Adrienne Dempsey

Sunday Session Recap: Felting Alongside Friends – A Creative Sunday Gathering

Published on April 16, 2026April 16, 2026 by Feltmakers Ireland

A group of people engaged in a workshop or activity around a table, with various bags and items on the table, featuring a mix of ages and clothing styles.

By Adrienne Dempsey

On Sunday, the 12th April, a small but dedicated group of Feltmakers Ireland members came together for a truly enjoyable session of wet and needle felting. The day was filled with creativity, shared techniques, lively conversation, and plenty of inspiration. It was also especially lovely to welcome two new members into the group.

The morning unfolded in a vibrant display of colour and texture, with members working on a variety of beautiful pieces. Creations included felted hearts, bowls, bags, jewellery, and intricate 3D needle-felted animals. There was also great interest in embellished work using Angelina fibres, which added a distinctive sparkle to many projects.

A sincere thank you goes to Margaret Ryan Collins, Christine Bond, and Sandra Chase for demonstrating wet felting techniques and sharing their expertise with the group. Adrienne Dempsey and Sam Fagan also demonstrated printing and embossing with fusible Angelina fibres, showing how these can be used to add decorative, eye-catching elements to felted pieces.

Throughout the session, members collaborated and supported one another. Highlights included beautifully crafted wet-felted bowls and hearts, embellished brooches, works-in-progress such as felted bags, and charming needle-felted creations like a delicate bunny. It was wonderful to see both finished pieces and projects still evolving.

We rounded off the session in the best possible way—with tea, coffee, great conversation, and delicious hot cross buns. A special thanks to Lorna for providing this lovely treat. Thank you to everyone who contributed their time, skills, and enthusiasm. It was a warm, inspiring, and thoroughly enjoyable creative morning shared among friends.

Here are photographs from our session:

Two women engaged in a crafting activity, working with materials on a table. The image includes four smaller pictures showcasing their finished craft pieces against a red background.

Sam Fagan (left) and Adrienne Dempsey (right) demonstrate working with Angelina Fibres.

Two women engaged in crafting activities at a table, using colourful wool and tools, in a creative workshop setting.

Christine Bond (left) and Mary Lee (right) wet felting together.

A handmade turquoise felt heart with a central decorative pattern in shades of red and pink.

Mary completed a wet-felted heart and embellished it with Angelina Fibres.

A handmade felted bowl with a green and blue interior on the left, and a multi-coloured abstract design on the right.

Christine completed a wet-felted bowl, front and back.

A round textile art piece with a central dark pattern surrounded by a gradient of light blue and grey fibres.

A close-up of a round, blue felted wool item with a textured centre, featuring metallic threads for added sparkle.

Adrienne Dempsey shared her needle-felted, embellished Angelina Fibre brooches.

An elderly woman with short white hair wearing glasses, focused on crafting with yarn, seated at a table in a workshop setting. She is dressed in a green coat and scarf, with a partially finished green and black bag in front of her, surrounded by various crafting supplies and materials.

Hilary Osman is working on her unfinished projects, adding a button closure to her felted bag.

A rectangular piece of felted wool in shades of blue, red, and hints of turquoise, featuring a textured surface.

Sandra Chase shared her wet-felted bag; it is a work in progress.

A woman with glasses smiles while holding a bright orange heart-shaped felted item, surrounded by various handmade felt animals including a hedgehog, fox, owl, and panda, showcased in a collage format.

Lauren Kirwan completed a wet-felted heart and shared a beautiful display of needle-felted pieces.

An elderly woman in a red jacket holds a handmade felt rabbit while smiling at the camera.

Mairéad de Burca shared a lovely needle-felted bunny.

Two women engaged in a creative crafting session, working on a table with various materials including colourful fibres and tools.

Margaret Ryan Collins (left) and Pat Duggan (right) wet-felting together.

A decorative round object with a textured surface, featuring a mix of deep orange and blue colours. It has a small, orange top resembling a balloon.

Pat completed a colourful wet-felted bowl.

Two women engaged in a crafting activity, one slicing a piece of material while the other observes. The setting is a well-lit indoor space with tables and decorations in the background.

Sandra (left) and Laura (right) wet-felting together.

Book cover titled 'The Complete Photo Guide to Felting' by Ruth Lane, featuring colourful felted materials and key highlights about felting techniques and tips.

Great book shared at the session, “The Complete Photo Guide to Felting” by Ruth Lane.

A handwritten note explaining the history of hot cross buns, detailing their ingredients, traditional consumption on Good Friday, and modern-day availability in supermarkets.

Lorna Cady’s ongoing series: Buns (or biscuits or cakes) with History!

