FELTMAKERS IRELAND

We are planning our next workshop which is the ever popular Basic & Beyond. It is an intensive one day course and participants will learn all the different felt techniques. It is a great day and would make an unusual Christmas gift but beware you may be giving someone a lifelong passion as many of us who were introduced to feltmkaking have not looked back.
The workshop takes place on 23rd January 2010 in Lucan. Click on the link below for more information and an application form.B&B ‘10 application

“If you are a student (age 11-18) you can Stitch n’ Win!
Design and create a sampler which depicts your local area using textile art
techniques. You may include any combination of hand / machine embroidery,
texturing, felting, weaving or textile painting in your entry design”.

A new textile competition for second level students has just been launched. St. Angela’s College in Sligo in association with the International Federation of Home Economics intend to run four separate Textiles and Design Competitions for Home Economics students nationally. The competitions are aimed at Junior Cycle students, Senior Cycle students and St. Angela’s College students. We are organising a competition for Junior Cycle and Senior Cycle Home Economics students, Textiles, Fashion and Design students at St. Angela’s College and a Textile Art competition for young embroiderers between the ages of 11 and 18 years.

If you have any queries, please call Kathryn Mc Sweeney at 071-9135668, e-mail kmcsweeney@stangelas.nuigalway.ie In anticipation of your response,

Here are some terrific photographs from the Exhibition opening

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/feltlady/LizJaneGoLarge?authkey=Gv1sRgCOya0MDk2fz6zgE#

“A Seed of Truth” the exhibition by Liz Brown & Jane Locke opened today in the Visitors Centre in the Phoenix Park and it a remarkable collaboration bringing two very different artists together. Liz’s background is in textiles and felt and Jane is a scientist with a degree in fine art so the combination of both perspectives has resulted in a thought-provoking and beautiful exhibition. The show runs for the next two weeks and is well worth a detour to the park.

Two of our members, Liz Brown and Jane Locke,  have come together to collaborate on a very interesting exhibition of felt and fine art. Click on the link for an invitation.

A Seed of Truth

Venue: Gallery space at the Phoenix Park visitor centre

A Seed of Truth: an exhibition inspired by the life and work of Ernest Douglas” takes place from 14^th to 29^th of November inclusive in the gallery space at the Phoenix Park visitor centre.  The exhibition is the work of Scottish-based textile artist Liz Brown and Irish-based visual artist Jane Locke.

The inspiration for the exhibition resulted from a chance find by Liz in 2007 of an old book wrapped in felt when helping clear a friend’s attic.  Further research revealed that the book contained the records of unusual botanical experiments carried out by Scotsman Ernest Douglas over a century ago.

The show is a collaboration between Liz, who specialises in felt making, and Jane Locke an artist and scientist whose work investigates the relationship between science and nature through drawings, paintings and installation pieces.  The show promises to be a fascinating exploration of Ernest Douglas’ experiments through felt and mixed media.

The Opening – to which you are all invited – takes place from 2-4pm on Saturday 14th November and the exhibition runs until the 29th November.

For anyone who missed the Knitting & Stitching Show there was a report on last night’s Nationwide which features some of our members. The programme filmed in Craftspun Yarn in Johnstown includes Kathrina Hughes giving a feltmaking class and Liadain Butler who is a designer specialising in felt and knitwear. Click on the link below to have a look:

http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/1102/nationwide_av.html?2640435,null,228

For everyone involved in making craft in Ireland it is well worth registering with the Crafts Council of Ireland.

http://www.ccoi.ie/content/view/143/250/ is the link to the Registration form. Registration only takes a few minutes, the more people who register the stronger the Council’s voice will be.
Registration is currently free and the benefits are;

• Receive notification on participation on CCoI projects and programmes, eg. Enterprise Development & Training, Retail,Collector and Gallery Programmes.
• Receive discounts and special rates for events, publications etc.
• Receive the CCoI Newsletter Stopress and e-bulletins which are packed with information of interest to all craftspeople.

Feltmakers Ireland has benefitted greatly from membership over the past five years with training, funding for specific projects and sharing in a community of other craft guilds. For more information you can contact Feltmakers Ireland Secretary  at sheila.ahern@ireland.com

The Knitting & Stitching Show starts this Thursday October 29th in the RDS in Dublin. Please come along and visit our stand. This year the stand will be decorated with blue felt pieces on the theme “Felt Away the Blues”. There will be ongoing felt making demonstrations, fibre and kits for sale and an abundance of information for visitors. The show runs until Sunday November 1st.

We are very conscious that people are experiencing financial difficulties at the moment and so we are planning a series of workshops at  absolute rock boton cost.  The OPW are providing us with a venue free of charge in the Visitors Centre of the Phoenix Park so this will really help with pricing. We are kicking off with a needle felt workshop with Cristina Garcia on Sunday 29^th November 2009 from 10am to 4.30pm.  Cost €40 including all materials.  There is a café in the Visitors Centre for tea, coffee and refreshments or you can bring a packed lunch. For further information contact Cristina Garcia ( 0868272422 or cgfelt@gmail.com) Click on the link below for an application form. Applications must be returned by November 20th 2009

Needle Felt Application

Here  is a picture of one of Cristina’s recent needle felted pieces – “Carolina the Princess”

Carolina the Princess

We had the third in the Drop In days this month in Lucan making cuffs and fingerless gloves in preparation for the “Learning Curve”  at the Knitting & Stitching  Show in the RDS. On Sunday last we had four brand new felters from Northern Ireland who did a fantastic job – under the guidance of Maureen Cromer. Here is what they made…

The cuffs at the centre of the photo were made earlier by Maureen and show the huge variety of designs that are possible. Below is a pair made by Sheila on Sunday with the one on the left  fully felted and the other still in the pre felt stage.

I thought Feltmkers Ireland came up with some crazy ideas until I saw Extreme Shepherding on You Tube – have a look:

Also…..this is for all our members who ahve their own sheep. Holly send us some great images from an Exhibition in the Museum of Communication in Frankfurt

Aren’t they beautiful? I love their feet.