Feltmakers Ireland invites friends, family, and fans to our upcoming group exhibition, ‘Essence of Nature’. On Saturday, the 29th of August at midday, Councillor Sean McGowan will launch the show
Artworks by 36 of our guild members will be displayed on the ArtWall of The Leitrim Design House gallery, which is located in Carrick-on-Shannon.
The show runs from Wednesday, 26th August to Saturday, 3rd October 2026.
Feltmakers Ireland aims to share information about awards, education, events, exhibitions, and opportunities that you will find interesting. Our sharing is neither paid for by nor an endorsement of these individuals or organisations.
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Questions: For questions about content, please follow the link to the organisation involved in hosting the event.
Feltmakers Ireland is hosting TWO August Craft Month events this year!
On Saturday, the 15th of August, Feltmakers Ireland West will be at King House, Boyle, Co Roscommon. They will have a felting fair featuring a mini-market, an exhibition, and four feltmaking workshops. For more information: https://augustcraftmonth.org/acm-event/felting-fun-day/
On Sunday, the 16th of August, Feltmakers Ireland will be at the CIE Hall/ Inchicore Sports & Social Club, Co Dublin. For more information and to register a place in one of the two felting workshops where we will be creating wet and needle felted flowers, please visit this page: https://augustcraftmonth.org/acm-event/experience-the-joy-of-felting/
In addition to our members’ events (see below), there are over 40 opportunities to experience felting throughout the island of Ireland. When on the August Craft Month website, in the ‘List View ‘, select the ‘Craft Type’ of ‘Felt’ to see ALL of the events! (One can search ‘Map View’, but then there is no option to select ‘Felt’.)
Members Events
Several of our members are hosting their own open studios, workshops, and markets.
Feltmakers Ireland aims to share information about awards, education, events, exhibitions, and opportunities that you will find interesting. Our sharing is neither paid for by nor an endorsement of these individuals or organisations.
Contact Us: If you have any concerns about content, please email us at feltmakersie@gmail.com.
Questions: For questions about content, please follow the link to the organisation involved in hosting the event.
We are delighted to share news of an upcoming exhibition by our fellow guild within the Design & Craft Council Ireland: a show by the Irish Guild of Embroiderers. Their display, ‘Threads of Imagination: An Exhibition of Embroidery and Textile Art ‘, is the guild’s biennial show.
Feltmakers Ireland member Ramona Farrelly has a piece in it. The photograph shown here is an in-process image of Ramona’s piece, offering a behind-the-scenes glimpse of her work before it takes its place in the exhibition.
When: Tuesday, the 1st of September through Saturday, the 3rd of October 2026
For more information about the Guild, which meets monthly on Saturdays at the Mount Merrion Community Centre, visit their website: https://www.irishguildofembroiderers.ie/
Feltmakers Ireland aims to share information about awards, education, events, exhibitions, and opportunities that you will find interesting. Our sharing is neither paid for by nor an endorsement of these individuals or organisations.
Contact Us: If you have any concerns about content, please email us at feltmakersie@gmail.com.
Questions: For questions about content, please follow the link to the organisation involved in hosting the event.
Vanda F Sousa is a member of Feltmakers Ireland and a talented tutor who offers a range of online wet felting courses.
Her upcoming class is ‘Wet Felting Connections – Cords and Chains’, and it focuses on connecting basic felt forms to create more complex shapes.
In the class, students will explore the following:
Rings and chains
Two types of horizontal connections
Vertical connections
The aim of the class is to help felt makers who are still building their foundations, as well as those who have been felting for a while but feel gaps in their foundational knowledge that they don’t know how to fill.
The class is online, with lifetime access.
Vanda is currently offering an Early Bird price of €49 until August 31st. (The regular price is €59).
Feltmakers Ireland aims to share information about awards, education, events, exhibitions, and opportunities that you will find interesting. Our sharing is neither paid for by nor an endorsement of these individuals or organisations.
Contact Us: If you have any concerns about content, please email us at feltmakersie@gmail.com.
