The Autumn edition of our Magazine will be landing in your letterbox in the next day or two with lots of information about forthcoming events. The Magazine is posted four times per year to all our current members.

Our next Sunday Session will be on October 9th 10.30-13.00 when we will be looking at some of our felt disasters and sharing tips and advise about how and why things don’t always go according to plan. We do have a great motto that there is no such thing as a felt “mistake” as they can almost always be turned into a “feature”. However there are times when the project you have planned so carefully can go desperately wrong. Please bring along your disasters and there will be a panel of felt agony aunts to help solve your problem. The session takes place in the Feltmakers Studio in the Phoenix Park. From the 3rd Oct there are major road works taking place on the Main Road in the Phoenix Park, the Gate beside our studio at Knockmaroon is unaffected.

Mette Roche's work in Sculpture in Context

We have added another date to the Recession Session schedule, Saturday October 1st.

Felting for beginners with Gina Faustino

This workshop provides a useful introduction to the craft of feltmaking. Discover different types of wool to use and learn how and why wool felts. We will experiment with decorative fibres to add surface colour and texture.

Workshop will take place in  Feltmakers Ireland Studio in the Phoenix Park from 10-4, cost €40 incl tea & coffee (materials extra cost TBC – €5 approx).

To book a place contact ginafaustino@gmail.com

The RUA RED gallery in Tallaght, Dublin has an open call for submissions for their winter show.
This open submission is an opportunity for local and national artists alike to exhibit their work in the expansive space of Gallery One.

They are seeking submissions from visual artists and craft makers for an exciting winter exhibition in November 2011. Artists can submit a maximum of three works.

Their website states that “All works submitted for exhibition are considered by a Selection Panel comprising of independent curators who have significant experience in the field of contemporary art & craft and whose decision to accept or reject is final. Ann Mulrooney (Curator, National Craft Gallery) and Hilary Murray (Curator, Collections at Irish Museum of Modern Art) confirmed guest panelists.” The deadline for applications is Friday September 25th.

It would be great to see more felt work in exhibition

http://www.ruared.ie/Winter_show_2011.html

Gosford Felted Vessels Competition

It’s hard to believe that the Summer is over and we are looking forward to a busy Autumn of felt making. First up is the return of our Sunday Sessions. On Sunday 11th September Carol Hawkins will share with us some of the things she learnt at the Felt in Focus Symposium in Denmark in July. Everyone is welcome to join us in the Studio in the Phoenix Park from 10.30 – 13.00. Please bring along any of your recent felt pieces for “show & tell”.

An exhibition of some of the vessels that were in competition at the Gosford Rare Breeds Show will be on display during Phizzfest. The venue is the First Active building on the North Circular Road in Phibsborough Dublin. The exhibition runs until the 11th September.

Clodagh Mac Donagh will be giving another Recession Session workshop on Indigo Dyeing at the studio on Sunday 25th September. During the day participants will learn about the magical dye and how it works with both natural and synthetic materials. The workshop costs €40 and includes dyes, tea & coffee and runs from 10- 16. Places are limited to give individual attention, please text or call Clodagh on 086 0574401 to book a place.

We are really looking forward to welcoming Charity Van Der Meer to Ireland when she will be giving a workshop to 12 lucky participants at An Grianain from Sept 30 -Oct 2nd. This workshop is booked out but we will share the experience in the Magazine.

The final editing and production is currently underway with our very own book  “Profiles in Felt“, a celebration of Irish Feltmakers, with be launched early in October. The book includes profiles of 44 of our members and is a ‘must have’ for anyone interest in this wonderful versatile craft. We have received financial support form the Crafts Council of Ireland which has allowed us to produce the book the the highest standard.

The Autumn issue of our magazine in also currently in production and it will contain lots of news from a very busy Summer and look forward to lots of exciting felt events.

We have just spent the past week in the company of a group of wonderful feltmakers fro Hungary who have been visiting Ireland as guests of Feltmakers Ireland. They have such a long tradition of feltmaking with influences from all parts of eastern Europe and western Asia. We hope that the Irish Hungarian Exchange project will continue for many years to come, you can read more about the Exchange in our next Magazine. Carmen Sanchez is bringing Hungary’s most famous master feltmaker Istvan Vadik to Co Carlow to give a workshop in October, this is a great opportunity to work with a true felt master – more details on “Other Workshop” page.

