FELTMAKERS IRELAND

2010 Basic & Beyond workshop

This is one of our most popular workshops with people new to feltmaking but also for those who want a refresher course. We are holding the worksho in the Parish Centre in Lucan on Saturday 23rd January 2010. For an application form please click on this link. B&B ’10 application

Workshop with Anna Gunnarsdottir ….. October 3rd/4th 2009

Our last workshop wass with the extremely talented Icelandic feltmaker Anna Gunnarsdottir. The workshop took place on Sat/Sun 3/4th October last when  Anna taught us to make sculptural hats using Icelandic wool and fishskins. This was a rare opportunity to work with Anna and we were delighted she accepted our invitation to Ireland.

We are greatful to the Crafts Council of Irlenad who have part funded this event throught the Network Support Scheme which allows us to offer the 2 day course at a significantly reduced cost.

Anna Gunnarsdóttir

Workshop – Sculptural Hats using Icelandic wool and

sea leather/fishskins

In the Camphill Community, Grangebeg, Dunlavin, Co. Kildare

Saturday/Sunday 3^rd and 4^th October 2009 – 10.00 – 17.00

All materials included. Some feltmaking experience would be helpful

Lunch (on both days), dinner on Saturday, tea, coffee and refreshments will be provided during the week end & included in the price.

B&B accommodation available locally

For further information contact sheila.ahern@ireland.com

Applications must be returned by September 11^th 2009

Cost of Workshop   -   Members     €120      Non-Members     €140

Previous Workshops

German felt artist Annette Quentin-Stoll gave two workshops in March 2009. These workshops took place in the Visitors Centre in the Phoenix Park in Dublin. The location is ideal with car parking and cafe facilities in a beautiful woodland setting. Downloadable application form  – annette-application

Workshop 1: Wednesday and Thursday 18/19th Mach 2009

Points, Bumps, Folds, Pockets & Tubes

We made prefelt points, bumps, folds, pockets and tubes and added them to a sqare felt piece. The aim is to get straight edges and standing points, folds and tubes growing out of the felt. We made a second piece –  a bag with handle and small bag inside or a hat with grass growing on it, points  became grass and flowers, bumps will become hills, pockets became caves and all sorts of magical things.

Annette's Tactile Wall

Annette's bug

Workshop 2: Saturday and Sunday 21st/22nd March 2009

Art projects for indoors or outdoors

Our first step was be to make a small felt piece and connect prefelted pieces like wings, fins, feelers, ears, hair etc to a base-felt. For the final piece we brought a picture of an animal or object that we wanted to felt and we created a stencil to felt a hollow object which can be filled  to get a pillow-fish, a huge bug or anything else you always wanted to have…

Annette's giraffe

The workshop fee was €130 for the two days including all materials. We would like to thank the OPW for giving Feltmakers Ireland the use of this terrific workshop venue.

Please note that all workshop payments must be made in euro or Republic of Ireland cheques, bank drafts or postal orders.

_________________________________________________

Our 2009 Basic & Beyond workshop was held on Saturday January 24th in Lucan.   Three tutors taught a variety of feltmaking techniques throughout the day.  Each participant received a “goody bag” full of exotic and interesting wool and silk fibre to try out.

Workshops in 2008

Sigrid Bannier came to Ireland and  gave four one day workshops in November – two in Dublin and two in Wexford. The workshops featured Sigrid’s beautiful jewellry and two making very fine nuno felt.

Soo Khim with her nuno felt

Participants in Sue Johnsons Hat Workshop

In May we held a one day workshop with Sheila Smith working on techniques from her book “Felt to Stitch”. In June Mel Bradley gave a two day workshop in her beautiful studio in Co. Louth on painting and felting silks. In July we were delighted to host a two day workshop with Australian sculptor and felt artist Anita Larkin in Lucan. Below is a picture of Anita wearing one of her amazing sculptured hats.

