FeltWEST Toss ‘n’ Tell October Report

Demonstration/Mini Workshop

Martien van Zuilen – Creating Tunnels and Using Armatures

In this mini workshop Martien shared her technique of creating long tunnels in handmade felt and demonstrated how, once established, the tunnels could be used to accommodate armatures (wire, sticks, timber rods, feathers etc) to support and/or frame the piece.  She also showed how to create ruffled effects for sculptural works.  The possibilities for this innovative technique are limited only by the imagination!

Martien’s technique grew out of an exploration of making the frame an integral part of the artwork which allows two-dimensional pieces to have two fronts (rather than a front and a back) and three-dimensional pieces to have armatures added without the need for stitching or other fastening methods.  This also means the armatures can be easily removed for transporting or exchanged for transforming the piece.

 

Martien’s secret weapon, perhaps suggested to her by her Dutch heritage, is used bicycle tyres.  Strips of bicycle tyre inner tubes are used as a resist, rather than more traditional materials.  The rubber grips the wool which means it is less likely to shift about than other materials and does not scrunch up which means that the placement and width of the tunnels are more easily controlled.  Tunnels can be continuous or broken, to allow the armature to show through in sections.  When pulled partially through finished tunnels, the elastic quality of the rubber allows beautiful ruffles to be created.

Following the demonstration, we all had a go at creating our own tunnels and playing with armatures and some lovely pieces emerged.

 

Not  only do the tyres allow for great effects, they’re free (on request) from bicycle shops and this use of a product destined for landfill is a great way to upcycle.

Thank you Martien for a fascinating demonstration.  There will be a lot more exploring to follow!

 

 

 

 

Toss N Tell

 

Liz Owens,

Kerry Bertucci,

 

Leonie Emery and

 

Marion Finneran

showed off their felted jewellery made using skills learnt at Katrina Virgona’s jewellery workshop in September.

 

Di Baker and Liz Owens modelled the Infinity Ponchos created at Nancy Ballesteros’ Natural Rhythms in Colour Nuno felting workshop which looked at creating stripes using the Golden Ratio as a design tool to create visually pleasing outcomes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sue Swain showed us a beautiful white shawl based on Mexican Shaman robes and a large wrap made by joining and felting two smaller, purchased cotton wraps.

Sue also outlined her latest project in which she is transforming a purchased jacket into a wearable field of poppies with the addition of felted flowers.

 

 

 

 

Nadja Roelofs modelled her fabulous pocketed hat.  The pocket technique was learnt at a recent workshop with Charlotte Sehmisch.

Another attendee at Charlotte’s workshops was Sue Eslick whose shoulder bag explored the creation of square corners.

 

 

Kat Weka, a new FeltWest member, showed off her Cracked Earth flat felt, and vessel made at a recent Technique Focus workshop and a gorgeous pair of booties.

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, Nancy Ballesteros showed us an array of magnetic brooches that Soosie Jobson has been working on.  The brooches, made with polymer clay in colours that work with Treetops fabrics, are a great closure for garments and wraps as there is no damaging piercing of the fabric.  These are available at Treetops (shop or website) or through Soosie.

Nancy also mentioned her Meditative Adornment textile maker’s retreat which will take place in Bali in May 2019.  A limited number of places are still available.

Feltwest Meeting

Led by Marion Finneran

• Welcome to new members!
• Katrina Virgona’s Felted Jewellery Workshop: A big thank you to Katrina for an exciting and very well supported and run workshop.
• Royal Show: The FeltWest stall at the Royal Show was a great success with almost $10,000 worth of goods sold.  The 15% commission is still to be paid after which artists will receive payment.  The setting up, running and packing up the stall was a great team effort, but special thanks need to go to Peta Korb (through whose contacts we got the site).  Peta was there all day everyday making sure everything ran smoothly.
• Fiona Duthie Workshop: Fiona, here from Canada as part of a (mostly east coast) tour will be teaching her Big Ink workshop for FeltWest in January. This workshop looks at working with ink on textiles.  Please note that this workshop is now fully booked.
• Catherine O’Leary Workshop: Catherine’s, fully booked, Fabulous Felt Jackets workshop is set to go ahead from 2-5 November.
• Catherine will also be giving an artist talk on Thursday 1 November, at 7.00pm at Craft House.  All welcome.  Gold coin donation.
• Next Toss N Tell: The next Toss N Tell, and last one for the year, will be on Saturday 17 November.  As this is our Christmas celebration, there will be no mini-workshop.  Please bring along your Christmas spirit, a plate of food to share and any items for Toss N Tell.  If you would like to take part in the gift exchange, please also bring along a small, wrapped, hand-made article.  The raffle will be drawn with the winner receiving a FeltWest gift voucher to put towards membership or a workshop. It will be great to catch up and close-off the year.