Come and join us with our guests from Hungary. We are having an open meeting in Kilkenny on Thursday 25th August in the castle yard at 11am – 12.30. ‘Crafted Conversation’ will give everyone an opportunity to learn about the ancient tradition of feltmaking in Hungary. We are also holding an open day at our studio in the Phoenix Park in Dublin on Saturday 27th August from 1-4pm

Indigo Dyeing Day July 31st 2011

INDIGO DYEING  DAY AT THE STUDIO with Feltmakers Ireland

After a very successful dyeing day on the 31st July Clodagh Mac Donagh will run another dyeing sessions in the Feltmakers Ireland Studio

At the Phoenix Park.

On Sunday, August 14thfrom 10:00am until 16:00pm,   I will run an INDIGO dyeing day, using the ancient blue dye which magically changes colour before your eyes!

We can dye: Cotton fabric, cotton yarn, silk fabric, fibre + yarn, wool fabric, fibre, + yarn, (as well as linen, ramie, bamboo, viscose, + any other naturally-based fabric or fibre.) You will need to bring your own fabric, fibre, + yarn, + your own packed lunch. I will provide dye, + related chemicals, + tea,+ coffee.

**This course is suitable for beginners or anyone with  previous experience also. Please contact me for further details at: clodaghmacdonagh@gmail.com

Cost 40 euros per person (  6 people max)

Looking forward to seeing you!

Clodagh

See our Facebook page for more photos of the Indigo Dye day 31July 2011

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Feltmakers-Ireland/131035023602679

For all our workshops priority is given to fully paid up members of Feltmakers Ireland

Here’s a link to  a video of the work by participants in Charity’s workshop at the recent Felt in Focus Symposium in Denmark (Feltmakers Ireland’s very own carol Hawkins is on the catwalk). Charity is coming to Ireland at the end of September so there is a real treat in store for the lucky participants.

http://www.youtube.com/user/devilrick999

Notice from the Crafts Council of Ireland

Following on from the success of Tread Softly an exhibition of textile work by members of the Crafts Council of Ireland at the Knitting & Stitching Show RDS, Dublin, October 2010
would like to announce for 2011 – Seascape an exhibition for the Knitting & Stitching show – 10th-13th November 2011

Brief
Work in the exhibition is to be made in response to and inspired by the sea
and the underwater world; its colour, textures, pattern and forces. It can take the form of literal or abstract interpretation.
Pieces must be contemporary in design and can be in any textile media and technique.
Selection
Work will be selected on the basis of excellence in design and making, it must fit within the overall exhibition and creative interpretation of the brief. If you have an existing piece that you feel would fit into this remit it must be less that 2 years old and it must not have been exhibited before.

Selection Requirements
Makers will be invited to apply for the exhibition by the 20th July with the following information
> * images and/or design drawings of their intended piece
> * four images of relevant work made within last two years; images must be jpeg images, no larger than 300dpi sent  on a cd
> * completed application form (application forms available on CCOI.ie)
> * 100 word interpretation of the brief.

Shortlisted makers will be asked to submit the work for second round
selection by 2th Sept and if successful will be photographed and exhibited at the Knit and Stitch show.

We are planning to open the studio to members who want to use the carders, the library or need the extra space to lay out a big project. We will be posting a list of dates and times shortly. In the meantime the studio will be open tomorrow morning Sunday 10th July from 10.30-13.00.

We are also planning a series of Summer Recession sessions ( workshops at rock bottom costs – eg €40 for full day tuition incl tea/coffee). Once we have four people who are interested we will schedule dates. Some ideas are for a beginners workshop, a hat making session,  an indigo dying day, an experimental dying  day with natural materials, felted vessels…if you would like to learn a new skill please let us know.

**MEMBERSHIP MUST BE CURRENT IN ORDER TO PARTICIPATE IN THESE SPECIAL EVENTS**