Flora Line and her Friend

 Blog Entry: Creating Flora Line – A Soft Sculpture of Strength and Sanctuary

Over the past few months, I have been quietly working on one of the most meaningful pieces I’ve ever created: Flora Line, a fully jointed soft sculpture built from repurposed materials, wire, calico, lace, and imagination. What began as a simple studio exercise soon became a deeply personal exploration of identity, protection, and the inner world we retreat to when life becomes too heavy.

Flora Line is made from three symbolic parts — deer for grace, butterfly for agility, and bird for song. Hidden within her chest is a tiny music box, the heart of her gentle magic. She sings lullabies to soothe the animals of her forest, offering calm in places where fear once lived. Around her neck she carries keys to lock away the lost dreams and hurts of her forest friends, keeping them safe until they are strong enough to reclaim them. Her bag is filled with beads I handmade from dirt collected from the four corners of her imagined forest. She gathers them while checking the borders, making sure her world remains safe.

Building her body piece by piece became an emotional process of mending — each stitch a quiet act of repair, each wire bend a shaping of strength. I learnt so much through this: how to balance structure and softness, how to create movement through joints and wiring, how found fabrics can carry memory and tenderness. I experimented with wool for hair, reclaimed branches for antlers, old lace curtains for delicacy, and even stockings from Allan’s toolbox for wings. Nothing was wasted. Everything was transformed.

Flora Line doesn’t walk the forest alone. Beside her stands her companion — part horse, part eagle — a creature built for grounding and protection. Together they embody something I am learning in my own life: when trauma rises and the world becomes too overwhelming, it is okay to step into a safe inner landscape. Sometimes that place is made of imaginary forests, gentle guardians, and creatures who stand by your side even when reality feels unsteady.

Creating Flora Line has been a healing journey. She reminds me that resilience doesn’t always look fierce — sometimes it looks soft, kind, and quietly determined. She lives in a world built from imagination, but she carries the truth of my lived experience: that sanctuary can be handmade, that trauma can be softened through creativity, and that inside us all is a guardian who knows the way back to safety.