About Clare Ballard

Personal History

I  was born and grew up in Essex, England. After marrying and having 3 children, I moved to Shropshire  in 1986 where I lived with my family for about 20 years. Now that the children are all grown up and having children of their own,  my husband and I made the decision to move to the West of Ireland. 

In 1993 I qualified as a Teacher,  gaining a bachelor of Education Honours Degree in Art and Design.  I studied ceramics, Photography, Print-making and my main areas of interest: Textiles and Design Technology.

I have always loved to work with textiles and have knitted since the age of 6!  Now three-dimensional, needle felt sculpting is my passion. My sculpted creatures and characters are unique and have a humour  all of their own. They are truly individual Creations.

Materials and Techniques

I use  washed, carded, dyed  fleece to make my felted sculptures. Sometimes the fleece is hand dyed to create a different effects. Each sculpture is created using the needle felting technique.