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https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2026/03/wool-creature-lab-arina-bovenich-felted-wool-nudibranchs/>
"Among the myriad delights of the marine world, nudibranchs count among some of
the most adorable. There are around 3,000 known species of these often very
colorful, textured, soft-bodied animals. Technically part of the mollusc
family, they shed their shells as they grow older, so we sometimes refer to
them as “sea slugs,” but the name doesn’t exactly live up to their inherent
style. For artist Arina Borevich of Wool Creature Lab, however, these unique
minuscule beings truly shine in vibrant, felted fiber.
A decade ago, Borevich was working as a cook at a remote biology research
station in northern Russia’s White Sea. “I was surrounded by 200 marine
biologists and students living and working together on a small island,” she
tells Colossal. “That summer changed everything. It was there that I first
learned about nudibranchs—these impossibly colorful sea slugs with shapes and
patterns that looked like they came from another planet.”
Wool Creature Lab was born when, as a way to pass time and explore her
creativity, Borevich felted a few nudibranchs to gift to some of the scientists
who were studying them. She started an Etsy shop and Instagram, going with a
gut feeling that these little woolen specimens “wanted to exist in the world,”
she says. Soon, marine biologists and divers from all over the world began to
find her work, some of whom requested particular species, including scientists
who had documented certain nudibranchs for the first time.
So far, Borevich has recreated more than 40 different kinds, carefully
reimagining real, scientifically described creatures into meticulously crafted
fiber versions. She has an ambitious dream to sculpt every one of the thousands
of known nudibranchs. “Each sculpture takes six to 12 hours to make, so this
might take a while,” she says.
More than two dozen of Borevich’s pieces were on view recently during the
Xiamen International Art Festival in China as part of the
Ark Farm eco-art
exhibition. Support her work on Patreon, where she gives away a handmade
nudibranch each month."
Via Susan ****
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
