Western week was the first theme week for Wonky Felt and also introduced a new character: the Panicked Cactus! With arms forever out-stretched in panic, I gave him a little expression to match. He’s seen riding the runaway minecart here. In other scenes, you’ll find him excitedly roasting marshmallows. Marshmallows may not be historically accurate, but it certainly qualifies as hysterically accurate.

The inspiration for the Western backdrop came from similarly less accurate depictions of the wild west in old western movies. …particularly when you discover that the beloved saloon and jail scenes are really just facades.

Here’s a glimpse into the behind the scenes during the making of that week. I made little patterns for myself to keep the scale just right.

Fun fact: I listened to Ennio Morricone’s theme song for The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly so much while making this scene that it now occasionally pops up on a playlist when Alexa auto-plays music it thinks I’ll like.