____________________________________________________________________

Workshops for 2007

Monika Auch  gave a two day workshop on Friday and Saturday 15th & 16th June 2007 in Taney Parish Centre, Dundrum, Dublin. Monika also gave a public lecture about her work on Thursday evening 14th June at 7.30 pm entitled “High tech textiles from the Lowlands”. The workshop was booked out and there was a very large attendance at the lecture. The workshop and public lecture were generously funded by the Crafts Council of Ireland.

A review of the workshop:

A two day master class by Monika Auch.  Felt made from nails and wire and horse hair!

On arriving the tables were laid with large rolls of white-carded fleece, squares of sponge, piece of bubble wrap, a crochet hook and felting needles were also supplied.

Monika Auch led the course with an introduction about herself, a weaver, who uses High tech yarns (among other materials) to weave 3 dimensional pieces. The workshop was structured to make us think about what we were doing with felt and our emotional response to the materials.

The first session we were all presented with two pieces of fabric; beautiful metallic and yellow gaudy netting, we were then invited to use materials that Monika had brought (horse hair, wire, silk, netting, etc). Thinking about what the fabrics meant to us there was a great buzz and everyone got stuck in to creating sample pieces. The fabulous carder was at the workshop and many of us learnt to use it for the first time. A hammer and hole puncher was also available bringing further dimensions (and holes!) to felt produced.

Towards the end of the first day we all showed our samples on central tables. We were asked to pick one piece, hold it up and think about what qualities we liked about it and why? It was an invitation to critically think about felt – a framework to explore the groups work become more informed about what we liked and did not like and to use that information to develop our work further.

For homework we were set the task of finding materials ‘alien to fleece’ in our homes. We were encouraged to think outside the box. The following morning the room was like a treasure trove.As we walked around the room non-traditional felting materials whetted our appetites and inspired us to action. Fleece got stabbed, stuck, twisted and felted around rope, metal, netting, glass, plastic, aubergines, carrots, pot scrubbers and an acorn! Such was the diverse array of materials and methods used to make felt at Monika Auch’s workshop. The end results were very satisfying, looked amazing and we all benefited from each others learning experience. Monika also gave each participant a one-on-one consultation, having asked us to bring in past and current work and this was useful in planning future projects.

Monika Auch is a very skilled facilitator who successfully challenged us in our approach to feltmaking and in the use of non-traditional materials. I will never look at a metal pot scrubber, an aubergine or carded fleece in the same way. Roisin Markham

We held a three day master class with Jeanette Appleton from the UK which took place in Airfield House from November 9-11th. This was an inspirational three days for all participants.

Bag … Bags….and more Bags….We held a one day day workshop exploring the wide variety of hollow form bags that can be created from felt on Saturday April 28th. The tutors Eleanor Roche and Rosemary McCarthy Murrough gave participants an inspiring day and there were some beautiful bags made.

____________________________________________________________________________

2006 WORKSHOPS

July 2006- Jenny Mackay gave two one day workshops on working with very fine felt. The workshops were held in the beautiful setting of Airfield House in Dundrum in Dublin. The first workshop of the year was held on Saturday February 4th called “Basics & Beyond”. This workshop introduced people new to feltmaking to the huge variety of styles and techniques that are possible and explored the principles of feltmaking, using surface decoration, texture, nuno and 3D felt.

Earlier in March we hosted a workshop given by the internationally acclaimed felt artist Chad Alice Hagen. There were two 2 day workshops, the first was in the Draiocht Arts Centre in Blanchardstown in Dublin on 7th and 8th of March and the second in Grennansmill, Thomastown, Co.Kilkenny on Saturday and Sunday 11th & 12th March. Chad Alice Hagen taught the workshops in Shibouri Dying Techniques. This was a unique opportunity to learn the principals of the Japanese art of Shibori dyeing and explore colour and pattern using this ancient resist dying technique. These workshops received funding from the Crafts Council of Ireland which has facilitated us being able to provide the workshops at reduced cost.

There were four workshops in 2005:

Fun With Felt – a One Day Course held on January 29th 2005.

