Tag: Felt Stained Glass Technique

Recap - Sunday Session

Recap: September Sunday Session with Jane Fox – Felted Name Badges

Published on by Feltmakers Ireland1 Comment

By Committee Member Loli Cox

Jane Fox wore her name tag and lots of felted flowers while helping the Guild at Bloom 2025

Feltmakers Ireland’s 2025 Season Opener: Name Tag Wet Felting Workshop

What an incredible start to the 2025 season for Feltmakers Ireland! Our recent wet felting workshop, led by the wonderfully talented Jane Fox, was a resounding success, bringing together over 30 enthusiastic participants for a day of creativity, connection, and craft. On behalf of Feltmakers Ireland, we want to extend our deepest gratitude to Jane for making this event truly unforgettable.

Jane’s worktable with the supplies used to make Name Tags
Such glowing colours of the prefelt from Jane!
Prefelt now chopped up to make letters for names
Some sample names on Jane’s worktable

The Name Tag Making Workshop was a perfect blend of skill-building and community spirit, with participants ranging from seasoned felters to those just dipping their toes into the craft. Jane’s expertise, patience, and warm, relatable approach created an inviting atmosphere that resonated with everyone. Her ability to guide each participant, regardless of experience level, ensured that everyone left the session not only with newfound skills but also with a sense of accomplishment and joy.

One of the highlights of the day was the creation of personal name tags, each a unique piece of artwork crafted by the participants themselves.

In the workshop, Jane began by explaining and demonstrating how the name tags would be made using two pieces of prefelt. Each student started with a rectangular piece of white prefelt to act as the base. They then chose from colourful pre-felted wool that Jane had kindly prepared beforehand using her drum carder. On top of this, students could add embellishments such as silk, viscose, or even tiny chopped pieces of prefelt to create a confetti-like effect.

Once the decorative layers were arranged, the pieces were wetted down and lightly felted so the fibres began to intermingle and bond.

Cutting Out Letters

After this stage, the colourful prefelt was gently patted dry, ready for the next step. Students then cut out the letters of their names and arranged them either on the white prefelt or on the coloured felt. These layers were felted together and patted dry once more. Jane brought cut-out paper letters for the students to use, while Elizabeth brought silver-coloured, metal ones from a Meccano set.

The Stained Glass Felting Method

Jane shows the back of an image that has the stained glass felting technique, which outlines the various sections.

To make the letters stand out more clearly, students used the “stained glass felting” technique developed by Niki Collier during COVID-19, which culminated in an international exhibition that was shown at the Pearse Museum in Dublin and Gallery Kabllo, Vienna, in Austria – https://making.ie/stories/felt-stained-glass.

The stained glass method involved needle-felting a narrow black border of Merino roving around each coloured field or letter, which gave the shapes a crisp outline and improved legibility. By the end of the process, each participant had created a unique felted name tag, decorated with colour, texture, and clear lettering.

Jane Shows How to Make Narrow Lines with Wool

Members Using the Stained Glass Technique

These beautiful creations will be used at future Feltmakers Ireland events, serving as both a practical tool and a meaningful memento.

Some of the Almost Done Name Tags

A Couple of Longer Names

Jane had a clever solution to those members who had longer names: On a colourful felted ground, one could ‘write’ one’s name using a needle felting tool and black Merino wool. No cutting out of letters is needed!

A Nifty Needle Felting Kit

A couple of members brought along portable needle felting kits that we admired! A rainbow of wool, tools and even finger guards were included.

Biscuits with History

Each Sunday Session, Lorna creates interesting baked goods that have been eaten in the past. This month, she brought Aberffaw Biscuits. We wonder what she will bake next month?

Biscuits by Lorna – always a tasty and educational feature at our Sunday Sessions. Each session, she makes a different type.

The early feedback from participants has been overwhelmingly positive, with many praising Jane’s ability to make the workshop both educational and fun. Her passion for wet felting shone through, inspiring everyone to explore their creativity and connect with one another in a warm, supportive environment.

Felting Away

We couldn’t have asked for a better way to kick off our Autumn 2025 season!

Our Gratitude

Many thanks to all the volunteers who helped our Sunday Session run so smoothly: Lorna for opening the hall and taking care of all of our caffeine needs, Adrienne for greeting the members, Sam for making sure that the hall was left in excellent condition, and the rest of the committee for ensuring that the day ran so well. Stay tuned for more exciting workshops and events with Feltmakers Ireland, as we continue to celebrate the art of felting and the connections it fosters.

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.

