Category: Workshops

Basic and Beyond FI Vessel Making Workshop 05/03/2023

Published on by Feltmakers Ireland

Yesterday, our Guild Treasurer, Artist Annika Berglund, led the wonderful “Basic and Beyond” workshop. We made a versatile double-walled vessel.

An early start at 10am had us all rushing for coffee and tea, and the committee and some participants provided an array of lovely buns and cakes. Some participants had travelled from faraway places such as Galway, Kilbeggan and Slane.

Annika showed us samples of the finished piece, and asked us to choose 2 x10gr bags of tencel, a fibre which she had dyed in a variety of colours. Each participant was also given a kit bag of merino wool, with the resist already cut out in the shape needed for our vessels. 

Annika then gave us  a series of demonstrations to help create our vessels step by step.

1st: She showed us how we would lay out the tencel for our colour pop.

2nd: After another short demo and we then laid the white band and the black bands of our wool. (Layer one). This “inside-out” lay out was explained, and several committee members, Marian, Clare, Deirdre Crofts and Fiona helped the 18 participants.

Then, we had a lunch break on the premises with tea and coffee provided. This allowed a very warm-hearted social interaction between long standing Guild members and some new arrivals.

3rd: After lunch Annika again demonstrated the second layer of wool and how she wished us to rub and  roll our pieces. Hard rollers were provided by the committee.

4th: The next demonstration was how to make  slits or cuts with sharp scissors, after which we each designed how we wanted our final pieces to appear. 

5th: This demo was how to “cure” our slit edges, and we continued to roll until the whole piece was well felted. This was a reminder to all of us  how physically energetic actual felt-making is!

6th:  This demonstration was how to style our pieces, showing us ways to strengthen the base and to give a stylish finish to the ‘frames’ of our window slits. Annika showed us further samples of the variety of ways to use this skill.

All of us were very satisfied indeed with our beautiful vessels when we finally saw the double wall with the inner pop of  colour through the “Windows”. Each person’s piece was different to the next. Group photos were taken before we left for the journey home. 

As a final bonus, Annika presented each of us with notes so we can make it again if we like!

A huge thank you to Annika and the committee for a wonderful day.

Clare Brophy 

Secretary 

Feltmakers Ireland

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Feltmakers Ireland Sunday Session 11/12/2022 with Carmen Draghici at CIE Social Club Inchicore

Published on by Feltmakers Ireland

A big thanks, especially to Clare Brophy, who had a special treat in store for us for at this December’s Sunday Session, with Romanian felt artist Carmen Draghici, and her lovely daughter Corinna. You can find samples of her work online at FELT JOY. She has an Etsy shop. She was only able to bring 2 beautiful pieces with her, due to Ryanair’s weight restrictions.

Carmen’s Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=Carmen%20Draghici%20Felt%20Joy

Clare had discovered Carmen’s fabulous felt work online, purchased a piece,  and was bowled over by the quality and design of the jacket that she had bought. She invited Carmen to come to Ireland from Constanza, southern Romania, to lead a Sunday Session with us.

Carmen, luckily, was very happy to come to Ireland to meet all of us. Although Hungary has a very rich Feltmaking tradition, its neighbour Romania does not, as yet anyway,  and she was delighted to be in the company of other feltmakers.  She envied us our regular opportunities to felt together, and is going to investigate if she can bring us to Romania next year!

Carmen had planned a project with us, wet-felting a small Christmas Cushion, using some special lace brought with her from Romania. However, as 4 of the group were new feltmakers, it proved too  ambitious for the 2 hours. She suggested  finishing it at home or turning it into a table runner instead. There was much to learn from Carmen, an engineer by profession, from laying viscose fibre down cleanly to achieve  sharp shapes, to using different unfamiliar fibre layouts, like herringbone, and diagonal, depending on what you were making, and using, for the most part just one layer of fine merino tops. It was also new to some people to to have an upside-down layout, and use a resist.

Personally speaking, I would love to have her back again to learn more of her tips and knowledge as she seemed to be a mine of information as well as having a great personality and we did not have enough time with her. She herself was frustrated by the  short time involved and the differing levels of experience within this group, and wanted especially to give the new people good standards of finish.

I arrived at the Sunday Session with my friend Nara Fritch, from Seattle, US, but now long time resident in Ireland, living near me in Skerries. Nara keeps Alpacas and was totally entranced by an invited guest of Committee member, Annike Berglund, leader of the Feltmakers Ireland Wool Project Her Guest, Grant Bartholomew had requested to be an observer at the Sunday Session.  Grant is an Alpaca farmer, from South Africa and living in Ireland for 3 years. He arrived with his family. After our session with Carmen, he briefly explained the different types of Alpaca fibre he had brought with him.  

by Clodagh McDonagh

The committee has decided to  devote another Sunday session later to the picking and washing of a raw fleece and  give everybody a chance to felt a small sample using one of a variety of Irish local wools.