Launching 2019:

• Toss N Tell: Our first meeting for 2019 will be on Saturday, 16 February.  There will be a mini-workshop from 10-11.30am – topic TBA.
• Tuesday Felting: The first Tuesday felting day will take place on 5 February 2019.

 Other Notices:

• Exhibition: Windfall Chemistry of the Dye Pot – eco-dying exhibition by Helen Coleman at Contemporary Art Spaces Mandurah.  Running until Sunday, 4 November.  For more details, please see the website:  https://www.mandurah.wa.gov.au/facilities/casm

Thanks to reporter and photographer Renita, a few extra shots from me.

We all thoroughly enjoyed the day

hope to see you November

Liz

 

FELT AND TEXTILE JEWELLERY WORKSHOP – BODYCHAINS AND MORE

Saturday 6 October 2018

Renita Mroz

 

Katrina lived in Fiji and many locations around Australia before settling in Perth.  She has qualifications in psychology, visual arts Visual Arts Management and now runs art and textile workshops and teaches Curtin University.  In her studio Katrina creates 3D artworks and contemporary textile jewellery pieces, drawing on a diverse range of materials.

 

 

 

Katrina brought along a gorgeous and inspiring selection of her own felt and textile jewellery for us to enjoy then went on to describe and demonstrate the techniques used in their making.  These included:  cords, split cords, loops, twists, balls, spikes, chains and coiling, as well as the addition of stitching, beading, fabric and other materials.  We then created our own pieces with which we were all extremely pleased!

 

 

 

The skills learnt were building blocks which could be combined in endless ways, only limited by our imaginations.  The most important lesson of the day:  there are no failures – anything that doesn’t go as planned simply becomes something else!

 

 

 

 

 

Katrina brought not only her vast knowledge and experience to the workshop, but also an endless amount of energy, enthusiasm and fun.

 

 

 

 

 

A great day – thank you Katrinius the Genius!

 

FeltWEST Toss n Tell September 2018

Mini-workshop on Scrunchy Silk

At today’s mini-workshop Karen Wood presented an application of nuno felting which she calls ‘Scrunchy Silk’ for making richly decorated collars and scarves. Karen learnt the idea some years ago from our member, Judy Barkla at a Retreat.

 

Scrunch up small pieces of silk fabric, silk fibre, mohair, sari silk ends, velvet silk, yarn and open weave synthetic or cotton fabric, preferably all in a colour theme, over a template and then to bind it all together with a thin layer of wool tops.

Place your template for your piece under a sheet of plastic or bubble wrap. Take small pieces of feature fabrics, dip them in water, scrunch them up and place them on the template or just over the outside edge of the template. You may like to fold and coil some short lengths of fine fabric to make ‘roses’. The cut edges should all face upwards.

 

 

 

 

Lay one layer of fine wool tops over the top of your multi-coloured and textured piece, but extend only to the edge of your template. The small amount of wool tops is used to ensure a fine, light result. The pieces of fabric which extend beyond the edge of the template will create a ruffle.

Cover with mesh and wet down with soapy water as usual. Very carefully and gently rub the piece until everything has bonded together. Only then should you start gently rolling. Don’t over-felt so that the final piece remains soft and wearable.

 

 

 

 

Tips:

• For collars and scarves, reduce the amount of scrunched decoration on the middle of the piece so that it sits flat behind the neck.
• During the process of felting, use a needle and thread to attach any stray pieces of fabric which are slow to adhere.