Felt Stained Glass Exhibition awarded a Culture Ireland award to travel for Vienna

Published on by Feltmakers Ireland

By Niki Collier:

Visual Artist Niki Collier awarded @CultureIreland support to curate a show at Gallery Kabllo, Vienna, in Austria from 15th September to 6th October  in her newly developed technique Felt Stained Glass.
The technique which started as an attempt to keep spirits up during the first lockdown has captured the imagination of artists across the globe and has avalanched to a movement bringing artists together. 20 of the most interesting contemporary fibre artists will be on show to the discerning Viennese audience from 15th September to 6th October. The artist are from across the globe- UK, USA, Japan, Germany, France and Ireland.

The exhibition also features the ever-growing community panel of over 100 pieces developed through online and in person classes. The panel features artists of all ages- the youngest participant is 7 and the oldest is 80. Some are influential makers, some have made felt for the first time through this project.

Artist Catherine Stebinger, USA, Le Mont Saint Michel at Sunset SM
Artist Joanne Turner, Ireland Knowledge

Niki says that the award is not just a moment in her practice  but a milestone –  one of those true-life lessons. .She was often reminded through her practice to curb her enthusiasm- it is just a bit of craft and it would not have the reach of “Actual Art”. People warn her work would never be supported by the likes of #cultureireland . The support is proof that the work has merit beyond the medium in which it is made.

The exhibition celebrates a new technique in this medium. The felt stained glass technique is founded on the contrasting forces in nature: from chaos to structure and from destruction to mending. The world is broken and chaos shadows all aspects of our lives. As humanity we are not new to this, but as a generation, we needed re-assurance that it will pass and that all aspects of healing are meaningful. The technique is simple: create a fabric out of fibres, cut it into pieces and put it back together using embellishing to celebrate the places of mending. It is all done in the ancient textile making medium of felt.

Artist Susanne Webber , Austria, Roaming the Ocean

The technique saw evolution in the three years that it has been used. Many beginners discovered felt making through it. It also ignited the creative juices of artists from around the globe and some of the most interesting fiber artists have contributed to this exhibition. The exhibition is going to Vienna after reportedly the most successful show at Pearse Museum in a decade.

The work in this engagement was supported by DCCI, OPW, CI.

It has been covered in almost every international magazine on felt.

Read more:

Felt Stained Glass @ Gallery Kabllo, Vienna, Austria 2022 | Niki Collier Textiles & Art

Felt Stained Glass International Exhibition @ The Pearse Museum | Niki Collier Textiles & Art

Open Call: Evie & Us Exhibition 2021 | Niki Collier Textiles & Art


Join Niki Collier  at the launch Facebook Live 6pm GMT Thursday 15th September !
@nikicollierfelt

Artist Fiona McKenna, Ireland, Design Circle Self Portrait

A couple of upcoming Exhibitions

Published on by Feltmakers Ireland

#1

Felted Stained Glass Exhibition Programme @ Pearse Museum

Felt Stained Glass International Fibre Art Exhibition,

With community installation of pieces from all over the world by artists of all ages,

Curated by Dr. Niki Collier and Brian Crowley,

on Saturday 23 April at 3pm

at Pearse Museum, Grange Road, Dublin 16, D16 Y7Y5

The exhibition will be officially opened by  Liz Nilsson, one of the 50 Irish Craft Heroes.

The exhibition runs 14th April – 26th June

RSVP pearsemuseum@opw.ie

#2

#3

EMERGENCE at Walters in Dun Laoghaire

We invite you to celebrate EMERGENCE – ArtNetdlr Exhibition Launch this Thursday 14 April, with ArtNetdlr friends & artists, and all creative community of Dun Laoghaire – Rathdown, and a JAZZ Quintet. Emergence, a group exhibition curated by invited artists Jay Murphy and Louise Neiland, featuring the work of over seventy artists from dlr is now on view at Walters. You can also explore and buy artwork online.

Members Annika Berglund and Niki Collier included in exhibition.

Keep well campaign- Liadian de Butlear

Published on by Feltmakers Ireland

Back in February my phone rang, and it was a call from a fellow Feltmaker, who I have always enjoyed working with in CRAFTed over the years but we never actually worked together. She told me she had received funding as part of the Keep Well campaing and wanted to get a group of like-minded felters together for a collaborative project.

I was feeling the post Christmas lockdown and told her that I felt I was creatively stuck in a rut and would be delighted to get on board and do a collaborative project.

Nikki put our dream team together.  The idea was that we would each present an hour-long workshop working on different stages of the felting process to create stained glass effect felt pieces which would be exhibited later in the year. Niki went about advertising the free workshops and they were oversubscribed in a day leading to further workshops.