The course explored the magic of felmaking and taught those attending basic as well as innovative techniques of feltmaking.There were samples of exotic fibers from different countries and those attending got an opportunity to experiment with a huge range of fibres and a dazzling array of fine merino wool colours.

The celebrated Norwegian feltmaker Evelyn Refsahl taught two workshops in April 2005

Big Bags with Leather 6th/7th April2005

This workshop taught how to make large bags with pockets and stitched leather bases. The durable and elegant bags with unique felt fastenings were designed by Evelyn.

Seamless Waistcosts and Tops 9th/10th April 2005

In this workshop Evelyn Refsahl taught how to design your own seamless waistcoat/slipover/top using special techniques she had developed.

Feltmakers Ireland hosted a workshop in July  2005 and one our our members compiled this report:

Points, Bumps, Folds, Pockets & Tubes

We will prefelt points, bumps, folds, pockets and tubes and add them to a sqare felt piece. The aim is to get straight edges and standing points, folds and tubes growing out of the felt. We will make a second piece – perhaps a bag with handle and small bag inside or a hat with grass growing on it, points will become grass and flowers, bumps will become hills, pockets become caves and all sorts of magical things

Workshop 2: 2st/22nd March 2009

Our 1st step will be a small felt piece to try how to connect prefelted pieces (f.e. wings, fins, feelers, ears, hair etc to a base-felt. For the final piece it is good to have a picture of an animal or object that you would like to felt (it may be a photo or an illustration of a children´s book or your own drawing) and we will create a stencil to felt a hollow object which can be filled later to get a pillow-fish, a huge bug or anything else you always wanted to have…

Our 1st step will be a small felt piece to try how to connect prefelted pieces (f.e. wings, fins, feelers, ears, hair etc to a base-felt. For the final piece it is good to have a picture of an animal or object that you would like to felt (it may be a photo or an illustration of a children´s book or your own drawing) and we will create a stencil to felt a hollow object which can be filled later to get a pillow-fish, a huge bug or anything else you always wanted to have…

Cobweb Felt Workshop with Jenny Mackay July 2^nd 2005

“This marvellous workshop took place in Castleknock with Jenny as our teacher. She taught us to make the lightest, thinnest thistledown felt that any self respecting spider who happened to gaze down on us from his web would have been proud of.

We spread the fibre in lengths of fleece of about eight to ten inches, spreading them further and further apart, and then just as we thought things were getting a bit far stretched, we spread them out a bit more. We mixed in different fibres and added scraps of chiffon or organza and varied the colours of the fleece. Mostly the fleece ran in only one direction, but areas needing to be stronger, like the ends of a scarf, might be made with an equally thin layer of fleece at right angles. Ends and edges were organic or organised as required. If making a Dr Who style scarf, as the fleece was laid out on the available surface it was wetted, covered with a plastic film and rolled around a poll or roll of newspaper, thus leaving an everlasting supply of available table top. Some people used the ample floor space to lay the whole piece flat.

Finally the whole wetted layered out piece was rolled and in a suprisingly short time – perhaps 150 rolls, had become a piece of lace like textile. Edges were smoothed and fringy bits encouraged to do the right thing, and then a bit more rolling with perhaps a further spray of minimally soapy water. Then we polished the surface with a pad of plastic or bubble wrap that was very effective. Then if we wanted to we wet the piece and threw it quite gently onto the surface, until satisfied that it was finally strong enough. We could also roll it in our hands. A final rinse, a stroking into shape and a very short drying time and there we were, a bit wet and soapy, all thrilled with our featherlike creations.

This was another really successful day, and many many thanks to all the organisers at Feltmakers Ireland for working so hard to give all of us so much pleasure, instruction, creativity and fun with an inspirational teacher. I am sure I am not alone in hoping that there are many more such days waiting in the wings. Thinking of wings, it’s a pity I don’t have a pair, to fly me from Glenageary to Castleknock…maybe I could make them out of gossamer felt”.

Rosemary McCarhty-Morrogh

July 2005