 

Thank you Karen for the workshop, it has refreshed the experienced felter’s and and shown an interesting technique for the rest of us.

 

 

 

News and update

President Marion thanked Karen for her inspiring demonstration and welcomed new members.

Items for FeltWest’s stall at the Royal Show are coming in and well on track. Any late items can be handed in until 19 September by contacting Marion to arrange a drop-off. Members who have volunteered for the roster will be emailed a map and other information. Entry passes to the Show will be provided to those on the roster. Lenore will be demonstrating the ‘Square’ reader for taking credit card payments later during this session.

Talented Canadian felter, Fiona Duthie, who recently taught at Fibres West, will be conducting a 4-day workshop, Fibre + Paper + Ink, from 31 January to 3 February 2019. The workshop will combine paper and ink printing with traditional felting fibres. Given the time of year, FeltWEST is hoping to access an air-conditioned venue but this will result in a slightly higher price, probably around $420 for the 4 days. The workshop will be advertised soon and is expected to be in high demand.

What is coming up:

• Beginners workshops are being offered today (15 September) and 20 October.
• A Technique Focus workshop, ‘Cracked Earth’, taught by Kerry Bertucci and Jean MacKenzie, is on 2 October.
• Katrina Virgona’s workshop, Felt Jewellery and Armature, on 6 October is already fully booked.
• Catherine O’Leary’s 4-day workshop, Fabric Designing and Sculptured Felt Garments, is on 2-5 November, but again, this is fully booked.
• The October Toss n Tell meeting will feature a mini-workshop, ‘Tunnels in Felt’ with Martien van Zuilen. For those wanting to read about the technique in advance, a recent Felt magazine features a description of the technique.
• The November Toss n Tell meeting will be our Christmas party and this meeting is always well attended and lots of fun. Please bring a plate of delicious food to share, either savoury or sweet. There will also be a gift exchange for those wanting to participate. Bring a small hand-made or craft-related gift to exchange. Also, the raffle will be drawn and this time the prize will be a FeltWEST voucher which can be used to pay towards your membership or a workshop.

Lenore talked us through the use of the ‘Square’ reader for taking credit card payments at the upcoming Royal Show and other future stalls and exhibitions.

Toss n Tell

 

Peta and Vimol showed their beautiful autumn scenes produced at Olga Finkel’s recent workshop, ‘Painted Landscapes’. They had used white batt as a base, then applied colour using needle felting to hold wool tops in place and then wet-felted the whole piece.  Throwster’s waste was applied to make clusters of leaves on the trees. The process for adding tiny, intricate people had been challenging but gave a very precise result.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sue Eslick showed a multi-coloured sea monster made by putting all her scraps of pre-felt into a laundry bag in the washing machine – a nobbly delight!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maureen, a beginner felter, had made an impressive fairy cottage using needle felting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(sorry no updated photo with stitching)

Alison Higgins modelled her beret in pinks, embellished with yarns, made at Sue Eslick’s recent beret workshop. She also showed a beautiful green Thai silk scarf featuring felt edging and beaded fringes.

 

 

 

Liz Owens showed off a stunning circular pendant with sushi roll and knotted silk inserts, hanging on twisted silk cord.

 

 

 

 

 

Katrina told us about her upcoming talk at WAFTA’s 25 October evening meeting. Her presentation will be about the progression of her art practice, including her mini straight jacket project. FeltWEST members are welcome to attend.

 

One last Show and Tell, photo of gorgeous fairy, so not sure the owner.

 

 

 

 

I was a great Saturday, thanks to all who attended, see you soon.

Liz

Report: Sue Harrington

Photo’s: Alison Higgins

thanks guys great job.

Olga Finkel Workshop – Painting with Felt

Olga studied fashion design in the Ukraine and became a hat- maker when she moved to Melbourne, specialising in hats for the Melbourne Cup.

 

At our workshop Olga taught her own technique of painting with felt.

She prepared a detailed drawing from a photo which she transferred  onto the “felt  canvas” by means of paper stencils.

