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Nannette Amsden

Nannette Amsden

Nannette makes fabric 'critters,' mostly dragons.
 
 
 

My 3-D art usually takes the form of fabric sculpture -- stuffed animals, in fact. I started making dragons and other 'critters' from my own patterns in 1991. It all started when I made a pair of little dragons as a silly Christmas gift for my best friend. Since then I've done everything from a leopard wizard (Hugo the Silent) to a cute-and-cuddly Lovecraftian horror (a mascot for the local university's RPG club) to a dragon dressed as Sherlock Holmes. One of my personal favorites will always be the serpent-dragon with an eyepatch, inspired by certain of Roger Zelazny's novels... And yes, that really is me in the photo.

I've finally started work on a critter project that I've been planning for more than a decade.  There will be 13 dolls in all, and I will have at least the first 4 done by mid-August of 2009.  At that point, I may have to change "mostly dragons" to "mostly dragons and cats"...


Favorite Fantasy/Scifi Books
The Chronicles of Amber (obviously!), A Swiftly Tilting Planet

Guestbook for Nannette

DateNameComment 
4 Mar 200445 Dennis Drury
I salute your creativity! After so many pages of pencil-sketched anime, your 'critters' are refreshingly different. Unfortunately, pictures don't really do justice to 3-D art, including all kinds of sculptures, but it's still nice to see your stuff out here in the 'Woods. It would help me to picture them in my mind if you listed the size of the critters -- that is, a 3-inch sculpture creates a very different effect than a 3-foot sculpture. But in any case you must have great skill in sewing. Kudos!

:-) Nannette Amsden replies: "I should have mentioned the sizes in their descriptions...Desmond is 13 inches tall, and Molly is 19 inches. The Dragon Detective is also 19 inches tall. Sandwyrm is 26 inches long and 18 inches tall. (I'm guessing on that one; I don't have him here right now to measure.) The Unicorn is about 14 inches long 12 inches tall. I do make dragons -- lots of them! -- the same style as Sandwyrm but much smaller, 9 inches by 12."
20 Mar 200445 Shaman_Queen
This is definitely one of the coolest sites i've seen so far! The little guys are SO cute! It's really great to find 3D art in this 2D environment. SO CREATIVE!
21 Jun 2004:-) Oliver Jöhnk
Your work is awesome! Very original and as far as the pictures show it well done. It's really hard to find a favourite among your little creatures. Your unicorn is beautiful and awesome. The detective is very funny and your little pair is just too cute. Your Sandwyrm looks great, too. Just great and I hope you will find the time to let your gallery grow a lot!
19 Apr 200645 David Smith
Love your work!
9 Feb 2009:-) Sandra "Morri" Hofmarcher
Lovely work, all of them. Always whenn I see such creative things, I want to try it myself, but until now, I never ever had the patience for it. Are they all hand-sewn like the sandwyrm? If yes, then I have to compliment you on your clean work ^^
I’m looking forward to see more of your work!
9 Feb 2009:-) A. Setliffe
You do truly gorgeous work! So clean and simple, which so often takes so much more talent to do well than more complex and ’frilly’ work.
9 Feb 2009:-) Nannette Amsden
Yes, all my critters are sewn by hand. It takes longer, but it is a lot more fun - and less stressful - than sewing by machine.
Hmmm... I wonder if a quilt inspired by a sci-fi novel counts as "in genre" for Elfwood... 2
10 Feb 200945 Jewel
Really beautiful stuff; Desmond and Molly are my favies. Can’t wait to see more. 2
14 Feb 2009:-) Thomas J. Doneske
Nice work, a refreshing change from the usual 2D, and digital. I especially like the Drayd, nice mod’s, you deserve it. Some don’t, in my (not very humble) opinion. Also, it’s good to see someone who really appreciates Zelazny. As good as he was, and as accomplished as he was, you’d think more people would be fans. I understand that he’s widely adored, it’s just that I always expect larger numbers of fantasy, and sci fi people to be more into him. The Jewel of judgement was a nice touch on the unicorn. Usually, I don’t like the main character of a story, but Corwin, and Merlin were my favorites, though I most identified with Brand. Being a redneck myself, I really like Zelazny’s redneck sage - like samurai warrior types, which would, I think, make a great subject for your next sculpture. I believe it would be a challenge, but something like Red, from Roadmarks, would be really cool. Maybe you could do a before, and after, dragon transformation (if Red ever figures out what he needs to do to metamorphoses).
14 Feb 2009:-) Nannette Amsden
I’d not considered making a dragon from something else by Zelazny... Good idea. Something to do while waiting to find a blue feather print fabric to make the serpent version of Shask from "Blue Horse, Dancing Mountains."

I’ve started on a non-dragon critter project, one that I’ve been planning for many years: anthropomorphic cats in various historical costumes. I don’t want to go into details - it is supposed to be a surprise for some people - but if I said "Nine Tomcats," would that be a sufficient clue...? 2
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nannette

Nannette Amsden

* User Name: nannette
* Page: http://www.elfwood.com/~nannette
* Nannette is not an Elfwood patron
* Joined Elfwood: Unknown...
* Last login at Elfwood: 2010-03-08 03:38:43
* Profile Views: 1204
* Number of written comments: 11
* Total characters in comments: 1742
 
 

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