my art angels is when I could best hear them.  I realized this is because I really was in the moment.  All my focus has to be on making the angels – I am using a barbed needle and holding the wool as I poke it over and over in my hands.  If I am not paying attention, I literally get hurt.  Trust me, those needles poked into a fingertip are not fun.

This was a big key – being present allows the angels a doorway to get through this muddled, day-dreaming, procrastinating brain of mine.  I started asking the spirit of the angel that I was creating to help me, give me clear guidance on what to do.  Oh my!  They obliged!  I not only received the color of hair, wings, dress, etc., but now I had personalities and visions of what they really look like, or at least how they were presenting themselves to me.

I was still at the stage of creating them and then selling them.  The day came when someone asked me to create an art angel FOR someone.  Ahhh… I see now.  The light bulb went on!  The guardian angel of the person I was making the angel for was the angel talking to me.  She wanted me to make a artistic representation of her!  Taaadaa!  My healing art form was born. 

​As I made more for people, they were fascinated by my process and what the angels were saying and doing.  Everyone wanted to know the name of their guardian angel.  I have never felt comfortable with this.  One day a dear friend said “That is because they come to you in color and texture, not in name.  Embrace that.” I started to get little messages that the guardian angel wanted me to pass along to the person.  At first I thought I could not do this, that this was someone wanting art, not an angel reading.  I thought combining the two would make people shy away and not buy the art.  I was wrong.  It has now become the main part of what I do – creating an angel with a message for people. 

The more I make, the easier it becomes for me to see and learn about these amazing beings who are delighted that I am making little artistic representations of them.  The challenge now is trying to capture their movement, their glow, their iridescence, with fibers.  I may have to expand to new mediums to help create even more accurate artistic representations.  I am gleefully up for the challenge!

It became clear to me this Christmas Season that people have very different views of angels, whether from their religious belief, spiritual belief, personal experience, or artistic renderings.  I listened to a talk from an “Angel Expert” on the radio, I listened to how many times angels and archangels are mentioned in the Sunday Church service, especially on Christmas Eve.  I even just downloaded a book on the “physics” of angels and looked into classes on “Angelology”.  The more I try to understand them, the more conflicting human ideas I come across.
I admit, I am more confused than ever, but I am more okay with being confused than before.  As I was talking to people in my Art Booth at Armature at holiday art shows and craft fairs over this shopping season, one thing remained clear – the reason I started creating art angels in the first place.  I want people to have an understanding of what their guardian angel looks/feels/senses like; to give them a link, a connection to start their own journey.  I don’t claim that I can see physical angels or that they come to me when I call them and we have full conversations, but I do know that the artistic fiber art angels I create touch people’s hearts.  They strike a chord, they stir up a memory, they pluck at a heart string, etc.  So I know I am at least on the right track.  And yes, I believe my creations are talented and artistic and fun, I love doing them.  But are they what angels actually look like?  I have no idea.  What I do know is that they are what they need to look like to touch someone’s heart.

​In fact, I did not sell that many of my angels and fairies this season.  Sales were down on Etsy and at the shows.  I was having a conversation with a successful artist here in Bend and he said “they key is to find your target audience”.  Hmmm… That is a good question.  The people who bought angels on Etsy and the people who bought them in my booths had at least one thing in common – the angel was for someone special.  When I explain that the guardian angel I am creating an artistic rendition of comes to me in color, texture, size, personality, and not a name, it becomes a whole new concept to them – this is a truly unique way to connect with that angel and bring some joy-peace-closure-comfort-smiles-giggles to someone.  They don’t think “Oh, cool artist and art.” (Well, hopefully they do at little…)

So what am I then?  An artist? An angel channeler?  I guess I am both, but primarily I am a delivery person.  I am a connector.  I connect people with angels, hopefully lighting a spark within their hearts to start their own confusing angel journey.  So for my mission of “putting a guardian angel in every person’s home”, I am off to find the best way to reach my target audience.  Wish me luck, no wish me clear guidance from my guardian angels, I am sure they are exhausted from telling me and me simply not hearing them :).
Angel Blessings to you all,
Claire