a life of felt

Posts Tagged ‘past workshops’

« Older Entries

Felt pictures

Saturday, May 18th, 2013

Not mine you understand, the work of a small group of students this week. The day began with me thinking it would be a very small group, just me and Tanya in fact but then, Anthea and Ros turned up and the day got quite lively. It’s a shame Delia was unable to join us as I do think she’d have had fun. We set the world to rights, squealed with laughter at things discussed at the school gates, drank tea, ate biscuits and held a group discussion about a Chattel house.

Oh, I suppose you want to see what people made. Well first up is this calm blue offering from Ros who was attracted to the repeated arch theme.

IMG_4858

It was Ros’s first ever piece of felt and she managed very well, it’s not always easy working in a single colour but this works for me. Below, is the first piece by Tanya who was attracted by the shape of the leaf and has every intention of using this as a base for embroidery. Tanya was the first to use a resist and you can see the inner part of the leaf stands proud from the background.

IMG_4861

Ros’s second piece is another piece of felt destined to be embellished.

IMG_4859

It’s in bright, happy colours, not that Ros knows where it will go as she doesn’t have these colours in any rooms at home but the colours just called to her. I think it was Tanya  who suggested it would make a lovely table mat.

Tanya’s second felt is based on a flower and again features 3D work. It’s a real shame I can’t show it to you finished because I’m sure it’s going to be spectacular. After making felt rolls to be added when the work is dry, Tanya made more felt rolls which were attached during wet felting.

IMG_4862

The curly bits are Teeswater curls and the orange just sings our against the blue. I do hope Tanya remembers to send a photo when it’s finished. Anthea came with a theme in mind, a Chattel house. After making pre-felt in pink (house), grey (roof) and green (shutters) we held a group discussion about the building.

IMG_4856

I know you can’t see it. Anthea was very unhappy about how it looked, it would have needed some later embellishment to help seat it in the picture and knowing herself well enough that it would never be finished, the house was, with group consensus, removed. However. her addition of a figure on the shore was inspired.

Drawing further inspiration from Tanya’s leaf, resists were used under two of the palm tree leaves to allow them to hang free of the background. You can just see coconuts underneath one of the leaves. I should have taken a picture of the stripey pre-felt Anthea intended to use for the house shutters as she swears she’s going to make it into a courgette!

 

 

  • Share/Bookmark
Tags: ,
Posted in past workshops | No Comments »

Bag workshop

Thursday, March 14th, 2013

The photos for this blog are courtesy of Lesley and Stephanie. I know you’re all now thinking that I forgot my camera yet again but honest I didn’t. This time it was the SD card which wouldn’t work. When I got home Hubby temporarily sorted it with the addition of some sellotape but I fear I need a new card. So, without more ado, the reveal.

DSC_0273

This time we were working in Jacob fibres for the main body of the bag with any colour being supplied by Merino or other embellishments. Above you can see that Denise has added coloured wool nepps and curly kid Mohair. Below, Sylvia, has added Mohair, merino and some soyabean I think.

DSC_0281

Pam has added coloured wool nepps, curly kid mohair and soyabean fibres. The nepps and the mohair were very popular that day and they do make attractive decorations. The grey and the black Jacob fibres really show off the additions well and make these bags to use with any outfit.

DSC_0284

Next up is a tote style bag from Jean. The wiggly lines are yarn, pink spots are Merino, blue spots are dyed Ramie noil and yes, some coloured wool nepps as well. The wiggly yarn really gives the bag life.

DSC_0257

Lesley went for full on impact and achieved it brilliantly through the addition of bright purple Merino and dyed Teeswater curls. The flap was stretched to exaggerate it’s width and make a feature of it.

DSC_0286

Stephanie chose to go for a round bag and came prepared with some angelina fibres which have added a little sparkle to the bag with the remainder of the colour provided by Merino and dyed Teeswater curls. I know she’s now gone on to subtly stitch right across the surface of the bag which has just added to its charms

JacobMerinoBag

That concludes another great workshop. Where are my manners?  Thank you for all your help setting up and clearing away ladies, many hands do indeed make light work.

 

  • Share/Bookmark
Tags: , ,
Posted in past workshops | No Comments »

Warm, comfy slippers

Friday, February 15th, 2013

I ran a slipper making workshop last week and forgot to take my camera along so these pictures come courtesy of Lesley.

lesley

India was accompanied by her daughters so help with the final shaping was very forthcoming.

DSC_0106

We used a variety of wools that day including BFL, Shetland and Norwegian and the results are brilliant although I’m sorry to say we haven’t captured all of them. One day maybe I won’t forget things.

