Brazilian artist Kel Felts creates felted sculptures of mice, which she has fashioned into human-like figures. These mice are portrayed as characters with their own background stories. They are everything from scholars to reporters, to princesses getting ready for bed. Through her work, Kel not only showcases her craftsmanship but also raises awareness about the welfare of these small rodents, encouraging empathy and appreciation for these often-misunderstood creatures. This is why her work is relevant to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of Life on Land.
Kel’s process begins with her selecting 100 percent natural wool, which is purchased from a local farm and dyed with organic dyes, showing her commitment to a sustainable art-making process. She then creates a wire armature that will allow her mice to stand up and have poseable articulated limbs. She uses the wool she had sourced to sculpt each mouse with a needle felting technique, where she uses a special barbed needle to tangle and shape the wool fibres. Finally, she creates clothing and wearable accessories for her mice from wool yarn, cotton fabric, satin ribbon, cotton lace and thrifted leather scraps. Whenever she has to create small miniature items for her mice, such as lanterns, tables, etc, she makes them by hand and paints them herself. Copper miniature kitchen wares, such as teapots and pans, are sourced from small local businesses.
Even after taking so much time and care to craft each piece, Kel also takes the time to write stories that bring her creations to life. For example, her mouse Vincent, who is seen sporting a winter coat and gold-rimmed glasses while towing a wooden sled, is said to be on a mission to travel on his sleigh through the cold and mysterious land of the North Pole to find one-of-a-kind gifts that he will then spread all around. Vincent is part of Kel’s Christmas 2025 Collection, and Kel creates similar timely collections all year long to suit the different holidays and themes that ebb and flow throughout the year.
Kel’s stories and craftsmanship can humanize her mice, which inspires her audience's interest in not only the lives of her characters but also of real-life mice around them. Here, Kel’s work helps people to understand that mice and human beings lead similar lives, sharing how they are social and intelligent animals who live within social structures akin to those that human beings live in, which begins with a small family that is part of a larger society. In truth, mouse populations worldwide suffer at the hands of humanity. More than 111 million mice and rats are killed in American laboratories each year, while glue traps and poisons inhumanely kill the average city mouse daily. Hence, the importance of Kel’s work, to promote the humane treatment of these complex critters everywhere around the world.
In a world that often dismisses mice as pests, Kel Felts stitches a different narrative—one of dignity, personality and profound care. Through her meticulously crafted felted sculptures, she doesn’t just create art; she builds bridges of empathy, transforming overlooked creatures into relatable characters with stories, dreams, and winter coats. Each woollen mouse, dressed in thrifted leather and hand-sewn lace, is a quiet rebellion against cruelty—a reminder that even the smallest lives deserve compassion. Kel’s work proves that art can be a gentle but powerful force for change, turning needle-felted figures into advocates for a more humane world, one delicate whisker at a time.
Find out more about the felted mice by Kel and their other initiatives by checking her Instagram @kelfelts or website www.kelfelts.com.