A Science Teacher Took Up Felting While Recovering. Now Her Small Creatures Sell Out in a Day

Karin Celestine is a needle felting artist and picture book author in Ebbw Vale, Wales, who makes seasonal woodland animals – badgers, hares, mice, shrews – under the name Celestine and the Hare. She was a science and craft teacher when she got cancer; unable to do her usual crafts in bed, she started needle felting while recovering, and friends soon asked to buy what she made.

Karin Celestine builds each animal on a wire skeleton armature, so it can be moved and posed, then shapes the body from sheep’s wool and gives it glass bead eyes. A small animal takes a few hours, the big ones take weeks. She makes every accessory herself from what she gathers in the Welsh woods and hills: acorns and leaves cast in copper, tiny ceramic mugs, plant-dyed cotton and linen, cordage from nettles and brambles.

Karin Celestine offers made-to-order pieces as copies of the animals on sale, because her smaller creatures usually sell out within 24 hours – though they are never exactly the same, since she doesn’t use patterns. She also takes commissions, often vintage clock case dioramas with a bespoke theme such as knitting or baking. Commissions take a few weeks, sometimes longer when ceramic or copper accessories are needed. She ships everywhere except the EU.

Karin Celestine sells about 90% of her work through her own website. Most of her audience follows her on Facebook and Instagram, and her Substack, with about 700 subscribers, is proving worthwhile for reaching new people as social media dwindles. She also runs a membership club with 180 members. One big craft fair a year and two galleries bring in new customers too.

Karin couldn’t do her usual crafts in bed. So while she was recovering from cancer, she started needle felting – something to do. Friends saw the animals and started asking to buy them.

Before that, she was working as a science and craft teacher. Getting ill was “a wake up call of how I was living my life”: she was so busy with work and family that her hobbies and life in general had taken a back seat. It made her think she needed to change how she lived, “if I lived”. She set up an Etsy shop thinking she might sell the odd thing here and there. It blossomed. Soon she was working part time at school and earning more from felting, and when a publisher offered a picture book deal featuring her animals, she left teaching to do this full time.

“I didn’t think you could make a living selling small felted animals, this was long before it became popular as a craft, but it seems you can!”

Karin walks the woods and hills where she lives and takes her inspiration from the landscape around her. Each animal starts as a wire skeleton armature, so it can be moved and posed – “which gives them character and life”. The body is built up from sheep’s wool, with glass beads for eyes.

Then come the accessories, all made by her. She casts nature finds like acorns and leaves in copper, weaves baskets from plant material she collects, makes tiny ceramic mugs from clay and dyes cotton and linen with plants for shawls and bags. Nettles and brambles become cordage for shawls, baskets and bags; shells, poppy seed heads, leaves and flowers become covers for tiny books; twigs become tiny pencils; acorns and walnuts become baskets and candles. Sometimes she is lucky enough to find an antler or bones for the folklore creatures’ staffs and headdresses. “The creatures are all of their place.”

The animals are seasonal. Each collection roughly follows the Celtic wheel of the year – the midsummer and midwinter solstices, Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasadh, Samhain and the spring and autumn equinoxes – and she looks closely at what is happening in nature to decide on their accessories. They are caricatures of the animal – not cartoon-like, but not hyper-realistic either – and she gives them characters and stories. “I have a whole world I reside in and I invite people to come into it too.” It is the wild woods in Wales, where badgers make coffee, weasels dance and mice bake cakes, the Elders live by the hedge and watch over us all, rabbits gather wishing stars and old shrews note down all our small joys. Sometimes she makes stop motion animations of the animals, just to bring some joy on social media.

Video: Karin Celestine

A few of Karin’s animals out in the woods and at home. Photos: Karin Celestine.

Karin’s buyers are mostly in the UK and the USA, mostly women aged 40 to 70, but she also has a wide range of other buyers of all ages and genders. She ships everywhere except the EU, which she can’t currently ship to because of Brexit rules. “People buy them for their houses and work places and some even just to keep in a pocket!”

Prices range from £60 to £600. “We all need small joys in our days. Having a small creature on your desk or reading a book to touch your heart does just that.”

Her earliest customers came from Facebook and Etsy, “in the days when everyone was on facebook and you could share work and people would see it.” Friends asked to buy her work; then she set up a Facebook page and an Etsy shop and sold there.

Today about 90% of Karin’s sales come through her own website. A typical collection is 15 to 30 animals, released at a set time every six weeks or so – about eight collections a year. The smaller creatures usually sell out within 24 hours; the larger, more expensive pieces and clock cases tend to wait a good while longer. Most of her audience is still on Facebook and Instagram. Substack is a recent addition, with about 700 subscribers so far: she offers everything for free, with an option to pay for those who’d like to support her. “Some do that, which is lovely and I say it buys me a bit of time to sit in the garden with a cuppa.”

The membership club began as a way to crowdfund her studio, “the shed”. The basic level gives access to the group, a member pack with a badge and a bar of chocolate, early access to collections and a live video chat once a week; higher levels go up to an animal sent to you on your birthday. Members get half an hour of early access before a collection goes live. The club now has 180 members. A lot of members collect her work, and they chat and show their animals to each other in a Discord and a Facebook group. “I love the community I have.”

The books came out of another collaboration. The publisher Graffeg approached her to do cards and calendars – she had met one of the directors through a mutual friend. Conversations about the stories she told of the animals while selling them online led to a discussion about books. They met at Hay Festival to talk over ideas, and Karin came armed with around 35 book ideas. It started with a deal for six small books, then another three, and then a contract for the Tales of the Turning Year series. She now has 13 books published.

Once a year she does a big show, the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair, which brings in new customers, as do the galleries she works with: Old Chapel Gallery in Pembridge and The Found Gallery in Dunbar.

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“Generally speaking, I have been lucky that most things I have tried have worked.” She misjudged a couple of merch items – mugs, notepads, wrapping paper – that just didn’t sell online, and has reduced them. One year she misjudged the shipping rate for calendars to the US and made a loss on them; this year she asked the printers to do the calendar layout rather than spend too much time on it herself. As far as her sculptures go, they have all been fine. She works with The Design Trust for business advice, which she finds hugely helpful. “I have never wanted to quit!”

At one point Karin got stuck in a style. People commenting on social media seemed to want it, and she felt she couldn’t move and adapt. Then she realized the people commenting were not the ones actually buying – and the people who were buying loved her moving in new directions and trying new ideas. “That was a real aha moment when I realised the loudest voices were just that and I shouldn’t be hampering what I did to please people who didn’t actually buy my work.”

Focusing on those who did want to collect gave her the confidence to branch out into the more folklore, nature-based style she loves doing.

Who: Karin Celestine (Celestine and the Hare)
What: Needle-felted seasonal animals and picture books
Where: Ebbw Vale, Wales, UK
Started: 2013
Audience: 10,000 Facebook followers, 7,000 Instagram followers, about 700 Substack subscribers, 180 membership club members, 2,000 website visits a month
Price range: £60–£600
Custom orders: Yes
Ships: Worldwide, except the EU
Channels: Social Media, Your Own Newsletter, Word of Mouth & Offline