July 2017 Toss ‘n Tell

     July 2017 Toss ‘n Tell

Needlefelt Demo by Kerry Bertucci

Kerry set up a beautiful display of samples of work that she had made which demonstrated the the process of needlefelting . Some items were made  combining  needlefelting together with wetfelting. Many of the 3D forms were started by making the base from foam or an armature for support and form. Other shapes were made using a resist  which was then stuffed with wadding or wool or a combination of both.

Natural wool (with lanolin) could be used if you want a hard base shape. Combed and cut wool was then applied to the base shape for building up the surface detail. Kerry had various small embellishments , tools and tips to achieve the detail of the finished items including ways to display them. She also had a selection of reference books on the subject. Judith Shaw complimented Kerry on her most informative demonstration.

 

Toss + Tell

Alison attended the workshop at the Fibreswest where she learned various techniques of folding felt. She showed us her blue ribbed nautilus shell.

 

Sue Eslick showed the delightful  and practical oven mits and gloves that she made at the Muresk Retreat. Her little granddaughter was the lucky recipient of a charming hat. She stitched a band inside to make the hat smaller to fit properly. The felted jacket that she wore was also much admired.

Vimon  brought some unique needlefelted  pieces that she has made. Her attention to detail and form are most impressive with a sense of fun as well. 1. Female warrior     2. Dog  3.Acrobatic doll ( wire armature), Love Doll with gold thread embroidery and wet felted dress.

 

Liz Odd  made a man’s scarf in tones of midnight blue. Lesson: Because she had laid her wool so finely it shrank to half the starting length, but the end result was a very fine product. She also made a black frill scarf using black silk, textured fabric and black wool.

 

Pat attended Sue’s Bag Workshop and made a charming wine/red bag with black embellishments and handle.

 

Karen Wood made an elegant shaded brown/lilac scarf with silk wool felby scraps.

 

Vera brought photographs of various lamps and lampshades that she has made recently. The lamp bases are custom carved by her husband. She also made an orange mohair and silk knitted scarf. She then tied numerous balls at each end, after which it was washed twice in the washing machine to create a shibori effect.

 

 

Stacey attended Sue’s Bag Workshop and brought her bag made in shades of natural wool, finished with an artistic embellishment of contrasting natural wool and cord handle. She also showed us samples, creating undulations, that she had made during an online course run by Pam de Groot  including a shibori experiment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kerry attended the Fibreswest felt folding workshop where she made samples of various techniques incl. bracelet and “waterbomb” using different thicknesses. She also showed us 2 of her curved wool felted scarves in shades of blue denim into which she incorporated silkmesh and cotton fabric.    4 layers of wool were finely laid and the end product was light and draped well. Tip: she applied masking tape to the tassels that she did not want to felt in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jill made a beautiful nuno felted orange structured jacket . She first made the fabric of cotton voile and wool  and then cut it to her pattern and tailored and stitched the garment.

 

 

Juliette showed us her “Grass teapot” that she had made at Pam Mc Gregor’s workshop. She used Finnish wool  and silk lap Unfortunately the silk lap got lost in the wool which was disappointing but a good lesson all the same.

Liz Owens attended Sue’s Bag Workshop and made a delightful bag with  gussets and  handle all felted in 1 piece.

Judith Shaw made her scarf  using  butter muslin and fine quality white Alpaca wool on both sides. She subtly incorporated  small coloured flower shapes which were embedded in the wool .

Sara Quail also attended the Fibreswest felt folding workshop  where she learned techniques and  made a “waterbomb”, a bracelet/ toggle , a “ kaleidocycle” and a scarf = 5 days of hard work !

June 2017 Toss ‘n Tell

   June 2017 Toss ‘n Tell

Demo: Sara Quail incorporating silk carrier rods into felt.

Sara gave us a very comprehensive and informative talk on silk carrier rods and how to use them in our felting projects. It is a by- product of the reeling of silk. The filaments that adhere randomly to the rod of the equipment is cut off and that is what we call “carrier rods”. To use them you have to either roll them in your hands to soften it or else iron the product to flatten it. Each rod has many layers that can be separated, then stretched to open up the fibres to make them suitable to incorporate as surface design on your pre-felt. Sara showed numerous samples of ways of applying the rods to the surface, including making of silk paper and silk thread.

Toss + Tell

Kerry Bertucci wore a fine red shawl that she made with merino wool and drafted silk. She also displayed a shawl/wrap in shades of red that she had designed by 1st drawing her pattern on an old discarded blanket to ensure that she got the correct drape that she wanted. She then enlarged the pattern according to the expected shrinkage. The end result was a reversible garment made of wool and silk fabric.

Vimol showed us 2 beautiful framed pictures. “The gum tree” was done with needle felting on a wool blanket and machine embroidery.  “The Pom Pom tree” was done with wet felting and then hand embroidered. Her work was finely executed and most attractive.

Kerry Grove showed us all the items that she completed at our recent Retreat weekend. She made samples, a phone bag and cord, a sari silk runner and a beautiful shawl. She certainly was busy at the Retreat!