 

  • Share/Bookmark
Tags: ,
Posted in past workshops | No Comments »

Layering

Wednesday, February 13th, 2013

The layering and pleating workshop went well but unfortunately I can’t show you any of the pleated items. We made them in single colours and by the end of the day it was too dark and wet for me to get good photos. The pictures below are of on method of layering to create colour / textural effects.

IMG_4112

The darker shade behind and providing a narrow border worked very well for Mich and is destined to become a cushion.

IMG_4117

The lovely cutwork in this by Liz is very effective in showing off the multiple colours behind.

IMG_4113

This was an interesting effect from Pauline where the cut felt was laid back rather than removed, the intention being to do more and create a flower effect.

IMG_4116

Edna went for diagonal areas across her felt where she cut random shapes reminiscent of markings on giraffes. This was made with a friend in mind and is the first felt Edna has ever created – didn’t she do well!

  • Share/Bookmark
Tags: ,
Posted in past workshops | No Comments »

It’s a wrap

Tuesday, November 6th, 2012

On Saturday we were creating nuno wraps using cotton muslin and Merino wool. I like to begin scarf workshops with a sample piece to allow people the opportunity to try out a few ideas before implementing them on the wrap. The cotton lengths we used were 70cm x 200cm

The blue scarf is by Jean with a lovely wiggly edge and some brilliant texture on the back.  Th darker maroon/plum is by Ruth. The dark colour worked very well with the white cotton and the white wool nepps and silk highlights.

Jeni was the only one who chose to cover the whole of the cotton with wool in two very very fine layers with a few additions of tussah silk and mulberry silk noil.The finished item looked like a night sky. The bright yellow one  by Wendy  had pre-felt circles with explosions of brightly coloured wool. Wendy  is the only person who chose to significantly change the edge of the wrap by cutting it rounded.

The wrap on the left is by Katherine  and was created using, blue, black and pink wool.  Katherine  wanted less solid broken lines and carded her fibres before laying out. The musln in the centre of some of the circles was cut away and looked really effective. Helen had a bit of a crisis of colour during laying out but overcame her problem and went on to flip the wrap and add a little extra decoration on the other side which worked very well. You’d never guess that they’d never made felt before.

Kelly chose to include Teeswater curls and happily they all stuck and looked fantastic with the curvy sea green lines giving extra interest. Kelly is another new felter but you can’t tell can you? Anne  made green pre-felt which she then cut into leaf shapes, many of which she used to adorn the edge of the wrap and give it a broken outline. Laid flat on a table doesn’t show the wraps to their best advantage but they were rather wet for wearing.

I know I always say what a great group and what a good time I had but it’s absolutely true. People helped setting up, Jean finished a little early and washed up, people helped each other to finish off their wraps and everyone helped with clearing up. It was the fastest clear up ever, thank you all.

 

 

  • Share/Bookmark
Tags: , ,
Posted in past workshops | 1 Comment »

Flower workshop

Monday, October 8th, 2012

The flower workshop is one of the most prolific workshops, hang on, no, it is the most prolific workshop I run. Judge for yourself.

This particular workshop was also one of the noisiest for a long time but what a great sign that is. People chatting, having a good time and creating such beautiful work. There were a couple of brooches that would have matched my outfit but no=one was willing to donate them to me.

I did say that actually I, as tutor, got to keep everything they made but they didn’t believe that either.




  • Share/Bookmark
Tags: ,
Posted in past workshops | No Comments »

Nuno scarf workshop

Monday, April 23rd, 2012

I was so tired Friday night that I went to bed early and left preparing for the workshop until Saturday morning, imagine my surprise then when the only thing I forgot to take with me was a camera. It has to be said that I struggled more than usual with remembering names on the day, obviously still tired but despite any shortcoming from me the group produced some fabulous felt.

This is always the trickiest part, the choosing of the colours. We began by creating two samples, one on cotton muslin and one on a synthetic fabric. This allowed people to try a few ideas and also to see how different fabrics gave different textures when nuno felted.

Sue’s first sample on synthetic fabric. Lovely colours.

Mich spent ages creating this beautiful sample on cotton muslin and it includes a cut in the fabric.

Claire was trying out the effects of varying amounts of fibre on the fabric. Working in different colours helped to identify where one weight ended and another began.

Janette very bravely tried both rovings and more synthetic fabric onto her synthetic sample. Some of the samples were very beautiful but what they enabled everyone to do was to identify what they liked about each one and which elements they’d like to include in their finished scarf. I find this approach is very helpful, especially if you have new felters in the group.

This is Sue’s scarf with a synthetic fabric strips and lace included. It has Wensleydale curls on the end and you can see the ends have also been shaped into points.

Created by Stephanie and inspired by her drive across from Cheshire. Merino fibres with silk and soya fibre embellishment. Everyone loved it.

Here is Tracy’s scarf laid out ready for felting. You can see that the ends are shaped and also that there’s a line of fibre before the edge of the fabric. As the wool felts it’ll create a slight frill along the edge of the scarf.