May Session

Our May Session will be our Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Sunday, the 10th of May, from 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM. There will be the usual business of the AGM, plus a special guest speaker, Zoë Daly of the Wicklow County-based company Ériu. There will be the annual drawing for a Bursary of 250 euros for a member to use for a textile-related workshop. Of course, we will enjoy tea and coffee, and member-supplied tasty treats.

We hope to see you there!

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 the content, please follow the link to the organisation hosting the event.

This Sunday: Felt & Fabric Design Transfer Workshop – with Adrienne Dempsey

Published on April 10, 2026April 6, 2026 by Feltmakers Ireland

A felt bowl featuring an embroidered bee design, promoting an April workshop for felt and fabric design transfer.

This Sunday, we will learn how to transfer designs onto felt fabrics using soluble fabric and heat-transfer techniques with committee member Adrienne Dempsey.

In this workshop, we’ll explore different methods for transferring designs and bring them to life through needle felting.

You’ll create a motif that you can use in your own artwork or transform into a decorative piece, such as a brooch.

Hand-stitched felted bee design on a natural fabric backdrop within an embroidery hoop.

Close-up of a handmade felt brooch featuring a black and yellow bee design on a circular beige background.

Materials we will use:

•Linen and silk canvas fabric
•Heat transfer materials, fabric pens
•Soluble fabric
•Vilene, cotton batting, calico, and Pellon
•Parchment paper
•Needle felting wool (black & white and a selection of colours)
•Felting needles
•Iron
•Embroidery threads & beads (optional)

What to bring:

Bring both your Needle and Wet Felting Kits

Felting wool and felting needles
Felting pad
Towel
Bowl for water
Soap
Bubble wrap
Small scissors
Embroidery hoop (6 inch, optional)

The Details:

When: Sunday, the 12th of April, 2026, 10:30 AM – 12:30 PM.

Where: CIE Sports Hall, Library Square, Inchicore, Kilmainham, Dublin, D8

Additional Information:

If you can, please bring a home-baked good to share and a travel mug (so we can reduce our use of disposable cups).

And, as this is the season of coughs and sneezes, please refrain from coming if you feel unwell.

NO Zoom Access to this Sunday Session:

Unfortunately, we will NOT be able to provide Zoom access for this Sunday’s session, as our tech support (Juliane) cannot attend. Thank you for your understanding.

Disclaimer for Feltmakers Ireland Blog

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.

Sunday Session: Felt & Fabric Design Transfer Workshop – with Adrienne Dempsey

Published on April 6, 2026April 6, 2026 by Feltmakers Ireland

For our April Sunday Session, we will learn how to transfer designs onto felt fabrics using soluble fabric and heat-transfer techniques with committee member Adrienne Dempsey.

In this workshop, we’ll explore different methods for transferring designs and bring them to life through needle felting.

You’ll create a motif that you can use in your own artwork or transform into a decorative piece, such as a brooch.

Materials we will use:

What to bring:

Bring both your Needle and Wet Felting Kits

Felting wool and felting needles
Felting pad
Towel
Bowl for water
Soap
Bubble wrap
Small scissors
Embroidery hoop (6 inch, optional)

The Details:

When: Sunday, the 12th of April, 2026, 10:30 AM – 12:30 PM.

Where: CIE Sports Hall, Library Square, Inchicore, Kilmainham, Dublin, D8

Additional Information:

If you can, please bring a home-baked good to share and a travel mug (so we can reduce our use of disposable cups).

And, as this is the season of coughs and sneezes, please refrain from coming if you feel unwell.

NO Zoom Access to this Sunday Session:

Unfortunately, we will NOT be able to provide Zoom access for this Sunday’s session, as our tech support (Juliane) cannot attend. Thank you for your understanding.

Disclaimer for Feltmakers Ireland Blog

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.

Learning: Transfer Printing onto Felt and Other Fabrics with Lindsey Tyson

Published on March 20, 2025March 19, 2025 by Feltmakers Ireland2 Comments

By Adrienne Dempsey

Winner of Feltmarker’s Ireland’s Educational Bursary of 2024, Adrienne Dempsey, attended Lindsey Tyson’s online course, ‘Transfer Printing onto Felt and Other Fabrics’.

I would like to thank Feltmakers Ireland and guild member Doris Reinisch for the generous bursary prize of €250 award for 2024. Doris’s name was originally pulled from the draw at our annual AGM. However, due to her having previously won the bursary prize, Doris kindly permitted us to randomly select another name from the draw and give the prize to another member. {You can read about what Doris studied HERE on the blog.}

To my surprise and joy, I was informed I had won the bursary prize. I chose an online course, ‘Transfer Printing onto Felt and Other Fabrics’, with Lindsey Tyson. The bursary prize money contributed towards this course.

