Throughout January, Wicklow Libraries will hold the Made in Wicklow Craft Workshop series. Classes include needle felting landscapes with Feltmakers Ireland member Sharon Wells. In addition, there are pottery, crochet, bookmaking, woodworking, and calligraphy classes with other instructors.
The series is set to coincide with and celebrate the launch of the Made in Wicklow Craft trail, which is scheduled to launch at Powerscourt on St Bridget’s Day, Thursday, 1st February 2024, alongside a five-day exhibition of the excellence and difference of Wicklow Craft.
On Sunday, the 10th of December, Feltmakers Ireland was fortunate to have artist and teacher Sharon Wells teach us how to create a needle-felted winter scene.
Sharon Wells used an upright easel to demonstrate her needlefelting. Usually, she works on a horizontal surface. She shared tips and tricks about perspective, tone, shadows and depth. It was a painting lesson with wool!
Some of Sharon’s Wool Paintings
Stay Awhile by Sharon Wells. This piece was part of the Guild’s ‘Bountiful’ exhibition in October.
All participants were provided with kits of warm-coloured wool, felting needles, and foam sponges. Christmas cheer was provided by holiday decor from the CIE Sports Club, and delicious treats came from the members. Holiday music was provided by the Committee, and, of course, tea and coffee were organised by our membership secretary, Fiona Leech.
Each kit was the same and contained Merino wool in shades of yellow and pink. There was also natural brown Jacob’s wool yarn, which Sharon had handspun. With a little work, these make fantastic trees.
Tiny Trees
More Photos
At the End of the Session
It was incredible to see how each student interpreted their winter landscape. No two were alike.
Elizabeth, Helene, AnnikaNeasaLory and ClodaghLiz and SuzetteSandy and SamMary and ClareA selection of needle-felted paintings. Sorry if we missed yours.
President and founder of the Guild, Elizabeth Bonnar, brought in much of the organisation’s archives from the past twenty years for members to read and enjoy. This treasure trove of felt-related information will be heading to the Special Collections & Archives at the NIVAL – the National Irish Visual Arts Library.
For more information or to make an appointment to visit this public research library, visit their website – https://www.nival.ie/
Elizabeth BonnarBinders full of information
In conclusion, many thanks to Sharon for sharing her knowledge about painting with wool!
First up, Deirdre Crofts is coming up trumps again and will show us how to make these cute elf booties at the next session on the 12th of November.
So there’ll be plenty of time to make multiples of them for family and friends before the 🎄trees go up!
The guild will provide the wool roving and various sparkly bits. All you need to bring is your felting kit = a towel, bubble wrap, and soap.
When: Due to circumstances beyond our control, we must start a half hour earlier than usual and finish up earlier – 10 AM until 11:30. Additionally, we will enjoy our coffee break on the go – while felting.
Also, please bring a home-baked treat to share. There is a member contribution of 5 euros to cover the coffee/tea/hall rental.
Members who cannot attend in person can use the Zoom link that will be emailed out on Friday or Saturday. If the tech elves cooperate, the session will be recorded and will later be uploaded to our YouTube Channel.
December Session
On the 10th of December, guild member Sharon Wells will work with us to needlefelt a beautiful winter scene. There will be a charge of €10 for all the materials for this session. More details for later. But it could be another Christmas present ticked off the list!
Feltmakers Ireland’s juried exhibition opens this Saturday at 3 PM. We are celebrating the 20th Anniversary of our founding with a show with the theme of ‘Bountiful.’
To whet your appetite, here is a peek at two of the pieces that can be seen at the Phoenix Park Visitors Centre gallery.
First piece –
Detail of a piece by Sharon Wells – ‘Kerry’.
Second piece –
Detail of a piece by Aisling Hassett – ‘Seeds of Life’.
The exhibition runs through the 29th of October and is free to visit.
On the 19th and 20th of August, The Wicklow Craft Foundation (WCF) has an inaugural event which includes an exhibition comprised of multiple craft disciplines. It is taking place at The Schoolhouse for Art in Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow.
In addition, craftspeople will be on-site to demonstrate their skills and share their expertise.
Feltmakers Ireland member Sharon Wells will demonstrate landscape felting, spinning, and dyeing. She will have samples of many types of Irish wool fibre from sheep farms all over Ireland. You can see Galway, Cheviot, Wensleydale, Jacobs, Welsh mule, Kerry Hill, Charollais, Shetland, Zwartbles or Valais samples. She will discuss their uses in felting and/or spinning. Some are for sale on the day.
Demonstrations will be live-streamed via the WCF website for those who cannot attend in person. For further information and access to the live-stream, please visit http://www.wicklowcraftfoundation.ie
We are very sorry to have to tell you the Muddle shop is closing.
There is a sale going on at the moment and will go on for a few weeks more.
Here is a message from Sharon:
Hi Everyone The shop is closing down over the next month or so. But The Muddle will continue. Any classes booked in for July and August will go ahead. Vouchers can be redeemed in the sale or at a later stage online at www.themuddle.ie We will still be teaching all our arts and crafts but in different venues. Sharon Wells fibre and textile art will continue as normal. The sale continues today.
Talk: Launch ships and burn towers: Beatrice Elvery and Patrick Pearse
Upcoming Needle felting landscape courses at The Muddle
Talk: Launch ships and burn towers: Beatrice Elvery and Patrick Pearse
It explores the fascinating relationship between Patrick Pearse and the artist Beatrice Elvery. Several of Elvery’s paintings hung in Pearse’s school, Scoil Éanna and she also illustrated Pearse’s book, ‘Íosagán agus Scealta Éile’. The talk will also look more generally at the central role which art played in Pearse’s innovative and experimental school. Hopefully these stories will inspire you and be just what you need to get your creative juices flowing and help you beat the January blues. The talk will also look at aspects of the history of early 20th century Irish stained glass and will help you in finalising your ideas towards submission for Keep Well Felt with Us Felt Stained Glass Exhibition scheduled for launch in Pearse Museum in April. The Pearse Museum and St. Enda’s Park are managed and run by the OPW.
For the online class you will need a basic kit which you can order on the website or collect from the shop. The kit is provided for the inhouse class. Here are the two links.
The muddle is also planning classes this year in natural wool fibre preparation, wool washing, dyeing, carding and spinning.
They are also starting Kids after schools classes and adult weekly mixed craft sessions. Also on the website. The classes will differ each week depending on the tutor. Like a plethora of art and craft, tasters sessions etc.
To all our lovely feltmakers out there here is a short film we made for you- members have already received an email and link to this video- now we wish to share it furtehr with our wider community through the blog post… we hope that you are inspired!
As we still can’t get together and the country is once again in level 5 lock down the committee have been busy trying to find new ways to inspire and promote the craft of felt making.
New 2020 committee member Deirdre Crofts undertook the latest task- filming a video with Sharon wells- textile Artist.
The committee wishes to thank Deirdre for her hard work ( made even harder by social distancing). We wish to thank Sharon for her participation again under difficult circumstances. We hope that you agree that this is a wonderful in depth look at how a felt maker artist works and their methods.
Sharon Wells is a fiber and textile artist working with wool and silk fibers born and bred in Co. Wicklow but her heart is in the Kerry hills. Sharon will explain how she skirts, washes and dyes raw fleece and will show us her beautiful work. You will find a link to her website below.