Tracy was very game to model it whilst it was still wet and the photo doesn’t do it justice.

Susan created this and you’d never believe it was her first piece of felt would you. I think she did incredibly well, the white circle was inspired and finished the design off well. I also like the cut leaf  on the end.

Janette’s scarf has lace along the ends as well as in the body, boucle yarn along the edges and has a definite romantic feel to it. Just beautiful. Finally, I must thank Janette and Tracy without whom there’d have been no photos to show you. Thanks ladies.

 

  • Share/Bookmark
Tags: , , ,
Posted in past workshops | No Comments »

Stitched in felt workshop

Friday, March 23rd, 2012

It was one of my favourite workshops yesterday as we combined felt making with a few simple stitches. We began by stitching into the fabric before we then laid out the fibres.

It’s always interesting to see what colours people use. In addition to fabrics, silk and crab fibres, rovings, yarn and neps were added for more interest and texture. Then began the rubbing and rolling.

We stopped at the pre-felt stage and added more stitches and then again at the end.

You could hear a pin drop at this stage as everyone is concentrating so hard. Not that the stitching is difficult, you don’t need to know a lot of stitches, one of the most effective is a simple running stitch. First book cover up is Liz’s.

This isn’t a set of colours that I’d normally use but I just love the subtlety. We used muslin, silk chiffon, silk and crystal organza fabrics.

Fabulous striking purples, blues and pinks by Jeni with textured chain stitch in a metallic thread.

Jackie chose to keep it as a hanging and achieved some great textures adding lace and a chopped up metallic scarf to the mix.

Wonderful colours from Julia. Those of you who know my love of the sea and rust will understand why I’m loving this. What they all have in common is lots of colour, movement and texture. Stitches put into the fabric before we began felting completely disappear into the background and become part of the overall pattern. Stitching at the pre-felt stage has softened off and stitching done at the end stays proud so that they all contribute to the whole but at different levels.

  • Share/Bookmark
Tags: , ,
Posted in past workshops | 3 Comments »

Slippers and chicken combs

Thursday, March 8th, 2012

I know I always seem to say this but I really do mean it, we had an absolutely fabulous day on Saturday. We were making slippers using Norwegian and English wool plus chicken combs.People worked really hard on these and some were complete beginners at felting. here’s a short selection of what was made.

 

From top left going clockwise, slippers are by Mich, Cheree, Alison and Liz. It amuses me to look round the room and half the people seem to be missing as they’re bent double trying them on!

As for the chicken combs, well that was Angela from Yorkshire Hurdles keen to incorporate felting into her willow weaving. A good job of it she made too. If you fancy going on a willow course, Angela is a good tutor, did you see my dragonfly

We has a significant birthday in the house too so the day was punctuated by a rendition of Happy Birthday (with yummy cake) followed by an incredible buffet lunch supplied by Angela, Claire and Gill (hope I’ve spelt those right). Thank you so much ladies, a thoroughly enjoyable day.

P.S. A heartfelt thank you for assistance with the great day end,  putting away task

  • Share/Bookmark
Tags: ,
Posted in past workshops | 3 Comments »

Needle felting workshop

Thursday, March 1st, 2012

As no-one had used a felting needle previously, we began with a few basic needle skills and the useful exercise of making small brooches using scrap felt, threads, fabrics and yarns.

There were some lovely textures created. Lots of people use Norwegian wool fibres for needle felting as they’re very easy and come in a great range of colours. However, we shouldn’t overlook some of the other wools which also needle felt well. We used white Cheviot, grey Jacob and black Welsh. These don’t come ready dyed but, they make great base colours, are British and inexpensive. Although I had a wide range of dyed Norwegian available everyone, including me, used naturals for the bulk of the figures.

This is mine, very cutesy isn’t it? I thought perhaps it might make a Mothering Sunday present.

Created by Jane, this is just adorable and is leaning on a lichen covered log. We began with a few sausage shaped rolls and once we started on facial features it was amazing what creatures emerged from the wool. That isn’t curly hair by the way, it’s a hat.  No two are alike as you will see.

Isn’t he funky? Nicky’s creation is very appealing with his pink mohican hair and pot belly.

Mich worried what this character said about her imagination / personality. Despite holding the head of another creature I think this looks mischievous rather than evil. What say you?

This rotund little bird is by Jeni and is full of fun and character with added pre-felt and yarns. Hubby was in his office during the workshop and all he heard was silence punctuated by stabbing sounds (needles going into sponges) and sudden gales of laughter as we showed the latest addition to our little characters. I’ll definitely be running this again in the Autumn so keep an eye out for dates.

  • Share/Bookmark
Tags: ,
Posted in past workshops | No Comments »
« Older Entries