I first saw Lindsey’s printed felt products on Instagram and her website, Lindsey Tyson Art. Lindsey had a successful career in textiles, has been printing on felt for many years, and has developed her own techniques. I am amazed at her printed felt products and how she mastered such clear, precise and detailed images – especially onto felt. The course is not a felting course; it consists of How to Transfer Prints onto Felt and other Fabrics. Lindsey has produced a comprehensive pre-recorded course to share her expertise. Lindsey’s video tutorials provide hours of demonstration, which is backed up by documentation that can be printed out, which I found really useful.

I pondered for some time before signing up for this course, as I knew this printing method would involve a certain amount of equipment and software. I decided not to rush out and buy a laser printer or a heat press. I used local resources around me, as I had access to a laser printer that I could use. I had been a member of a print studio, and I arranged to use their textile heat press to get me started.

The course covers in great detail how to design and manipulate images. It includes tutorials on using free software as well as paid software like Photoshop. I had an old version of Photoshop on my desktop that I could use, and I had great fun at the start trying to remember how to use this software, as it’s been a few years since I used it. I found Lindsey’s Photoshop tutorials a great guide, and I hope to get more proficient using Photoshop.

I’ve enjoyed all the course content very much, especially the fabric design elements. I was delighted to find a way of combining my line drawings, paintings, and photographs. I learned how to design my own imagery and patterns so that I could transfer my designs onto felt. I also learnt about fabrics suitable for printing.

This course taught me the importance of choosing the right type of paper to transfer onto felt when using a laser or inkjet printer. I used Lindsey’s paper recommendations and purchased paper from her website.

I experimented a lot. I had several prints with which I was not pleased with the print quality. I discovered that the quality of your print can be down to not using the right temperature, pressure, and trimming on the heat press.

I felted large squares of felt in white 19-micron Merino wool, and I also bought prefelt Merino wool in preparation to print. To practice printing onto felt, I used free image resources recommended in the course, my photography, line drawings, and paintings.

The First One

For my first attempt at printing, I used free images printed on 19-micron Merino wool.

First Attempt: Free images printed on 19-micron Merino - a Seagull, a deer, and an owl.

Floral Experiment

Next, I worked with a flower photograph that I edited in Photoshop, ready to print and transfer onto extra-fine prefelt. I wanted to see how clear I could get this image from a photograph printed onto paper and then transferred onto felt. I hoped this image would pick up the shadows and colours that I liked about the original picture. It was interesting to see the printed results when transferred onto felt.

Repeat Patterns

Experimenting with a repeat pattern, tree images were transferred onto a 19-micron Merino.

Three-Dimensional Work

I really enjoyed making the below nature-printed pebbles and brooches using core wool and 19-micron Merino wool. I am pleased with the finished printed results.

Line drawing flower printed onto a felt pebble.

A robin painting printed on three felted pebbles, with a free robin with a holly branch image transferred onto a felted brooch.

Conclusion

I highly recommend this course if you want to learn to print onto felt and other fabrics. The beauty of the pre-recorded online course is that you can access it indefinitely, always revisit parts if you are unsure, and can take it at your own pace.

Ongoing course support is great. There is a private Facebook group where you can share your ideas, questions and any problems you may have, and Lindsey is always on hand to answer your questions and ensure you have all the information you need to succeed via email and Facebook.

Lindsey Tyson is having a Moving-On course sale on ‘Transfer Printing onto Felt and Other Fabrics’. She is moving away from feltmaking and printing to focus solely on her painting practice. NOTE: Registration for the class closes on the 30th of April. But once you purchase this course, you will have unlimited access.

To register for Lindsey Tyson’s ‘Transfer Printing onto Felt Course’ visit this page on her website – https://www.lindseytyson.art/transferprint-1

Or if you have questions, contact her directly – transferprint@lindseytyson.com

Instagram: @lindseytysonart

Feltmakers Ireland would like to thank Adrienne Dempsey for her lovely report and congratulate her on these brilliant course results.

We will hold a raffle for another Educational Bursary at our AGM in May. If you have not done so already, please renew your membership for a chance to win!

Disclaimer for Feltmakers Ireland Blog

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.

Exhibition: More Artists’ Inspiration to ‘Opposites Attract’

Published on May 18, 2024May 29, 2024 by Feltmakers Ireland7 Comments

This year, Feltmakers Ireland’s annual art exhibition at the Phoenix Park Visitors’ Centre is curated around the theme of ‘Opposites Attract’. Within the gallery, wall placards explain each piece’s inspiration. For those who cannot make it to the show, here are the inspiration and photographs of some more of our members’ artwork.