 

Sue Eslick showed 3 beautiful nuno hats – 2 were very elegant and beautifully shaped. The 3rd hat is unstructured, can be worn in various ways and can fold up into your pocket. Sue also designed a silk scarf/shawl made from pieces of silk stitched together. She then attached felted cords to 2 opposing corners and made a felt toggle to complete it.

 

Marion Finneran showed her bed throw that she made at the Retreat. It was in shades of blue and green wool with silk fabric and stitched surface design.

 

 

Marie J showed her red and black bag that she had made in Sue Eslick’s Bag Workshop. She also had made pretty flowers that can be used either as embellishments or brooches. She had also made 2 silk and wool “ocean scenes” that had been made for a project and planned to incorporate them into another project.

Sue Harrington made a fluffy striped rug using a coarse Corriedale wool mixture.

Virginia  made 2 scarves at the Retreat. The white one was made using a silk slushie (50%wool/50%silk). The nuno felted blue scarf had a surface design of circles.

 

 

Liz Odd showed us 2 silk and wool scarves/collars that were made using masking tape as a resist in order to curve the fabric to fit correctly around the neck.

Pat made a delightful silk and wool scarf at the Retreat in soft delicate pastel shades.


Martien van Zuilen
showed us nuno mosaic hats and a bag made from merino, silk fabric and prefelt. She likes to make them soft enough to be able to turn and shape them on your head or use them as a bag if necessary! See her project in the latest Felt Magazine # 17. She also made various vessels using coiled hand felted cords and fine copper wire.

Alison Gomes made a fine merino wool scarf in an autumn rust colour. She applied black wool prefelts to the one side and discovered that the edges were drawn through the rust and created a lovely black line on the reverse side.

Karen W made a quirky green cushion cover with spikes at the Retreat as well as 2 mats.

Marie M made a stunning Opal coloured wrap at the Retreat using silk lap and wool. Because she was concerned that the colours were too bright she used black wool which toned down the colours. The colours ran and stained her hands. Very helpful to have made a sample before. Luckily she was using black wool so disaster was averted!

Sara Quail showed us her delicate white scarf which she made using her method called Doubly Deconstructed Nuno which was published in the current Felt Magazine #17.

 

May 2017 Toss and Tell

     May 2017 Toss ‘n Tell

Demo and talk

Soosie Jobson gave a talk on Shrinkage Rates when felting and explained why estimating  a percentage produces an inaccurate result. In order to calculate  how much a project will shrink one has to first make a sample. Then you divide the initial laid out size of the sample by the finished size  = the correct rate of shrinkage for that project.  For wearables a minimum shrinkage rate would be 1.7 – 1.9%.   Nancy advised that for nuno wearables she would use 25g wool for 1 m of silk fabric for a good drape. Soosie has lots of information on her website.

Meeting

The President , Virginia , thanked Soosie for a most informative talk.

Visitors welcomed : Sandra from New Zealand, Kim from Tasmania, Stacy, Suzie Sheppard.

Information regarding The Retreat was discussed.

Sue Eslick’s bag workshop is open for bookings. Later in the year there will be a leather workshop which may be very useful for finishing items e.g.straps for handbags.

Members are requested to complete an online survey which will help with the planning of a 5 year vision for the group. Members are invited to attend the meeting on 25th June from 9 – 12 noon.

The next Retrospective issue will be delayed until September/October. This will be a special “birthday” issue. Members are invited to join a committee to prepare this publication.

Toss n Tell

Marion made a nuno scarf using  silk dyed in a workshop with Heather Davis.

Marie had works in progress viz. little birds and badges that she is making with children she is teaching at an art elective in Darlington.

 

Stacy showed us her beautiful blue wearable art vest/scarf that she was wearing, as well as  a scarf and bag. She attended Nancy’s workshop where she learned to make a colourful striped mat and a grey and white striped one .

sara quail

Sara has been doing an online workshop with Pam de Groot where she learned interesting 3D techniques – 3 of which she showed being : Splash, Twistie and Spiral.

Linda showed us her piece that started off as a vessel but changed into a cuff that she was wearing.

Karen is a new member who has an art and fashion background. She has been trying to combine the techniques from different workshops and brought numerous garments that she is working on to  develop her own style in wearable art.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Katrina  brought a collection exotic items that are all works in progress using horsehair and red dyed goat hair.

 Alison showed her latest project that she has just completed. She explained her procedure of work from concept to execution. Her colours and design are quite unique and admired by those present. Although it is a large wall hanging she only used 250g wool for this project.

Liz is a new member  and brought samples made in Alison’s beginners workshop. She also made various vessels which she learned from Soosie’s online workshop.

Nancy showed her blue striped nuno scarf using silk mesh as well as a fine striped one in neutral shades which she used when teaching her Stripe Sequencing workshop.

At Pam McGregor’s workshop Nancy made a felted boab tree /teapot/sculpture .

Susan Sheppard ( visitor) had made a lovely wrap in blue and brown.

Sue Swain showed us a very sculptural piece of sea sponge that she found on the beach.