Fox by Breda Fay

Caolfhionn got the tough job of hosting the first workshop which shows how to create prefelts and blending colours to create your fabric for your picture. Niki did the design layout for our work and I got the job to do the stained glass effect dry felting work.

Each class had 35 participants and we did three classes each to facilitate the large numbers in our groups. We also supported each other during the workshops which was fantastic and made it a lot easier.

I was delighted to find that Breda Fay who was a long-time student of mine when I did workshops in Johnstown Craftspun yarns is now the treasurer of Feltmakers Ireland and she was attending the three-part workshop. It was great to see familiar faces on the screen. The best part about the project was the collaborative process and having the support of fellow felt makers and being able to bounce ideas off each other.

We have set up further classes in May and August this year which will be either online of face to face, depending on where we are.

We also have an exhibition to look forward to: online in August and physical in October and we look forward to inviting back participants to celebrate their feltmaking.

Felt with Us and Keep Well

Published on by Feltmakers Ireland

Felt with Us and Keep Well-

Workshops are being offered by 3 experienced Feltmakers- made possible by funding received from DCCI under the keep well initiative.

Classes will be taught by Caoilfionn Murphy O’Hanlon, Niki Collier & Liadain De Buitlear

Have you tried the Stained Glass technique in felting?
Join your tutors for three online classes to try felting, spark your passion for fibres and discover a fun
technique for making colourful pictures in felt.

All materials included.


This project was made possible with funding from DCCI under the Keep Well initiative.
See details here:


28th Feb 11am -12 noon Making a Felt Picture with Caóilfíonn Murphy O’Hanlon

7th Mar 11am – 12 noon Patchwork Felt Niki Collier

14th Mar 11am – 12 noon Making a Stained Glass Finish on a Felt Picture Liadain de Buitlear

To book classes, go here https://www.nikicollier.com/keep-well-campaign

After the workshops you will be able to submit your piece for an exhibition called Evie and Us.
Deadline for submission 1 st September. Exhibition will launch 1 st October 2021.

Evie and Us- exhibition currently running

Published on by Feltmakers Ireland

Exhibition of Felt Artists inspired by Evie Hone’s legacy.

Exhibtion currently running (until end Oct) at “The Constant Knitter”- Francis Street, Dublin, organised by Feltmakers Ireland Member Niki Collier:

The exhibition was by invitation and engaged with artists during the lockdown. Over Zoom we looked into Evie Hone’s work and created pieces in stained glass visual narrative. The exhibition is comprised of 10 artists in different stages of their career. It is a combination of stained glass technique and hats made as a homage to front line workers. Most of the work in the exhibition is developed through workshops with Niki over Zoom. Each artist Clodagh O’Connor, Paula Delaney, Deirdre Carey, Claire Tudor & Dorothy Ingram had done something created this year during the pressures of our changing lives. Additionally two established artists supported Niki by submitting two pieces for the exhibition. Niki is really grateful to artists Claire Merry and Helene Dooley for supporting the initiative with their pieces. And Niki put the piece she pushed herself to explore freehand machine embroidery on felt and a few hats.

Here are 4 of the Exhibiting Feltmakers:

Paula Delehny Sunrise

Paula has loved textile for a very long time. She has been doing felting, sewing and knitting for many years now.

She has embraced felting as a centre of her interest for several years and has travelled on Feltmakers Ireland trips to Hungary.

Her work was inspired by sunset and uses a combination of wet and needle felting technique to create the piece.

Helene Dooley

Evie Hone was a deeply religious person who principally created sacred art in
the latter part of her life. It is believed that her conversion to Catholicism in
1937 influenced her decision to work with stained glass. While not exclusively,
much of Evie’s work is associated with church settings.
Light and shadow reflections through stained glass were the inspiration for this
piece. The felted spiral is suspended and is in constant motion creating shadows
as the light hits it. The coloured viscose sections retain an element of mottling
and shine which seeks to mirror light in the style of light reflecting through
stained glass.

Clodagh O’Connor, has been inspired by Evie’s work on stained glass, but used fish images to explore its possibilities in felt.Clodagh has become a full time artist 3 years ago. Her work is multidisciplinary.


Deirdre Carey has used a trip to Spain for her inspiration. She has used a combination of wet felting and needle felting techniques.Deirdre has been taking feltmaking classes for several years and enjoys creating art pieces that are delicate and beautiful.

If you are in Dublin perhaps you can take a trip along- #supportthearts #supportlocal #supportingartists

Tamzen