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.
L’space Gallery, located in New York City, has a group exhibition, ‘Fibration: poking back‘, which shows the art of sixteen artists with fresh and compelling approaches to fibre and textile art. Artist and feltmaker Marjolein Dallinga has work in the show.
Here is a list of all of the artists with artwork in the exhibition: Holly Ballard Martz | Mona Bozorgi | Martin Casuso | Marjolein Dallinga | Marina Font | Lauren Gregory | Marik Lechner | Tasha Lewis | Kayla Mattes | Nico Mazza | Rosemary Meza-DesPlas | Elisa Ortega Montilla | Jennifer Pettus | Katarina Riesing | Erin M. Riley | Alicia Ross
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.
Marjolein Dallinga in her fibre-filled studio, which is located in eastern Canada.
Artist and feltmaker Marjolein Dallinga, known as Bloomfelt, is featured in an inspiring, lengthy, and beautifully photograph-filled article in the online magazine ‘Women Create‘.
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.
Later this year May 29th-31st FeltMakers Ireland will host the master felt maker Marjolein Dallinga from Bloomfelt. This should be a wonderful 3-day Felt making workshop that 12 lucky participants will enjoy. Ahead of this trip, we reached out to Marjolein to ask about her work, her feltmaking journey and what inspires her textile practice.
Tell us a little about you as a person? e.g. upbringing/ where you work/ work other than felt, etc
I was born in the Netherlands, moved in my thirties to Canada, where I married, and we have three boys.
I studied History of art, psychiatric nursing and fine arts in the Netherlands.
I live with my family north of Montreal in a very small village in the middle of the Laurentiens Woods,
We live on a former farm from Irish settlers where we built a beautiful art studio.
I spend all my days on my art
How and when did you start Felting… what is your experience, tell us a little about your journey with felt?
I started felting when my first child was born,24 years ago.
I wanted to make natural toys, and felting seems to be a perfect medium for that.
I made toys from wool with the wet felting technique for years, and then it changed to wearables, costumes, and slowly to art pieces.
My meeting with the Cirque du Soleil was a major event for me; I learned and received so much from it.
Tell us about your process from conception to creation and what is your motivation? e.g. needle/ wet/nuno… for hobby/ creativity/ art/ fashion/ health
For me, felting is really a profession. I practice this art every day.
I never use the felting needles; I only use the wet felting techniques. I make some fashion items and accessories, mostly as a commission. Then, costume design for wearable art shows, theatre or Cirque. As art objects, I make sculptures in all kinds of sizes, mostly for exhibits around the world.
In the last few years, I have concentrated on very large felted sculptures. I received several grants to do different projects.
Lately, I am busy with film and stop motion with my felted pieces
I am also experimenting lately to combine felt with other mediums.
Teaching is very important to me; I like to share and meet other artists.
I feel very grateful that the wool came on my path; it has brought me all over the world and has given me so many beautiful meetings.
What currently inspires you?
I finished an exhibit last autumn which I have worked one and a half years for.
Since I returning back home, I started to look at all my former work and realized that many pieces are not finished and need more work. I am currently working on many pieces at the same time lately with other mediums. I like to go back to painting and do more short movies with my felted pieces.
You can find out more about the work of Marjolein at the below links. We thank her very much for taking part in this interview and supplying the wonderful images of her work. Feltmakers Ireland is really looking forward to the May workshop. This workshop will be held on 29th-31st May, Venue TBC ( Dublin). The application form is not yet ready- we will inform you when the application opens.
Feltmakers Ireland 