Sidney the Sheep

Come see Sidney tomorrow at TNNA. We are in booths #302 and #304.

Some have asked what is Sidney made from. The small Sidney outer body is Suri Alpaca. I have attached a link that will describe the Suri Alpaca to you. The large Sidney outer body is sheep's wool. The other parts of the body are also made with sheep's wool. This includes the hand felted eyes. The black Suri's are much harder to find. There are 22 colors of Suri Alpaca and the black is one of the most rare.

Suri Network, Suri Alpacas What is a suri alpaca and history of suri alpacas in the United States, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, camelid family

Sidney: The work of artist Emily Barnard of Art in Sheeps Clothing. Sidney was created to give love and laughter to those who show love towards him. He smiles and is shy, but once he is with you the room lights up with joy. He started his life in Pueblo Colorado where he spent a good amount of time there until the year 2009 when Sidney and Emily met up with Bruce and Barb Feller from Portland Oregon. They quickly formed a friendship and Bruce and Barb brought Sidney to a yarn fashion show to model ten different handmade yarns. The popularity of Sidney seemed to steal the show and the yarns were happily purchased but Sidney was left all alone… there was just not enough of him to go around.

One day Bruce met a wonderful man from Peru who knew a family in the Andes Mountains way up at the 14,000 foot level. This man named Rufino was an artist as well and worked all his life to support his family as an artist. Rufino wanted to create Sidney to help his family and bring Sidney to more people around the world.
Rufino asked his two sons and wife to help. They began working to make more Sidneys, they asked a couple of friends to help. It took a long time to get Sidney’s smile just right. Rufino had to work tirelessly and asked Emily (the artist) if he looked all right. She looked at the happy sheep and said “yes, Rufino, he looks just right.

Rufino was pleased and is hopeful that his sons will continue with Sidney. You see Rufino is losing his eyesight and hopes his art will carry on after he is no longer able to produce it himself.

So now Sidney is happy and the entire world can sing the praises of Rufino and his family, for if it had not been for them we would only know Sidney from a photo and would never had gotten to experience the joy of his warm and fuzzy company.