Dancing Vulture

@dancingvulture

I like and do a lot of things! Here you'll find: fiber art - birds - bugs - nature - mountains - rivers - lifting - kitties

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Dancing Vulture@dancingvulture· 17d

My chickadees are done! Please enjoy my horrifying attachments via staple gun 😆 #sciart #birdart #needlefelt

Needle-felted Mountain, Boreal, Black-capped, Carolina, and Chestnut-sided Chickadees perched on felted branches over a painted blue background on a wooden plaque.

The horrifying back of the plaque. I stapled all the wire to the wood and it's real spooky

Dancing Vulture@dancingvulture· 18d

More chickadee progress tonight! Happy with the subtle background, and gave them feet lol. Next step - wait for the bg to dry, seal it, and figure out how to assemble the entire piece 😅

Dancing Vulture@dancingvulture· 19d

Started doodling and brainstorming my next piece, then got inspired to come back to my chickadees. Need to do some sanding so I can throw down some color on that background, but I'm pretty excited to get them all together! Bad pic is bad lolll

Needle-felted Mountain, Boreal, Black-capped, Carolina, and Chestnut-backed Chickadees perched on felted branches on a circular wooden background. Not finished yet!

Dancing Vulture@dancingvulture· 20d

Been thinking about them again... Brainstorming a piece to immortalize them. Considering a mix of embroidery and felting, but not completely sure yet! I think embroidering the nest could be cool?

A Great Horned Owl sitting on her nest, which was a previous Great Blue Heron nest.

A pair of Great Blue Herons on a nest mere feet from a Great Horned Owl on a nest

A pair of Great Blue Herons tidying up an old nest

Dancing Vulture@dancingvulture· 23d

How do I tell her I have to leave in 10 minutes 😭 Bobo is being such a cuddlebug this morning... All I want to do is stay with her, my chronic pain is real mad today.

Dancing Vulture@dancingvulture· 24d

Another sticker WIP! I forgot my laptop has a touchscreen. I'm basically finger-painting this 😆

A turkey vulture bust, wearing glasses with a felting needle in her beak. She is surrounded by feathers and wool

Dancing Vulture@dancingvulture· 25d

I've been using my 20(!!!!!) year old Copic markers again. Bobo is obsessed. Maybe she wants to draw some manga or something. Seriously though, the fact that many of these still have ink in them is mind-blowing to me.

A black cat (Bobo) inspecting my Copic markers

Bobo looking very judgy over my copics. I'm not sure what this face means.

Bobo sitting over my copics. She looks ready to start a project.

Dancing Vulture@dancingvulture· 28d

Oh hi I am learning all about digital art, please pray for me Definitely have to fix colors, and the halos around all the line art 😅😅 and give it an actual background and and and... This is so hard lmfao but I'm hopeful I'll get the design done in time to get a small batch of stickers made for IVAD!

A very wonky attempt at digitally coloring traditional line art for a sticker. A turkey vulture bust with glasses, holding a felting needle, and surrounded by feathers and wool.

Dancing Vulture@dancingvulture· Jul 2

!!! My @weightedwildlife.bsky.social turkey vulture came today!!! HE'S SO CUTE! I've never smiled that hard while opening a package before. He is the perfect pancake. Also his weight is just nice to hold and it's very comfy to lay under. 1000/10 stars somebody get me more so I can have a flock

A turkey vulture plush checking out Opal, a black cat. She is unphased by my shenanigans

The Weighted Wildlife turkey vulture plush on his side. Embroidered feet! All of the details are super nice

A close-up of the Weighted Wildlife turkey vulture plush's face and tag

Opal snuggling my arm. She's kind of like a weighted plush too.

Dancing Vulture@dancingvulture· Jul 2

Did my second training hike alone this time- beat my last time up by 10 minutes despite the heat! Treated myself to breakfast and now waiting for my PT appointment for my arm. Hope I'll be mountain ready for once this winter!!

The view from summit. Sun wasn't out in full force yet but the gap is beautiful

Dancing Vulture@dancingvulture· Jun 30

Finished my Yellow-headed Blackbird while waiting for my work truck in the tire shop. I would like to go home and have lunch now plz

Dancing Vulture@dancingvulture· Jun 28

Went on a Yellow-breasted Chat sidequest today. Heard em but couldn't spot em. Luckily this beauty decided to preen out in the open, so I got a few phone shots through my 10's ♥️

A turkey vulture perched in a dead tree.

A turkey vulture perched in a dead tree, preening

A turkey vulture sunning and preening in a dead tree

Dancing Vulture@dancingvulture· Jun 26

I present to you- feets! Feathers next. Also for your consideration- Opal in a hotdog bed ♥️

A needle-felted Yellow-headed Blackbird in progress

A black cat (Opal) laying in a cat bed that looks like a hotdog, lol

Dancing Vulture@dancingvulture· Jun 25

And with the completion of Ms. Woodie, they're done!! Just have to do some touch-ups and sign them. Holy smokes did they take way longer than I expected (smaller wings will go faster, I said 🙃) but I'm so happy with the results! 2026 has been the year of the Wood Duck for me ♥️ #birdart #sciart

A needle-felted female Wood Duck in flight

A pair of needle-felted Wood Ducks in flight

Dancing Vulture@dancingvulture· Jun 24

I should be responding to emails but instead I'm irritating my arm injury by working on my ducks! Mr. Wood Duck is just about done! Yay! Should be able to finish Ms. Wood Duck soon. Pictures don't do him justice 😭 I'm so pleased with all these colors and details haha. #fiberart #birdart #sciart

A needle-felted Wood Duck drake in flight

Dancing Vulture@dancingvulture· Jun 22

Was trying to work on my Wood Duck drake a little bit, but Bobo said I have a lot of cuddle time to make up for. Oh well lol

A black cat (Turbo, aka "Bobo") sits in my lap staring up at me

Bobo in my lap while I try to needle-felt a flying Wood Duck Drake. Sigh

Dancing Vulture@dancingvulture· Jun 21

Lifer! Chased these guys around Biggest Week to no avail, but got em this week while visiting my sister on the west coast ♥️ Took a nap after my red-eye flight home and promptly got to felting. #wip #needlefelt #birdart

A Yellow-headed Blackbird on the side of a gravel path at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge in Washington.