The Series

The complete series of posts on our Members’ Inspiration can be found here:

Heather Byrne

Two jellyfish gracefully dance amidst contrasting currents, embodying the timeless adage of ‘Opposites Attract’. Their ethereal forms, pulsating with contrasting vibrant hues, symbolise the harmony found in embracing differences. Through their delicate movements, the felting invites viewers to contemplate the beauty that emerges when opposing forces unite in a mesmerising display of elegance and synchronicity.

Tamzen Lundy

This piece was inspired by Tamzen’s “spiritual” home of Co. Donegal and a recent trip to a windswept cliff top, Horn Head, Dunfanaghy.

People often refer to Donegal as the county where “The land meets the sea”. The vistas are immense, and the sky is vast. However, there are also wonderful tiny landscapes in every rockpool, to be found, examined and explored. This piece is inspired by such a landscape.

By using colours from opposite sides of the colour wheel and fibres from both animal and insect, the artist has interpreted the land and sea and how these opposites attract.”

Bernie Hennessy

Coral’s skeletal structure is transparent; it gets its vibrant colour from an algae inhabitant called zooxanthellae, with which it exists in a symbiotic relationship. In my work ‘Tabulata’, I use merino fleece to express the vulnerability of the algae and porcelain to represent the structure of the coral. In doing so, I hope to convey how two opposing elements of nature, the delicate, colourful algae and the strong, transparent coral, neither of which can live independently, can be attracted to each other to form a symbiotic relationship, which results in such a wonder of nature.

My piece illustrates the concept of opposites attract within relationships and the lyrics of a classic love song, “Just the Two of Us” by Grover Washington Jr. with Bill Withers.

The opening lines of the song set the scene for the rest of the lyrics. “I see the crystal raindrops fall, and the beauty of it all is when the sun comes shining through.” These lyrics set up the idea that everything in life has its ups and downs, but the beauty of it all is when the sun shines through.

The meaning behind the song is ultimately about love and the importance of relationships. How differences can create a magnetic attraction between two people.

Joanne Turner

When I thought about the theme ‘Opposites Attract’, I was drawn to the antithetical parallelism of proverbs in the Bible. My piece illustrates the dynamic energy of opposites: earth & sky; blue & yellow; throwing away & gathering together. Could it be that the key to a happy life is as simple as knowing when to jettison our ‘stones’ and when to hold them close?

We hope that you enjoyed learning about what inspires these artists. This series on the exhibition will continue over the coming week. ‘Opposites Attract’ is at the Phoenix Park Visitors Centre until the 26th of May.

The gallery is open from 10 AM until 4 PM daily.

Disclaimer for Feltmakers Ireland Blog

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.

Exhibition: One More Day – Feltmakers Ireland’s Exhibition Opens

Published on May 3, 2024May 2, 2024 by Feltmakers Ireland

Today is Friday, so there is only one more day until the Feltmakers Ireland group exhibition opens at the Phoenix Park Visitors’ Centre.

Here is a bevvy of felted artworks from the following members: Adrienne Dempsey, Elaine Peden, Marie Dunne, Annika Berglund, Joanne Turner, Marika Miklosi Manning, Tamzen Lundy, and Heather Byrne.

Adrienne Dempsey
Elaine Peden
Marie Dunne
Annika Berglund
Joanne Turner
Marika Miklosi Manning
Tamzen Lundy
Heather Byrne

Tomorrow is the BIG Day – our opening, is at 3 PM at the Phoenix Park Visitors’ Centre. Due to construction for the upcoming Bloom, please allow more time to travel to the gallery.

Disclaimer for Feltmakers Ireland Blog

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.

Exhibition: Opening This Afternoon – ‘Bountiful’

Published on September 30, 2023September 30, 2023 by Feltmakers Ireland

Today, on the 30th of September, art enthusiasts and admirers of the exquisite craft of felting will gather at the Phoenix Park Visitors Centre in Dublin, Ireland. Feltmakers Ireland’s highly anticipated juried exhibition is set to open its doors to the public at 3 PM.

The exhibition showcases a stunning array of felted artworks that push the boundaries of this ancient textile art form.

As a sneak peek into what promises to be an awe-inspiring show, we bring you exclusive glimpses from four diverse pieces that will be featured in this remarkable exhibition.

Photo 1 – Breda Fay’s wall piece, ‘Torthuil’.

Photo 2 – Valerie OCeallaigh’s ‘Bountiful Love’.

Photo 3 – Adrienne Dempsey’s ‘Where the Wild Things Grow’.

Our exhibition will be opened by Pippa Hackett, Sheep Farmer and Irish Minister for Land Use and Biodiversity. She has kindly written the foreword to our ‘wool project book’, ‘Exploring Irish Wool for Feltmaking’. Copies of the book will be available during the opening and throughout the exhibition.

Lastly, many thanks to the Design and Craft Council of Ireland for helping to fund our 20th-anniversary Floral Tapestry Project.