Questions: For questions about content, please follow the link to the organisation involved in hosting the event.
The editors of Vessel Magazine invite submissions exploring the notion of the studio in motion for publication in the upcoming edition of The Vessel.
They are specifically looking for craft practices that exist in shifting contexts, where making adapts to movement, embraces constraints, or unfolds across changing locations. They hope to feature submissions in the form of triptychs that evoke dialogue among the images, and collectively articulate the diverse, portable, and evolving nature of dispersed studio practices.
Craftspeople are invited to submit a set of three photographs, along with contextual information, that captures how their studio operates beyond a fixed site, revealing the tools, processes, and conditions that shape their work in motion. The editors will select 5-10 submissions for an article to be featured in the 12th edition of The Vessel, to be published in Autumn 2026.
If a submission is selected, a paid honorarium will be provided.
Feltmakers Ireland aims to share information about awards, education, events, exhibitions, and opportunities that you will find interesting. Our sharing is neither paid for by nor an endorsement of these individuals or organisations.
Contact Us: If you have any concerns about content, please email us at feltmakersie@gmail.com.
Questions: For questions about content, please follow the link to the organisation involved in hosting the event.
The Bernat Klein Foundation Symposium, supported by Future Island–Island, Belfast School of Art, and Creative Scotland, seeks abstracts for ‘The Colour of Everyday’, to be held in November. It is a symposium exploring colour, craft, sustainability and cultural heritage inspired by the legacy of textile designer and colourist Bernat Klein.
They are interested in hearing from designers, researchers, makers, educators and community practitioners working across:
Colour in education
Sustainable design + material innovation
Heritage, memory and place
Regenerative making and ecological craft
Abstract deadline: Friday, the 4th of September 2026
The Symposium is on Saturday, the 28th of November 2026
Feltmakers Ireland aims to share information about awards, education, events, exhibitions, and opportunities that you will find interesting. Our sharing is neither paid for by nor an endorsement of these individuals or organisations.
Contact Us: If you have any concerns about content, please email us at feltmakersie@gmail.com.
Questions: For questions about content, please follow the link to the organisation involved in hosting the event.
The Design and Crafts Council of Ireland’s 2026 Irish Business Design Challenge is now open for applications. Micro or small businesses that use design to create sustainable solutions are invited to apply to this DCCI competition. There are awards of up to €20,000 per business, amongst a total prize funding of €50,000.
The Irish Business Design Challenge is looking for businesses that have:
Changed their business model to add value
Repurposed or redesigned their products or services sustainably
Developed new eco-friendly processes or partnerships
Discovered new or more efficient ways of working
Invented innovative and meaningful solutions
Solved societal or environmental problems through sustainable design
Feltmakers Ireland aims to share information about awards, education, events, exhibitions, and opportunities that you will find interesting. Our sharing is neither paid for by nor an endorsement of these individuals or organisations.
Contact Us: If you have any concerns about content, please email us at feltmakersie@gmail.com.
Questions: For questions about content, please follow the link to the organisation involved in hosting the event.
There is a ‘Native Irish Fibres Material Library’ exhibition at the micro gallery of the Edward Murphy Library of the National College of Art and Design (NCAD).
It is the work of three NCAD master’s students in the Circular by Design programme, who researched and piloted an online toolkit, a materials library, and an awareness campaign to encourage designers to use more Irish-grown raw materials in their work. Their tutor, Maureen Laverty, and Fibreshed Ireland helped to guide them. Their project was the winner of the Dublin City Council’s ENFUSE competition. A physical book version will be available soon.
Feltmakers Ireland aims to share information about awards, education, events, exhibitions, and opportunities that you will find interesting. Our sharing is neither paid for by nor an endorsement of these individuals or organisations.
Contact Us: If you have any concerns about content, please email us at feltmakersie@gmail.com.
Questions: For questions about content, please follow the link to the organisation involved in hosting the event.
Shepherds and sheep flocks are an indispensable to biodiversity and the preservation of our natural landscapes. But they are often overlooked.
