In 2009 I had a horrible gardening accident. I cut a big chunk off the side of my left index finger, and couldn't work with wire the way I usually did. While I was healing, I made a series of loose wire sculptures and covered them with needle-felted wool. Here's the first one:

And here's a few of them hanging from the ceiling in my studio:

This one was made with cat fur instead of wool, and decorated with feathers:

The fur came from our beautiful Queequeg, who loved to be brushed. He succumbed to severe chronic pancreatitis in 2008. Feathers were one of his favorite things. He once opened a closet and jumped up to the top shelf to steal a pink feather boa that I'd been saving to give to him on a rainy day.

He smelled like beeswax. I wish I had more photos of him.