Sunday Session with Carmen Draghici at CIE Social Club Inchicore 04/12/22 starting at 9:30 (please note time!)

Published on by Feltmakers Ireland

Carmen Draghici,  coming specially from Constanza in southern Romania for the weekend. Her work can be viewed online at FELT JOY and on Facebook & You Tube. She has an ETSY shop and she will bring some of her work to show us.

She will demonstrate some of her unique skills, making a small Christmas Cushion (as time is so limited )

It will be practical session. Some kits may be available to purchase (€4) for those who have materials (old towel, soap, bubble wrap etc) needed to felt with Carmen.

Materials needed:  (exactly as last session)

Old towel, bubble wrap, resist, soap, and water bottle, needed.

70 grams red roving, embellishments (including, if you have any, old lace or finest crochet) 

All members are welcome. 

Tea coffee and Xmas goodies for all!

(Non-members also welcome €10)

Some Information on what you need to bring and what you will learn:

Click to access lista.pdf

Also: A call out to people who were at the last Sunday session: If you have not unpacked your bags from this event yet, please check if you have ended up with an extra piece by mistake: It is a long brownish piece with an abstract design.

Hope to see you there!

Sunday Sessions 06/11/22 & 04/12/22 & Upcoming Exhibitions

Published on by Feltmakers Ireland

Sunday Session  November 6th 2022 in the CIE Social Club Inchicore!

On Sunday 6th November Feltmakers Ireland Committee and 25 members took part in a `hands-on` practical Feltmaking session. There was great excitement, as a Nationwide film team was coming to film our efforts and interview some key members of our Feltmakers Ireland community. 

The session was led by Tamzen Lundy, a former Committee member. She had designed a really charming Christmas project for us, a felted Nordic style Santa Claus in 3D. You can use the Santa Claus as a tree decoration, as a bottle topper, or as a stand alone ornament.

Feltmaking is a craft that allows you to easily produce items in 3D without any sewing at all. The committee had prepared a kit bag for each participant, containing all we required for this session.

Tamzen then took us all very clearly through the process, which involved laying merino wool in 3 alternate layers on a triangular shaped resist. 

For Santa’s face, Tamzen showed us 2 ways of making and attaching a felt nose,(a felt bead, cut in two) by fluffing it up with a wire (or pet) brush, then had an ingenious method of using a small piece of prefelt (sometimes called Needlepunch) to create the face, and then cutting a teeny hole in the prefelt to reveal the nose. Later we would use needle felting to add eyes and beard. 

The main learning points I took from Tamzen`s were: 

  • To use no soap in your wetting down process, (and generally very little soap overall) a bit controversial for me as soap tends to be my `comfort blanket`. 
  • No rolling, (not a roller in sight! ), use bubblewrap as a rubbing tool , and generally keep on rubbing, and massaging with your bare hands, or bubblewrap, on the surface of your piece until any sign of `cellulite` is gone! (Of course that meant that a big discussion on what cellulite was, ensued!) 

At the end of the very happy and enjoyable session, it was really interesting how all the Santas looked very individual,  taking on their own personalities! 

While we participants were concentrating on our project, RTE`S Nationwide crew were filming a wonderful and  varied display of members’ work at the end of the room. They interviewed Deirdre Crofts from our Committee, who spoke of the different pieces on display and explained the different felting skills.

Founding member of Feltmakers Ireland, Elizabeth Bonnar was interviewed about our  Guild’s history in Ireland. Also interviewed was Astrid Tomrop-Hofman another important person who helped bring felt making to Ireland.

Our current research project on Irish breeds of sheep and their fleeces, was explained to Nationwide interviewer Zainab, by the leader of the research group, our Treasurer, Annika Berglund. The group hopes to publish a book in the near future with their findings.

Fiona Leech and Deirdre Croft told of our monthly Sunday Sessions,  and of our Annual Art Felt Exhibition. 

Zainab, interviewer, had her first go at Feltmaking!

For me, a member for many years, and formerly on committee, it was lovely to see old felting friends, like Helene Dooley, who has been working with the IFA , (the International Feltmakers Association, with which we are affiliated .) 

Session  leader, Tamzen, was interviewed, as she has turned her feltimaking into a successful business, and has an Etsy shop, Tamzenlundydesigns.

A very big thank you to Breda Fay, our Guild Chairperson, who was the person RTE contacted, and who made the film crew so welcome. Thanks to Lorna Cady, Committee member, who secured our venue, and to all our Committee members  who baked tasty goodies, and  made tea and coffee for us all, and made us all so welcome.

Clodagh Mac Donagh.