Dancing Vulture@dancingvulture· Jun 14

Made a little friend on river patrol today ♥️ Little Northern Water Snake! Saw em swimming with their little head sticking out of the water. Swam right up to me, cozied up against my cockpit and hung out for a little bit before swimming off to the shore. I'm obsessed 😭♥️

A northern water snake sitting on a blue kayak

Dancing Vulture@dancingvulture· Jun 14

Made some more progress on my Wood Duck couple today, and got them hanging properly (finally!). Bonus doodle of a "werewolf" doodled for my buddy's baby shower (reference to our many games of Night of the Werewolf over the years). #needlefelt #wip #birdart

A pair of needle-felted Wood Ducks in progress.

A needle-felted male Wood Duck in progress

A needle-felted female Wood Duck in progress

A very silly acrylic marker doodle of a wolf on a tiny wooden block. A text bubble says "That sounds like something a werewolf would say..."

Dancing Vulture@dancingvulture· Jun 7

Wings are attached!! Def will need some more details in them, but that's the most work on these guys for sure. Tails and bodies next! (And working on hanging- they're just held onto the door with a push-pin each LOL)

Dancing Vulture@dancingvulture· Jun 6

And more progress! I need to decide how best to hang them- gotta find good balance with their heavy bills. Pretty happy so far though! Gotta get that last wing done next...

A needle-felted male wood duck in progress. He's flying to the left.

Dancing Vulture@dancingvulture· Jun 5

A little more Wood Duck progress! I'm really enjoying this couple, they're so cute 😭♥️ #wip #needlefelt

Dancing Vulture@dancingvulture· May 29

Got to work on my wood duck pair today ♥️ Pretty happy with their little faces so far! First time sculpting duck bills. They look so silly right now 😭♥️

A pair of male and female wood ducks in progress. Their bills are sculpted from apoxie clay and painted with acrylics, while their eyes are doll eyes and the rest of them are needle-felted wool.

Dancing Vulture@dancingvulture· May 29

Today was kind of brutal, but I got to work on my next fuzzy birds (can you tell who they are? 😆), went for a run and got judged by my neighbor Red-shouldered Hawk, and checked on the wild blueberries growing across the road. Opal is waiting for me to wrap it up and come to bed!

A pair of needle-felted birds in progress. They look kind of horrific at this stage. Bills are sculpted and curing in front of them

A Red-shouldered Hawk perched on a power line. One feather is sticking out all funky.

Opal in pure loaf form, laying in the doorway to the studio. She sits here when she's waiting for me to come to bed.

Dancing Vulture@dancingvulture· May 24

Whew! Red-tailed Hawk is all done ♥️ Hoping he is well-received and my boss's son loves him! #SciArt #BirdArt #needlefelting

A needle-felted Red-tailed Hawk flying to the left. The view is ventral, with a visible belly band and subtle red in the tail

A close-up of a needle-felted Red-tailed Hawk's face

Dancing Vulture@dancingvulture· May 22

My Lark Sparrow is all done!! Possibly my favorite lifer of Biggest Week. Watched males show off for the ladies and I loved watching them fan out their tails! I've had some truly amazing lifers this year and it's only May! #birdart #sciart #larksparrow #needlefelt

The 2026 little felted bird gang: Snow Bunting, Timberdoodle, Horned Lark, and Lark Sparrow

The 2026 felted bird gang: Snow Bunting, Timberdoodle, Horned Lark, and Lark Sparrow

Dancing Vulture@dancingvulture· May 16

Tonight was the annual fiber art show at a gallery I once loved very much. The owner was a beautiful soul who encouraged fiber arts, community, and kindness. She was a huge inspiration in getting my groove back. She passed away last summer. Things have not been the same there without her. (C alt...)

I submitted my Short-eared Owl to the show. This year was in memory of her birthday and how influential she was for us all. I thought she would have loved to see this piece in person, since she loved my photos from the time I saw one last year. Well, my owl was hung without any indication of who made it. No tag, nothing.

After I brought this to the new owner's attention, he dug out the slip I filled out at dropoff, all crumbled up, and stuck it on next to my piece.
A lot of other things went very wrong here and were very upsetting, not just for the artists involved, but in Sara's memory.

Dancing Vulture@dancingvulture· May 15

Had a really great warbler-filled morning birding with some local folks! Got home and was gonna jump into packing for patrol tomorrow and then felt until art show time, but Opal made it very clear she misses me. So we're gonna sit on the couch together for a while instead ❤️ Note- wet chin lol

A black cat (Opal) sitting on my lap. She had water droplets on her chin because she drinks out of a people cup by dunking her entire chin into the water.

Dancing Vulture@dancingvulture· May 14

Speaking of Opal felting crimes, here she is in the act of making her little bed. Found pieces all over the room and out in the hall. Criminal...

Dancing Vulture@dancingvulture· May 14

One of these days I'll make a nice post about how much I loved Biggest Week this year, but for now have some WIPs that are getting me through the post-birding-trip depression 😭