 

All the initial painting was done by needle felting and only wet felted when she was happy with the final painting. The end result was  a true likeness of the original.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The participants went home with a completely different skill which will be used to great advantage. It was a fun two days , enjoyed by all.

Thank you Olga.

FeltWEST – 2018 AGM

Feltwest Inc

Minutes of AGM

18 August 2018, Alexander Park Craft House, Menora

Meeting opened:  12:00pm

Attendees:

Mavis Paskulich, Pat Kendall, Sue Harrington, Liz Odd, Linda Riccio, Karen Parry, Alison Gomes, Teresa O’Malley, Jan Ladyman, Maureen Hislop, Judith Walsh, Ann Bonny, Martien van Zuilen, Renita Mroz, Peta Korb, Jill Jodrell, Vera Sergeev, Alison Higgins, Virginia Campbell, Liz Owens, Katrina Virgona, Kerry Bertucci, Marion Finneran, Lyn Brown (APCH President)

 

Apologies:

Marie Marshall, Chris Gray, Sara Quail, Jean McKenzie

 

Minutes of last AGM

The minutes of the 2017 AGM were approved as a true and correct record.

Proposed: Sue Eslick

Seconded: Martien van Zuilen

 

 Business arising:

None

 

President’s report:

The President’s report was read by current president Karen Wood.

Accepted with thanks.

Proposed: Liz Odd

Seconded: Kerry Bertucci

Treasurer’s Report:

Liz Owen tabled and read the Treasurer’s report.

Accepted with thanks.

Proposed: Linda Riccio

Seconded: Sue Harrington

Declaration of all positions vacant.

Virginia Campbell presided over the election of office bearers.

All positions on the Committee of Management were declared vacant.

 

Election of Office Bearers:

President: Marion Finneran; no other nominations; Elected unopposed

Vice President: Karen Wood; no other nominations; Elected unopposed

Treasurer: Lenore Fairfield; no other nominations; Elected unopposed

Secretary: Sue Harrington; no other nominations; Elected unopposed

Committee:

Liz Owens

Peta Korb

Renita Mroz

There were no further nominations; Elected unopposed

 

Other Business:

Newly-elected President, Marion Finneran promoted the idea of having several sub-committees to undertake specific tasks e.g. Alison Gomes as New Member Liaison continues to provide a much-appreciated welcome to new members and e.g. Kerry Bertucci, Alison Gomes and Jean McKenzie organise beginner’s and Extension workshops.

 

Marion thanked outgoing members of the committee, Sara Quail, Alison Higgins and Sue Eslick.

Meeting closed at 12:25pm

Toss N Tell

Pat Kendall with her Blue Beret from Sue Eslick’s Beret Workshop

 

 

 

 

 

Renita Mroz Beret extra pizass on the side.

 

Kerri Bertucci beret – resists on resists and scarf to match.

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oven mitts for my sister, Sue Harrington

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Karen Wood Beret

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alison Higgins Beret

Alison needle felted eggs, my those needles are sharp.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sue’s Beret and results from Charlotte Sehmich’s workshop down south, use of multiple resists.

Example of spikes several ways, results from the Extension Workshop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marie Jacquies , Silk ties into a headband.

Love toss n tell, lots of gorgeous pieces,

thanks ladies.

 

Review of Feltwest Beret Workshop – Sue Eslick 

Saturday 4th August 2018 

 

Sue shared her extensive experience and knowledge of felting in general, and berets in particular, with an ease that made learning effortless for beginners, experienced felters and everyone else. Participants felt that the workshop was very relaxed, run in an organised and informative manner whilst moving along at a good pace without any sense of haste.  

   

Sue explained size and shape of possible variations in berets from a few basic templates, weights of wool for different end results and layout for effect with strength on the wearable edge before covering possible embellishments built into the felting process or added after felting is completed. There was a good range of Sue’s completed berets available for people to handle, try on and discuss. 

 

The time passed swiftly with participants fully engaged with the creative and constructive process in a day of good camaraderie and fellowship.  

 

General consensus amongst the workshop participants when asked for a few descriptive words was that the day was fun, relaxed, surprising, flexible, inspiring, impressive, joyous, informative, with a quality teacher and great results. 