Pat showed us her latest knitted jumper she had made in a geometric design in shades of grey, black and red.

Soosie Jobson  made a vessel demonstrating differential shrinkage and explained the process. She has a free tutorial on her website.

She also made an intriguing 3D multi-ribbed Eucalyptus tree .

She accessed a website : Redbubble.com that will print any designs you submit. She printed her “synchronised fish” design onto a bag, a scarf and another design onto her mobile phone cover.

 

Judith Shaw  showed us a pair of warm woollen slippers , a bag in progress  and a necklace of dyed seedpods, as well as the jacket she was wearing.

Vimol used a combination of  wet felting, needle felting and embroidery to make 2 wonderful, whimsical hats, 1 with a face of a cat in relief. She also needle felted a head with a face in relief for a hat to be displayed on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Report by Marion, Photos by Nancy

March 2017 Toss ‘n Tell

 

March 2017 Toss ‘n Tell

Christine Wheeler  gave a very insightful talk on how to restore your favourite handmade felted garment after many years of wear. She showed us her jacket that she had restored.Christine also showed us her beautiful shawl . She combined fabric with and fine merino wool and silk using an attractive colour palette of reds.
    

 

 

Sue Swain spoke about her recent workshop that she ran on “Wearable Art” and mentioned that she would be repeating it again in April. She also showed samples of the type of garments that can be designed.  Sara Quail and Alison Higgins showed us the garments that they had made in her workshop.

 

 

 

 

Sara Quail  had various samples that she had been working on  with the intention of using the ideas in larger projects viz. a handbag strap. Also samples for padded surfaces using foam filling – to be used in floor mats or rugs.

                

Wimon  wore an attractive bag and explained how she had made the bold, strong corded strap  that was attached.

Marion had made an assortment of vessels following a workshop that she attended run by Martien van Zuilen. She explored various materials and techniques which included stitching, padding, resists, cutting, silk paper and the use of merino wool vs Finnish wool.

 

 

 

 

 

Marie displayed a sample in which she started with a wet-felted base onto which she applied a needlefelted design and finally wet-felted the piece.

Alison Higgins showed us her neck warmer felted in white with a charming orange and green organic design.

 

Kerry had attended the Pam McGregor workshop and showed her finished teapot that had delightful little birds nesting on the branches of the “treepot”.

Katrina had also attended Pam McGregor’s workshop and her one was a dramatic teapot in black, shades of grey and red.

Alison Gomez  showed us her latest wall hanging  with striking geometric shapes on a dark background in fine merino wool and silk.  Her work, as always, is of a very high standard.

February 2017 Toss ‘n Tell

February 2017 Toss ‘n Tell

Various  ingenious ways of making good quality cords were demonstrated by Sue Eslick.


Soosie

  1. showed her reclining mermaid in which she used various techniques viz. woodblock surface design , embellishments of stitching and beading.

 

  1. A school of fish all made in 1 piece using numerous resists. The beading embellishment enhanced the piece and gave it an extra dimension.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Alison
showed off her very warm hat that she had made for herself . It is the first hat that she has made and was a great success.

Marie  had made a sample using black merino wool and silk lap.

Sue Eslick  her Rabbit Teapot that she made at Pam Mc Gregor’s workshop using Gotland wool. For the rabbit and carrot stopper she used merino.

Judith  showed off her beautiful blue hat / beanie

Sara  displayed her lovely delicate Uzbek silk and wool wrap. She also attended Pam Mc Gregor’s workshop and made a Fish Teapot using Finnish wool.

      

Vera showed us photos of various  lamps that she has made recently.

Alison Gomes   Showed us her latest wall hanging in wool and silk that is a work-in-progress. It is now at the pre-felt stage , having shrunk approx. 15%.  

Katrina showed us the brochure of the current exhibition being held at the Mundaring Art Centre which ends on 19 March 2013. She will be doing a demo for WAFTA on 15th May ( Mothers Day) on making of wire armatures

Alison’s Nuno Felt Workshop

Although I have been felting for quite a long time, I still learn different things from workshops which help refine your own technique.
I’ve always admired Alison’s work and thought I could gain some inspiration and ideas from her workshop.
So it was with this in mind I attended the nuno workshop in early April.
alsion2 alison5
We began by discussing what was nuno felting. Then Alison gave a quick demonstration of laying fine layers of wool. Finer layers give more drape, but also have greater shrinkage.
She recommended to sketch the design and then work out the best way to proceed. Examples of 4 different ways to construct nuno were shown and we talked about what each one would produce.
alison3 alison1
The final stage was how to produce a well felted piece.
Next we were given the option to either use 2 different nuno processes in making a scarf, or making some samples to experiment the different nuno techniques.
Of course also needs to be given to colour, symmetry or asymmetry and proportions.
Everyone was busy making decisions, laying, rolling, fulling and chatting for the rest of the day.
What did I learn? I learnt that Alison’s beautiful feltwork does not happen by chance it is well planned and executed in a methodical way.
Thankyou Alison.