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 content-related questions, please follow the link to the organisation hosting the event.
REVEIRE University College Cork (UCC), the three-year wool research project funded by the Environmental Protection Agency, joins Bioeconomy Ireland Week 2025, for “The Circular Shift: Transforming Waste into a Bio-based Economy”.
The event will explore how research is transforming waste into bio-based value across Ireland, featuring EPA-funded projects tackling textile, wool, agri-food, and urban bio-waste.
REVEIRE will showcase their work on regenerative value systems for Irish-grown wool, contributing to a more circular and sustainable bioeconomy.
The event is organised by Maynooth University and University College Cork, with support from the Circular Bioeconomy Cluster at Munster Technological University.
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.
‘Mary Quant and the 1960s Mini Revolution’ has opened at the Museum of Style Icons (MOSI) at Newbridge Silverware, in Co Kildare. 21 pieces of the collection were previously exhibited at the V&A in London in 2020.
Admission is free, and the exhibition will run until the end of 2025.
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.
As of the 9th of July, the workshop is FULLY BOOKED. If you want to be put on the waiting list, please email Sam – see below for her details.
Workshop Description from Pam:
“In the workshop, we will learn several skills useful for fibre jewellery making. We will make one or more pieces of felted jewellery depending on the complexity of the individual design. We will look at how to design the piece for wearing, and how to construct various closures and attachments. You can also learn how to incorporate foreign objects if necessary.”
WHEN: Friday, the 18th through Sunday, the 20th of July 2025, 10 AM to 5 PM
To apply for PAM de GROOT’s workshop, please email committee member Sam Fagan at samantha.d.fagan@gmail.com
Please include Pam de Groot’s name in the ‘Subject Line’ of your email.
All participants will be notified via email and provided with a payment link for secure payment using a credit or debit card. The cost is 250 euros for members / 265 euros for non-members.
Additional Information
Supplies are not included in the workshop price. Once registered, we will email students the supply list provided by Pam.
Cancellation & Refund Policy for Workshops
If you need to cancel your place in a Feltmakers Ireland workshop, please notify the Guild by email at least 7 days before the start of the class. A €10 handling fee will be deducted from your refund.
Cancellations made less than 7 days before the workshop are not eligible for a refund. However, if you can find a replacement student to take your place AND inform the Guild within this period, you will receive a refund (minus the €10 handling fee).
Please note: In exceptional or unforeseen circumstances, the committee may consider refund requests at its discretion.
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.
On Friday, the 16th of May, twelve members of Feltmakers Ireland enthusiastically came together for our first in-person workshop with an international tutor since the COVID pandemic. Our teacher was the esteemed Canadian artist and teacher, Marjolein Dallinga, who has a wonderful hands-on teaching style, where students experienced the sculptural possibilities of wool.
We learned how to create three unique felted sculptures, each incorporating many stages of the complex techniques Marjolein uses in her artwork. As specific processes needed to be followed when the projects were dry, it was a choreographed dance!
Here is a lovely photo of some students gazing with adoration on their damp, in-progress work.
Students Watching
Throughout the three days, there were step-by-step demonstrations of techniques.
Everyone is hard at work.
Students Felting
Exhibition
At the end of the course, we had a mini-exhibition in the sunshine. It was wonderful to see how each student’s work came out!
Thanks to the Many
Many thanks to Suzanne Phelan for taking care of so many details and keeping everyone caffeinated. A tip of the hat to Elaine Peden for recommending Kilteel Hall – isn’t it beautiful? Also, thanks to Elizabeth Redding and Breda Fay, guild members who came by to lend a hand. ENORMOUS thanks to Elizabeth for bringing the tubes that we used to raise the tables—it was such a treat to have those! Of course, thanks to all the students who helped create such a focused learning community and knew how to laugh!
The warmest thanks go to Marjoelein for sharing her warmth, wisdom, and talents. We look forward to her return to Ireland!
Marjoelin Dallinga in Kilteel, Co Kildare.
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.
NOTE: MARJOLEIN’S CLASS IS NOW FULL – as of 28th of April.
Feltmakers Ireland is thrilled to announce that we will be hosting TWO exclusive, wet felting workshops this year with renowned international tutors! We haven’t hosted an international workshop in a long time and are super excited!
Each workshop runs for three days and is limited to twelve students.
Registration is now open to non-members of Feltmakers Ireland. (Guild members have already received emailsannouncing the workshops.)
The workshop with Marjolein Dallinga is appropriate for intermediate to advanced feltmakers.
The workshop with Pam de Groot is appropriate for most feltmakers.
It is from the dance of often conflicting emotions that creativity and art are born. Though sculpture is usually perceived as static I see it more as movement, and in this workshop the movement of wool fibers into felt.
