If you’re obsessed with birds as much as we are, you’d most definitely want to check out Paulina Bartnik’s embirdiry brooches. A master of embroidery, Bartnik dedicates her work almost exclusively to birds (anything from parrots to hummingbirds), hence the name “embirdiries.”
Based in Poland, Bartnik admits she never imagined turning her hobby into her vocation. Having graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, majoring in painting, she treated embroidery as a sort of passtime.
But with thousands of followers on Instagram, she soon learned her work had a bigger audience than she first envisioned. Her work – highly realistic – is based on animal studies, with Bartnik following carefully her image sources.
“Firstly, I make a shape from a piece of wool with a technique called dry felting,” she went into detail, explaining her practice in an interview with the Paperfolk blog. “Dry felting is completed by using a special felting needle to prod wool until it becomes the thickness/texture needed. I then paint with a needle on the felt, apply colors and in the end embroider finer details.”
You can purchase yourself an embroidered brooch (or hoop) on Bartnik’s online store (or tag your friend, they’ll know what to do…)
