Introducing... Arcane Opal

I've been making for as long as I can remember, but in 2022 with encouragement from my family and a little persuasion from a dear friend and incredibly talented artist Prince Puca I attended my first convention as a vendor. I was truely magical to see people meet my creatures for the first time! I cried a little that first day but in that moment I know I wanted to continue making little friend for people and sharing the creatures from my imagination.

At the end of a particularly difficult project making a very big articulated creature I managed to even surprise myself with the outcome and for the first time I felt what it was like to feel proud of myself! Now I get to be proud of myself fairly often and it's incredible!

I only ever came close to quitting before I even started, I just didn't have any belief that any one would be interested to meet the creatures running around inside my head. But I took the chance and turns out many of us would like a little friend!

My biggest inspiration comes from nature and thinking about the creature that could live in a tree hollow or just beyond the creek thats too deep to cross. My Great aunt Lissie gave me an encyclopaedia of flower fairy's by Cecilia Mary Barker as a child. the combination of that and her own beautiful garden full of vegetables, flowers, chickens, horses and even the reclusive muntjack deer had me out looking for faries and magic. My parents also have a beautiful garden with trees to climb and pea plants and onion tops to devour, Mom would hide things like teapots in holes in the stone wall for us to find little fairy homes. All the magical folk in my life cemented in my mind that every garden is a magical place full of creatures. Of course I was also influenced by all the puppets from the likes of the morbegs, teeny tots, and everything Jim Henson! It's so important for me to ensure creatures are tactile, I want people to pick them up and hold that sense of wonder in their hands. Some artists of note that have shaped me into the artist I am today ColourPopBrunette, besides being incredibly talented she is so kind and encouraging, Keira was was my market neighbour from my first ever market and she made me feel so welcome! TheDollyTub, she runs a beautiful shop in Gort, Galway called nine and fifty swans! Sue is a vintage queen, 10 minutes with her and you can't help but believe in dreams and the world is just a hint more rosy. Is it silly to say all the magpie collective members? Being part of this collective is my daily reminder that I'm part of a community and it really pushes me to give it my best

Oh dear, not really I'm still trying to figure out how to maintain that work life balance so if any of you reading this have any advice I'd really love to hear it!

I'd love to invite you into the world inside my brain! To make a huge sculpture of the world of my creatures you can explore in real life. I want to give people a chance to recapture their own sense of child like wonder. I'm not sure how I could manage to build something like that but I often brain storm it with my parents, they built the house I grew up in, they always have a project on the go!

I was lucky enough to meet Ava and she gave me a list of places to explore! I didn't get far, I had lunch in Momo's and spent the rest of the afternoon in the bookshop! I'll be working my way through that list as a visit and I'm excited to bring my Mom down with me soon!

friends who come and have crafty afternoons at my place you wouldn't believe how much work you can get done over a big slice of apple crumble and chats! Martachanart and Kreativetaz 💕

I'm most active on Instagram at the moment arcane_opal

Shop Opal's collection here!