And as long as there is movement there is life and possibilities.
This 3-day workshop will deepen the consciousness about experiences learned from sculpting with wool and other fibres. We will explore different techniques for sculptural form ideas, with themes like: folding and unfolding, building relief clamping, binding, etc. All to become more aware of how and why we want to use this medium. This workshop is inspired by different ideas to make three-dimensional sculptures with conceptional, intuitive and sensual sources to create from. We will play with the processes of shortening, thickening, tightening, shrinking, and other transformations of the felted surfaces.
All out of the experience of discovery and surprise when working with this surprising wool medium.
WHEN: Friday, the16th through Sunday, the 18th of May, 2025, 9 AM to 5 PM
“In the workshop, we will learn several skills useful for fibre jewellery making. We will make one or more pieces of felted jewellery depending on the complexity of the individual design. We will look at how to design the piece for wearing, and how to construct various closures and attachments. You can also learn how to incorporate foreign objects if necessary.”
WHEN: Friday, the 18th through Sunday, the 20th of July 2025, 10 AM to 5 PM
NOTE: As of 28th of April, Marjolein’s workshop is NOW FULL.
To apply for PAM de GROOT’s workshop, please email committee member Annika Berglund at annika@annikaberglund.com
Please include the tutor’s name in the ‘Subject Line’ of your email.
All participants will be notified via email and provided with a payment link for secure payment using a credit or debit card.
Additional Information
Supplies are not included in the workshop price. Once registered, we will email students the supply list provided by each tutor.
Cancellation & Refund Policy for Workshops
If you need to cancel your place in a workshop, please notify the Guild by email at least 7 days before the start of the class. A €10 handling fee will be deducted from your refund.
Cancellations made less than 7 days before the workshop are not eligible for a refund. However, if you are able to find a replacement student to take your place and inform the Guild within this period, you will receive a refund (minus the €10 handling fee).
Please note: In exceptional or unforeseen circumstances, the committee may consider refund requests at its discretion.
Feltmakers Ireland is very grateful to have received grant money from the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland to partially cover the costs of these two workshops.
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.
We invite you to the evening launch of the new pop-up store. A collective of Eleven Kildare-based Artists, Makers, Designers, and Businesses under the name “Ó Lámha” (from the hand) has taken on the unit for the summer season.
We are opening as part of the Kildare town’s Derby Festival, reviving this unit with the aim of making this space a permanent feature that supports the work of locally based makers, with a specific focus on the creative community.
“Ó Lámha” is a collective of local makers and designers, offering a variety of beautiful handmade products, including cards, prints, silk scarves, woodwork, and jewellery.
WHERE: The old Southwells grocery store, on Kildare Town Market Square, right beside Hartes’ gastropub and a 10-minute walk from Kildare village.
WHEN: Grand Opening Thursday, 27th, 5PM—light refreshments and an evening shopping experience, plus a chance to meet the makers themselves.
GENERAL OPENING TIMES: Thursday- Sunday, 10 AM-5 PM.
We’d love to have you, please help us spread the word about this new venture.
They say it “takes a village… actually, we think it takes a town- Kildare town!”
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 the 11th of March, several members of Feltmakers Ireland went to the Newmarket Town Hall in Co Kildare to participate in Wool – The Legacy of St Brigid. The event was organised by Deirdre Lane of Shamrock Spring, with assistance from the AONTAS Adult Learners Festival.
The Irish Wool Book
Member, Annika Berglund, showed felted samples of Irish-grown wool, which will be featured in the upcoming book, Exploring Irish Wool for Feltmaking. The book covers the best Irish wool breeds for feltmaking. Includes sections on sourcing, preparing, and dyeing wool at home using simple ingredients.
Annika with the book’s felted samples and Fiona and Deirdre demonstrating feltmaking
Additionally, Annika was part of the afternoon speakers’ panel at Wool: Legacy of St Brigid.
Further members’ contributions came from Feltmakers Ireland members Fiona Leech and Deirdre Crofts, who demonstrated feltmaking, while Juliane Gorman demonstrated felting hats with Irish-grown wool.
Now on Video!
The Video
During the event in Newbridge, there was a professional crew filming the day’s happenings. A short excellent video of Wool: The Legacy of St Brigid can be seen at the EWE Foundation‘s European Wool Day, which was on the 9th of April. This year it happened in Serbia.
The entire day’s event of EWE can be watched HERE. Note: there are initial technical difficulties with the audio. However, our section from Newbridge, Wool: The Legacy of St Brigid, happens HERE and is EXCELLENT!
Many thanks to all who braved the rain to learn more about wool. Again, huge thanks to Deirdre Lane of Shamrock Spring for organising the event.
Feltmakers Ireland 