EXHIBITIONS

  • Our Feltmakers Ireland Annual Exhibition will open on Dec3rd in the Ashtown visitor Centre, in the Phoenix Park and will run for the whole of December
  • From 12th November until 23rd of December, Tamzen Lundy has an exhibition of her work at the Newbridge Arts Theatre Centre, Riverbank, Co. Kildare.

NEXT SUNDAY SESSION

venue: CIE sports hall, Inchicore

time : 10.15-12.30

Leader: Carmen Draghici,  coming specially from Constanza in southern Romania for the weekend. Her work can be viewed online at FELT JOY and on Facebook & You Tube. She has an ETSY shop and she will bring some of her work to show us.

She will demonstrate some of her unique skills, making a small Christmas Cushion (as time is so limited )

It will be practical session. Some kits may be available to purchase (€4) for those who have materials (old towel, soap, bubble wrap etc) needed to felt with Carmen.

Materials needed:  (exactly as last session)

Old towel, bubble wrap, resist, soap, and water bottle, needed.

70 grams red roving, embellishments (including, if you have any, old lace or finest crochet) 

All members are welcome. 

Tea coffee and Xmas goodies for all!

(Non-members also welcome €10)

Mandy Nash Workshop in Inchicore

Published on by Feltmakers Ireland

We had a really great day at The Works at Inchicore C.I.E. Social Club on Saturday last, where Feltmakers Ireland was hosting an in person felting workshop with renowned UK feltmaker, Mandy Nash.

Feltmakers old and new were delighted to get together to take part in the workshop organized in large part by Fiona Leech, who very unfortunately could not attend due to family circumstances.

Mandy makes a range of beautiful pieces, including hats, using Bergshaf wool (Austrian mountain sheep wool) and our workshop was on the theme of Bags.Mandy is the author of a book called Making Felt Bags available on the Book Depository.

Many of us feltmakers, me included, work , more or less exclusively with very fine Merino wool,
combed or carded into a fine wool rope, called tops. So, for some of us, there was a bit of a learning curve in tackling the mountain sheepswool!

Here are some examples of Mandy’s work:

Bergshaf is very different, as its fibre is shorter and more wiry, and is generally carded in
sheets , called Batts.

In Ireland, Cushendale Woolen Mills, Graiguenamanah, Co. Kilkenny still produces fibre which is a bit similar and can be used instead. The Irish Wool Group in Feltmakers Ireland is working very hard to try and source Irish wool for us to use, rather than always importing Australian Merino.

Many of us feltmakers, me included, work , more or less exclusively with very fine Merino wool,
combed or carded into a fine wool rope, called tops.
So for some of us, there was a bit of a learning curve in tackling the mountain sheepswool!

Mandy directed us individually to create our bags on templates (flat patterns) provided by her, where we learnt to lay down the fibre very finely, evenly, and meticulously, not overlapping the template too much, as the fibre has a tendency to float out over the edges of the template.

We were helped along with lashings of hot tea, coffees and fabulous home baking supplied by participants. As with all Feltmaker events there was an amazingly generous atmosphere, a big thank you to Lorna who sourced the venue and produced amazing shortbread too! And to our glamourous assistants, Rena and Deirdre who kept a constant supply of hot water for felting, and to everyone else for baking, sharing their supplies, and problem solving skills and general all round support. And last but not least, Mandy Nash herself who left us all totally inspired, many thanks Mandy. Mandy had great patience and skill and managed to keep smiling despite the pressure! Although many of us had not completed our bag projects, at the end of the day we left with the knowledge to work on them at home. We will be doing a show and tell at our next Sunday Session at Inchicore on
November 6th next.

And of course, we hope that she will return in the future…hats next time perhaps??!!

To participants of the course: Please send in photos of finished bags to annika@annikeberglund.com and we will publish a second blog with the results from the workshop!

Clodagh Mac Donagh
Feltmakers Ireland


Workshop with Nancy Ballesteros 28/05/22

Published on by Feltmakers Ireland

After a two year postponement, we have finally put the plans in place to bring you an online zoom workshop with the world renowned felt maker NANCY BALLESTEROS from TREETOPS COLOURS, Australia. The workshop will take place on MAY 28th  9-12am and will be a MEMBERS ONLY workshop at a cost of 30 euro. Limited to 30 participants. There will be a follow up, in person, meet up a few weeks after to catch up, finish or discuss our endeavours with each other. Sadly Nancy won’t be there in person though! Most importantly, to participate in this workshop there is a video that Nancy wants us to watch beforehand.

If you are interested, we would encourage you to sign up quickly as there is growing interest from non members worldwide to join Feltmakers in order to take part in this workshop. Nancy is passing on the information to those who enquire about workshops she is doing. If you’ve got a membership that needs renewing ,maybe now is a good time!