To raise awareness for shepherds and sheep flocks, a group of advocates has organised a 53-day Wool March, from Texel in the Netherlands to the European Parliament in Brussels. The March will be rally style:
“No sheep or shepherd <will> walk the entire route! We pass the hook from shepherd to shepherd, flock to flock creating a line of support for this ecological, cultural and social importance of this overlooked system”.
The walk starts on Saturday, the 22nd of August in Texel, Netherlands and arrives in Brussels, Belgium on Tuesday the 13th of October 2026.
Feltmakers Ireland aims to share information about awards, education, events, exhibitions, and opportunities that you will find interesting. Our sharing is neither paid for by nor an endorsement of these individuals or organisations.
Contact Us: If you have any concerns about content, please email us at feltmakersie@gmail.com.
Questions: For questions about content, please follow the link to the organisation involved in hosting the event.
Feltmakers Ireland aims to share information about awards, education, events, exhibitions, and opportunities that you will find interesting. Our sharing is neither paid for by nor an endorsement of these individuals or organisations.
Contact Us: If you have any concerns about content, please email us at feltmakersie@gmail.com.
Questions: For questions about content, please follow the link to the organisation involved in hosting the event.
On Sunday, the 16th of August, 17 volunteers from Feltmakers Ireland gathered to teach two sessions of wet and needle felting to over 45 students. Our event was part of the annual August Craft Month and Heritage Week.
The What
We had two educational sessions: a morning session from 10 AM to 12 PM and an afternoon session from 12:30 to 2:30 PM. Both were well attended, with students enjoying learning about the different methods of feltmaking.
Students created several types of felted flowers, three-dimensional sheep, and even trees! They had the opportunity to work with wet and needle felting techniques.
Wet Felting
Needle Felting
Happy Students
Irish Wool Display
There was also a display area featuring Irish Wool and our ‘Exploring Irish Wool for Feltmaking’ book. The vertical display panel was created by Annika Berglund during the research for the book.
Artwork Displayed & Treats Eaten
Volunteers’ felt art was displayed on the stage at the front of the room. There were wearables, wall art, and sculptures!
Artworks
Treatsand Taking a Break
More Photos – Hands!
Thanks
Thank you to all of the students who shared their Sunday with us. We look forward to seeing some of you at future Sessions!
Many thanks to SiobhánRyan for chairing this event, and to all the volunteers who helped with the day: Adrienne, Ananya, Christine, Clodagh, Elizabeth, Eva, Helena, Hilary, Irina, Juliane, Lauren, Linda, Loli, Lorna, Margaret C, and Margaret R C.
Some of our Volunteers – apologies for not having everyone’s photograph
AnanyaElizabethEvaHilary and LindaLindaJulianeLoli and EvaMargaretLaurenMargaretChristine and ClodaghHelenaIrina and a studentAdrienne and Lorna (not a great pic)Siobhán
Additionally, we would like to thank the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland‘s August Craft Month and Heritage Week for sharing our event so wonderfully. We had an excellent turnout this year!
Both organisations have other exciting events happening.
August Craft Month runs through the end of the month.
Heritage Week runs until the 23rd of August.
Many thanks to our members, who comprise Feltmakers Ireland West, for hosting a ‘Felting Fun Day’ on Saturday, the 15th, in Boyle, Co Roscommon as part of August Craft Month.
Lastly, we want to thank the CIE Sports Hall / Social Club in Inchicore, Dublin, for allowing us to rent storage space and use the hall for our meetings and sessions.
Next Month
Our next regular Sunday Session will be on the 20th of September. It will feature Eva Salamon, who will teach us how to make needle felted owls. Members will receive more information shortly.
Disclaimer for Feltmakers Ireland Blog
Feltmakers Ireland aims to share information about awards, education, events, exhibitions, and opportunities that you will find interesting. Our sharing is neither paid for by nor an endorsement of these individuals or organisations.
Contact Us: If you have any concerns about content, please email us at feltmakersie@gmail.com.
Questions: For questions about content, please follow the link to the organisation involved in hosting the event.