 

Everyone left with a completed or near completed beret with clear instructions for finishing off their work and lots of ideas and options for further creations from templates provided by Sue with easy instructions for varying the end results.  

 

A productive day of fun thank you Sue. 

 

Thanks you Judi

“TREASURED NESTS”

 

Over a Friday and Saturday in early July, twelve  very enthusiastic Feltwest members, ranging from novice to very experienced, gathered at Craft House to learn from our own Martien van Zuilen.

What a very enjoyable and informative workshop!  Martien was well prepared with comprehensive notes for everyone and a table full of examples of her treasured nests, pods and vessels.

The workshop focused on creating a 3-D felt vessel using a resist and incorporating techniques for surface design.  Techniques included such things as:

• combining colours in the pre-felt stage, using carders
• adding interest to the vessel surface, using extra wool and felted cords
• sewing with threads and yarns
• making tunnels

Martien’s extensive knowledge and experience showed through in her presentation of the workshop.  She was generous with her time to all participants, answering all questions and stopping to help where required.  This was reflected in the extremely positive feedback given by participants at the end of the workshop.

 

 

 

Thank you Jean.

Demonstration July 21^st

Needle felting by June from Bilby Yarns

June from Bilby Yarns in Myaree gave a really interesting & informative demonstration that got everyone paying attention & involved.

Corriedale wool is the most appropriate type for needle felting, or dry felting as it is also called. It is a strong fibre, so it gives good structure. It is also possible to needle felt merino, merino silk, or alpaca which behaves like ultra-fine merino. The finer the fibre, the more you will use, as it will compact more. What you use will depend on what effect you are trying to achieve.

Needles comes in different sizes, or gauges, and they are barbed to cause friction. They are very sharp – keep your fingers well out of the way!! The difference between different gauges is quite small, but it does have a different effect on the work. Different sizes are used for different jobs. Around size 40 would be considered fine gauge, 36 would be medium, and 32 would be coarse. A fine needle would be used for fine shaping, or for fine features such as eyes. Some needles have a spiralled shaft, this causes greater friction on the fibre. Some needles are triangular (or X star). The X star needles fit between the other sizes. It can be useful for jobs like attaching hair, where you don’t want to make a hole, but just attach. You can also buy a “punch” which contains multiple needles, so it works faster. A ‘reverse barbed’ needle can also be purchased. This is used to fluff things up. Needles manufactured in China have a tendency to rust and break, so best avoided. Needles can be stored in tubes or containers like a Berocca tube, put some foam or wool in the bottom to protect the tips.

A leather thimble may be purchased for finger protection, or you could buy leather garden gloves at the hardware store and cut the fingers off to make your own thimbles.

The action used should be vertical (perpendicular to the fibre) so as not to break the needle tip. It should be a short, sharp, quick movement. If you are pulling out bits of foam from the foam block, you’re doing it too hard! The needle should only be angled for particular tasks such as joining heads to bodies. Left handers will need to employ a slightly different action.

Needle felting is adaptable – for example if you make a hole by overdoing the action, you can put more fibre on top and needle felt that to cover the hole. If you wish to make a felted ball you can use anything in the middle and wrap other fibres around the outside. You can add more wool to prefelts and build up layers to make 3 dimensional forms. Alternatively you could also use pipe cleaners or wire to make a frame, wrap it with core wool, and felt into this.  You can also needle felt more wool onto already felted items.

 

 

 

 

Meeting 21/7/2018

chaired by Marion Finneran (President Karen Woods away)

Marion extended a welcome to new members spoke about a number of upcoming events in which Feltwest is involved.

WA Craft Fair 3,4 & 5 August at Claremont Showgrounds, with setting up on Thursday 2^nd

Jan Stroud & Jill Jodrell are organising this event. Feltwest is having a Guild Stall to promote felting and Feltwest and recruit new members. This will involve talking to the public and doing demonstrations. If you have a favourite felting tool bring it along and use it in your demonstration. No goods will be sold at this event. A roster of members has been drawn up to work on the stall, with shifts from 9.30-12.30, and 1-4.30 each day. If volunteers enter by the Exhibitors Gate at the showground they will be able to park at no charge. Free entry passes will also be available for rostered volunteers on their shift day.

