'The Moonshiner' Update...

May 23, 2010 - Finally I have put the finishing touches to my  "Moonshiner" doll. He is now sporting a brand new felted hat and is having a long awaited smoke. Also I lucked out in finding a willow chair that is just his size. My little "Popcorn" is just pleased as punch (moonshine punch that is) to finally have all the comforts of home - including a miniature jug o'shine sitting by his side. It's ironic that the little wooden trunk is prison art and made by some poor soul who wound up exactly where the real Popcorn Sutton did not want to be - so much so that he took his own life to avoid going there.

Original Post...

This is "The Moonshiner"  but my friends call him "Popcorn" because he was inspired by the late great, the last one of his breed, the Appalachian moonshiner Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton.

My "Popcorn" is about 10 inches tall and made entirely of 100% wool fiber using needle and wet felting techniques.

I found his rocking chair at a local flea market. The real "Popcorn" preferred a handmade willow chair - difficult to find in doll sizes.

My "Moonshiner" is content to while away the hours in his wooden rocker and dream of days gone by and things that were and things that might have been.

I will likely add a couple more things to this mountain guy's attire...a Fedora hat for his head and a cigarette for his hand...and maybe, just maybe, a Mason jar full of moonshine to sit by his side. The real Popcorn Sutton apparently chain smoked for I’ve yet to see a photo or video of him without a lit cigarette either clutched between the thumb and middle finger of his right hand or dangling from his lips when his hands were otherwise occupied. His hat and smoke were his secondary icons...the number one being the ‘shine he made.

The Moonshiner is Doll #3 in the Familiar Others Series.