New Country Girl farm animal garland. ©2016 Kelly M. O'Brien.
Are you a cow person? Sheep person? Maybe chickens, ducks or pigs? A paper garland of tiny farm animals is just what you need!
They are 100% unique on the planet (for now) and you won't find them anywhere else. I've had the idea to do these for awhile, but couldn't find the right die cuts for the job. In my studio, I have a professional hand-cutter for steel dies, through which thousands of paper flower pieces have been passed for various paper sculpture installations.
When I was in the US over the holidays, I had a custom steel die fabricated to cut the animal shapes. Each shape is approximately 2.5 inches high, so they're fairly small. I kept going back and forth with the designers on details so that they looked authentic, especially the sheep. It took three tries to get enough fluffy wool lines for it to look right. Tiny details like the pig's tail and the chicken's feet were elusive too. It turns out you can only get the steel blades to render so much detail.
Custom die for the New Country Girl farm animal garland. ©2016 Kelly M. O'Brien.
Running the die/paper/mat sandwich through the die cutter. ©2016 Kelly M. O'Brien.
Where the magic happens. ©2016 Kelly M. O'Brien.
Ta dah! Tiny paper farm animals ready to be sewn into a garland. ©2016 Kelly M. O'Brien.
I recently added these little lovelies to my online shops. They are made from high-quality art papers in soft, heathery hues. You can choose from a barnyard mix, or an entire garland of your favorite animal. It's amazing what joy tiny paper farm animals sewn into a festive garland can bring.
New Country Girl farm animal garland. 102 inches long with 35 animals! ©2016 Kelly M. O'Brien.