That and workshop enquiries can be made by emailing us at

allmembers.feltmakersireland@gmail.com

Postage has also resumed from Australia so if you’re tempted by visiting Nancy’s shop and maybe purchasing, she is sure to get orders out asap. Treetopscolours.com.au 

All the best,

Fiona and the committee

Wishing bowl workshop

Published on by Feltmakers Ireland

Last weekend we had the pleasure to restart the Feltmakers Ireland workshops with one of our most inspiring artists Astrid Tomrop-Hofmann from https://bombyxmoriwearableart.com

We made wishing bowls using a unique technique of laying and felting fibres.

It seemed like a historical moment- getting back together after long two years and pandemic challenges meant that everyone took a leap of fate.

Astrid burst into action full of colour and energy and was very attentive to everyone’s needs and ideas. 

We started by making a very textured prefelt – it was a platter of found and saved textiles and fibres. This was going to be used to decorate our bowls, but there was plenty left from it for the future.

Then using the precision of a true perfectionist Astrid divided the wool into 20g and 10 g and laid it out to look like a colourful meringue with fibres laid as beams coming from the centre of the bowl. Then we put a thin layer of 10g going sideways. After we have done that we put the embellishments in whatever shape we wanted them to be and started felting and fulling. 

Astrid, as the participants noticed, was very much hands on tutor and loved nothing more but to help out, demonstrate and show us how she does it.

In the intermission most of us let loose at the artisan food market and enjoyed the yummy food in the beautiful relaxed grounds of the Marlay Park.

The wonderful surprise came from Helene Dooley who knew that Astrid has birthday in a few days so she made her a delicious birthday cake. Astrid was in tears (and so was I). 

It was lovely to see two new members joining us as a result of workshops.

The best part is always the smiles of the participants. This time I made sure that I heard from each participants in a quick chat after the workshop- great day, well organized, inspiring teacher were some of the comments. Astrid was delighted with the group and was very enthusiastic about their talent and dedication. Probably, most memorable to me would be the comment that we need more people like Astrid in our life. You see- I couldn’t agree more. 

I joined Feltmakers Ireland 10 years ago as I found that our community nurtures talent  and fosters wonderful connections. This year I found myself in a position to be able to serve this community.  It is a great privilege and a testament to you all that I was able to give back to you

. 

You know, sometimes your aspirations become reality. Just roll up your sleeves.

What was my wishing bowl about? 

My wishing bowl was for good times with great people.

So in a way my wish has come true.

Niki

UPDATE: Feltmakers Ireland Workshop – Wishing Bowl- Astrid Thomson

Published on by Feltmakers Ireland

This exciting workshop is coming up soon, so apply now to ensure you get a spot!

Date 11th Sep 10am -4pm

Venue: The Kitchen, The Courtyard, Marlay Park, Dublin

The materials list included with the application form has been updated so make sure you download the newest version of the form;

Updated Astrid Thomson workshop application formDownload

For those who do not have any Finn wool white, Mountain sheep or Tiroler Bergschaf wool listed in the materials list, Astrid will have Bergschaf wool available for sale at a nominal price.

This will be a great opportunity to reconnect with fellow feltmakers and a lovely day out!

For details and completed applications contact

Herself@nikicollier.com

Google location : https://goo.gl/maps/4WgETKJrvJ7SC9wEA

Beautiful location with artisan food market and free parking.

Astrid Thompson: https://bombyxmoriwearableart.com/

FB: (20+) Bombyx MORI – wearable art | Facebook

Feltmakers Ireland Workshop – Wishing Bowl- Astrid Thomson

Published on by Feltmakers Ireland

We are delighted to re start our workshop program with

Wishing Bowl- Astrid Thomson

Make a felted bowl  with one of our most beloved artists.

Date 11th Sep 10am -4pm

Venue: The Kitchen, The Courtyard, Marlay Park, Dublin

For more information and application form click here:

Astrid Thompson Application FormDownload

For details and completed applications contact

Herself@nikicollier.com

Google location : https://goo.gl/maps/4WgETKJrvJ7SC9wEA

Beautiful location with artisan food market and free parking.

Astrid Thompson

https://bombyxmoriwearableart.com/

FB: (20+) Bombyx MORI – wearable art | Facebook

Our Astrid was born in Germany, but lives and created in Ireland since 1979. She is a true pioneer at heart. We are all familiar that she was one of the first people to start the feltmaking movement in Ireland.  Beyond that she has also been living off grid for decades- long before it was mainstream movement. 

Since her childhood Astrid was surrounded by creativity, fashion and art. Her mother was a textile designer and her grandparents owned a beautiful garden, which inspired Astrid greatly. She was trained as a professional make-up artist at Film Studio Hamburg and Thalia Theater, and has been involved in art all her life. In 1986 Astrid started painting on silk and eventually committed to textiles as career. The rest is part of Feltmakers Ireland’s history. Astrid works with some of the most beautiful galleries in Ireland, exports internationally and exhibits in curated shows. The secret to it all? Talent and kindness.