We are  thrilled to welcome Charity Van Der Meer to Ireland in September. Charity will be giving a three day workshop in felt garment design from 30^th Sept to 2^nd October. In order to maximise the time we have with Charity we have decided to hold this workshop in the beautiful facility of An Grianain in Co Louth. We will start on Friday morning and work through until early on Sunday afternoon. An Grianain is only 45mins north of Dublin airport but far enough away from your day to day routine so that participants can relax and enjoy the experience without having to drive home every day. We have received generous funding from the Crafts Council which means we can offer this workshop for half what it would otherwise cost. Application  forms are available below and names will be chosen (out of the hat) by the end of April. A non refundable deposit of €50 should be sent with the application form (balance of €200 will be due two  weeks before the workshop). This workshop would not be suitable to absolute beginners.

Charity studied design in the UK and lives in Holland. Her beautiful felt designs have been seen on catwalks around Europe. Some of us met her at various international felt events and were really impresses by her warmth and her talent.  Check out her websitewww.sharit.net

Charity Application

We have lots of exciting events planned over the next few weeks and months.

Next Sunday 28th we are hold a Recession Session on Indigo Dyeing. Recession Sessions are low cost workshops that we hold in our studio in the Phoenix Park are are run at the lowest cost possible, in this case €40 for the day including dyes. There are only six places at at the moment the workshop is full but if you are interested in this or other topics please let us know and we can perhaps arrange it.

Our planned workshop with Angela O’Kelly was postponed before Christmas during the very worst of the snow. There was so much interest that we decided to run two workshops – the first is being held on the 2/3rd April and the second n 16/17th April. The venue is Collins Barracks where we have always been made very welcome by the Museum staff.

Our next Sunday Session on April 10th will be an intriguing look at Chinese textiles. Member Niki Collier recently spent a couple of months in Shanghai and she will be sharing some of the ideas she picked up there. These sessions take place in the Visitors Centre of the Phoenix Park, they are free and open to all.

The Spring issue of our Magazine will be finding it way through the letter boxes of all our members this week. It is packed with news about feltmaking events in Ireland and beyond.

Designer, feltmaker and committee member Gina Faustino was on RTÉ recently showing a young five year old designer how to make felt.

Have a look here - http://www.rte.ie/player/#v=1092855

Due to the overwhelming popularity of our current series of Sunday Sessions we are moving to a bigger room in the Visitors center of the Phoenix Park. The new room is situated just above the reception desk of the Visitors Center itself. Last month we had a record number of people attending and the OPW have very kindly agreed to providing a larger room. So please come along next Sunday morning if you are in Dublin, we will be starting a 10.30 and finishing at 1pm. This week we  have the pleasure of sharing the expertise of Elizabeth Bonner who is going to show us some of the wonderful felt bags she has made. If you have anything you would like to share with us (and it doesn’t have to be a bag) please bring along your work – we learn so much from each other.  The sessions are free and everyone is welcome. Non members are welcome but we hope that after one or two visits they will consider joining – it has to be the best bargain ever – for €20 you have access to a wealth of expertise, information, facilities and discounts to all our workshops

The Sunday Session in April is on the 10th

Watch out next week for our latest magazine which will be going out to all our members in the post, it is  full of news about forthcoming workshops and events.

One of our members, Mette Roche, is giving a talk about her work at the Solstice Arts Centre in Navan at 2pm next Saturday 26th February.

http://www.solsticeartscentre.com/

Our next Sunday Session takes place on February 13th at 10.30 – 13.00 in the Visitors Centre of the Phoenix Park. There is lots of parking and a fabulous cafe as well as an opportunity to see the “Tread Softly” textile exhibition. We will be meeting in the Education Room upstairs in the building beside the exhibition space. The subject we will be looking at this month is how to embed jewels, stones and other materials into felt. Please bring along your basic feltmaking kit, and if space allows (depending on the numbers) everyone will get a chance to try out some of the techniques. These sessions are free and everyone is welcome.

The Sunday Sessions take place on the second Sunday of the month so keep an eye on this website for updates.

There was a terrific report on RTÉ Nationwide programme on Wednesday 26th January with felt artist Susan Chandler – you can view it on the link below:

http://www.rte.ie/player/#v=1089985

The Cork Textile Network are a vibrant group of textile artists based in the South. They run an annual conference with some very exciting international and Irish tutors. One of our members Sheila Jordan will be teaching a needlefelt workshop.  Have a look at their website for more information.

http://www.corktextiles.com/joomla1/images/pdf/ctn2011.pdf

Our Basic & Beyond workshop in now fully booked out but keep and eye on this site for upcoming events. Our next Sunday session will be about embedding jewels, stones and small objects into felt and it’s on  Sunday 13th February in the Visitors Centre in the Phoenix Park. The Sessions are free and fun! What more could you ask for?

Members of Feltmakers Ireland enjoying lunch in the courtyard of the Visitors Centre

Our next Sunday Session on 16th January will take place in the Visitors Centre of the Phoenix Park from 10.30 -13.30. We are using the meeting room upstairs in the building beside the cafe in the courtyard.  This willalso  be a opportunity for anyone who hasn’t seen our exhibition “Reflections” which is currently hanging in teh gallery. The cafe serves delicious food and there is lots of parking. You access the visitors from the main roundabout in the Park at the Phoenix Monument (the entrance to Aras an Uachtarain is also from this roundabout). Many thanks to the OPW for all their support and providing us with the venue.

We will be looking at the beautiful felt lace technique which Leiko Uchiyama showed us when she was here in December. Please bring along a basic feltmaking kit and some fine merino.