Stanislaus County employee’s tiny, hole-covering felt creations are Instagram hits
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Never in the history of carpet holes on the floors of government office buildings has one been looked after so lovingly and delighted so many.
A 6-inch square on the floor of an office in the Tenth Street Place city-county building in downtown Modesto has become the de facto home of Wonky Felt, a tiny art installation that changes with every workday.
Understandably unenthusiastic about the uncovered eyesore, county employee Sara Lytle-Pinhey decided to do something about it. Something fun.
It began simply enough with just a square of artificial turf. That was replaced by a little felt putting green, complete with a mini-golf windmill and her re-creation of Domo, a popular Japanese monster. Lytle-Pinhey — whose name is nowhere to be found on her Wonky Felt Instagram account — captioned the image, “And so, the felty storm begins!”
That was back in July 2018, and Lytle-Pinhey to date has created more than 300 felt scenes for the floor hole. All are archived on Instagram, where she has more than 1,100 followers.
There, visitors will see an abundance of pop-culture homages: the “Game of Thrones” Iron Throne and a dragon, the Central Perk (redubbed Central Felt) coffee shop and Monica’s apartment from “Friends,” “Saved by the Bell” scenes, John Milner’s yellow chopped deuce coupe from “American Graffiti,” the Millennium Falcon and much more.
In a series of “sad Jabba” scenes, the villainous slug from “Star Wars” burns cookies he’s baking, drops his ice cream, and visits IHOP, only to find it closed.
More than anything, they’ll see her protagonist, Mustard Dog, along with Domo and other recurring characters, doing anything and everything: grilling, sailing a pirate ship, attending Woodstock. Here’s Mustard Dog as a House “Gryffindog” student at Hogwart’s. There’s Domo as a character in “Alice in Wonderland.”
The craftsmanship and attention to detail are outstanding. While visiting The Bee, Lytle-Pinhey removed the top of a “Dr. Who” Dalek she made, revealing the little alien inside. It’s enough to give the impression she has been a felt artist for years.
The truth is, she’d begun making little felt Shopkins-like toys in just Christmas season 2017, as gifts for her niece. “And then I transitioned from that to making the original characters, including the hot dog. I wanted her to have toys that had elements that you could actually play with, instead of the little plastic things that don’t do anything.”
Lytle-Pinhey apparently made far more than her niece could play with. “So just having that bin (of felt creations) and not really having a purpose for what to do with them turned into (Wonky Felt),” she said. “But it also came from seeing the lawn on the floor and starting to add the little things to it.
“It turned into, ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if?’ That’s the whole key to this. Wouldn’t it be funny if there was a putting green on the little hole on the floor? You think, ‘What what can you do with a 6-inch object?’ and the possibilities are endless.”
As it stands, Lytle-Pinkey keeps a calendar of all the floor-hole scenes she wants to do. She can’t keep up, though, so the calendar constantly shifts ahead.
While she loves making her Wonky Felt pieces, Lytle-Pinhey said it’s time-consuming. She does the work at home, and on her own time, she made clear, and most nights spends at least two hours on it. “For me, though, that takes the time block that would normally be me sitting on the couch watching Netflix. Or I might still be sitting on the couch with Netflix on, but I’m sewing or doing something else.”
She’s so dedicated that Wonky Felt appears in the office even on days she doesn’t. For when she’s out sick, she usually has a backup and asks someone to deliver it to Tenth Street Place and take a picture. If she’s on vacation, she’ll leave a plastic bag filled with scene pieces and a card that spells out what to put out each day. “I’ll actually have the pictures already taken so they can see how it should be.”
She never kept it a secret that she’s the one creating the displays, said Lytle-Pinhey, who sits just 10 feet from the carpet hole. Co-workers in the immediate area knew right away, because they’d see her setting them up. It took some time, though, for word to spread across the rest of her floor and the rest of Tenth Street Place.
Now, co-workers crouch down to get a better look, take photos, pick up the pieces to examine the details.
Lytle-Pinhey has a unique creativity and voice that sometimes is lacking — or seen as lacking — among government employees, said county spokeswoman Amy Vickery. She said she relishes any opportunity to humanize government and the people who run it.
“I don’t know how she has the time to come up with these elaborate themes and spend evening hours felting after long days at work, but I’m so glad she does,” Vickery said. “What Sara is doing is brilliant and charming in the simplest way and I hope she can keep up the relentless creative spirit she brings to the office through these crafty little vignettes.”
The missing square of carpet has become something of a landmark in the building, Lytle-Pinhey said. She’s told that on rare days she’s not in the office at her usual time, people ask where the latest Wonky Felt is.
Co-workers also express concern about what will become of Wonky Felt when the carpeting is replaced, she said. “We get email updates about the carpet replacement in the entire building,” she said. “It’ll be happening, but it’s probably going to take months, because they’re going to have every single floor and they’re going to move all the furniture out of the way and everything. But it’s slated to be repaired at some point.”
She could use the carpet repair as an “out” to quit making the displays, but doesn’t intend to. Employees in other departments already are asking to host Wonky Felt, so it likely will become a traveling display, Lytle-Pinhey said.
The artist also gets inquiries about buying her pieces. Given that she has a full-time job, she’s reluctant to make a business out of Wonky Felt, but has given some her creations as gifts.
That said, Lytle-Pinhey has committed to participating in Mod Shop, the popular annual downtown market of handmade goods. At the Nov. 30 event, she plans to sell a very limited run of hot dogs, safety cones (also recurring characters) and other felt creations. “It pains me to sell anything, though,” she said. “I’d rather give stuff away, which makes me a very bad businessperson.”
Check out Lytle-Pinhey’s works on Instagram and read her humorous writing on wonkyfelt.com, which is billed as “A Behind-the-Scenes Glimpse at a Tiny Art-Installation.”
This story was originally published October 4, 2019 at 11:37 AM.
