Children just love fairies, gnomes, elves, pixies, wee folk, bendy's, pixies, trolls, etc. which is why their popularity has soared in the few last decades. They also love creating fairy gardens of their own, some simple and some very elaborate.
Their popularity is so great you can find thousands of examples of faceless fairies and fairies with faces on the web along with thousands of tutorials for making them out of just about any medium available. Some of the dolls are simple, while others are actually art forms.
Fairies, themselves, have been around in the folklore for thousands of years. According to Wikipedia.com , "Wings, while common in Victorian and later artwork of fairies, are very rare in the folklore; even very small fairies flew with magic, sometimes flying on ragwort stems or the backs of birds.[ Nowadays, fairies are often depicted with ordinary insect wings or butterfly wings. "
Most fairies have faces, but in the last few decades their has been an increase in the handmade and home schooling community for "faceless" and eco-friendly fairies. As a result there are a lot of tutorials out there showing how to make them. Here's a few I found:
One of the most popular types of fairies to make are the "Waldorf style gnomes" which are basically faceless or with very limited facial features.
On the Wee Folk Art website there is a Felt Gnome tutorial by Kimara showing how to make a felt gnome, like those shown in the picture to the left, out of a wooden peg and wool felt. The felt gnome is faceless.
According to Kimara they made these as traditional Waldorf style faceless gnomes.
If you would like to see and read the Felt Gnome tutorial please click here.
Wee Folk Art also has a Flower Fairy tutorial by Kimara showing how to make a flower fairy, like the one in the picture to the right, out of a wooden peg and wool felt. The flower fairy is faceless.If you would like to see and read the Flower Fairy tutorial please click here.
The Wee Folk Art website also has a Basic Knit Doll In 6 Sizes tutorial for making a faceless knit doll here and A Whimsy of Knit Gnomes tutorial for making a faceless knit gnome here.