Please contact Jan or Jill on Add numbers/emails here …….if you would like to add your name to the roster.

Perth Royal Show 22-29 September at Claremont Showgrounds.

Martien van Zuilen and a subcommittee are organising our stand for this 8 day extravaganza.  We have a 6x6m corner stand, thanks to Peta Korb. This stand is to promote felting and Feltwest, by way of publicity, demonstration and sale of members work. All goods displayed must be for sale. An email will be sent out to members which will include an entry form. The entry fee is $25, regardless of the number of items entered for sale. A 15% commission is charged by the show on goods sold. The $25 charged by Feltwest goes towards advertising, display stands and other costs involved. Goods for sale must be submitted by the 15^th September meeting. If members are unable to deliver items to Craft House on the 15^th, they may contact the Royal Show Sub-committee to make mutually acceptable arrangements. All items for sale will be tagged with an official Feltwest tag. Members submitting work for sale will be obliged to work 2 x 6 hour shifts at the Royal Show.

August meeting including AGM will be held on 18 August.

Notices will be sent out to members this week regarding the AGM. Please consider nominating for a position on the Committee, you don’t need to be an expert felter to be a useful committee member.

There will not be a demonstration or mini workshop at the August meeting. Instead there will be a “Trash’n’Treasure” day, so bring along your goodies to sell & make more room at home for felting materials!

Upcoming Workshops

Beginners’ Workshops – Saturday September 15^th & October 13^th. Hoping to fill these by attracting new members at the Craft Show and the Royal Show.

Beginners’ Extension Workshops – Next one is Tuesday August 7^th – “Spikes can be fun”, followed by October 13^th – to be announced – keep an eye on the website www.feltwest.org.au

General workshops Please see the website for details & add your name to a waiting list, as all workshops are now fully booked. 😊

Workshop bookings have opened earlier this year than in previous years. The response from members has been very pleasing, as all are fully booked.

The Committee will hold its planning meeting for next year’s workshops in October or November this year (firm date yet to be decided). Please write your ideas for workshops in the suggestion book or speak to a committee member about this. The Committee values the input of members.

Other events and exhibitions

Fibreswest is holding its biennial retreat from July 7-13, 2019 next year, at Muresk. The program includes 10 workshops run by West Australian, Australian and international tutors. 8 of these are already fully booked, but there are waitlists available. For further information see www.fibreswest.com.au

Glass + is showing now at the Zigzag Gallery, Railway Road, Kalamunda until 29^th July.

Gallery @ Houghtons is calling for expressions of interest for an exhibition featuring teapots in any medium. I have a feeling that there are some felted teapots lurking about…..

Toss’n’Tell July 21, 2018.

Liz Odd – showed us a square vessel that she had made at Martien’s Treasure Nests Workshop using a round resist.  Liz also added different kinds of surface embellishments. She said the workshop was wonderful.

 

 

 

 

 

Renita Mroz showed a framed piece a ‘felt painting’ featuring trees and natural forms. She has been exploring layering and using partly felted pieces to great effect.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Liz Owens showed us a vessel she had made at the Treasure Nests Workshop, where she incorporated all the techniques that Martien taught including holes, tunnels, spikes, and various surface embellishments including stitching.

 

She said the workshop was great and was inspired to make another vessel at home.

The second one incorporated silk hankies and throwsters waste.

 

 

 

Joanne Peate showed us a piece that she made in today’s needle felting session (demonstration by June from Bilby Yarns).

Joanne considers needle felting fun and addictive.  We could not decide if it was an animal or a human.

 

 

 

 

Nancy Ballesteros showed an infinity scarf featuring abstract Fibonacci stripes of an organic or abstract form. She intends to

lead a workshop about this utilising Fibonacci stripes and colour theory. Nancy has been experimenting with having more control over her designs to get the felt to do what she wants.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sue Harrington displayed her jigsaw felted table runner. She wanted to use up some ‘odd blue and green bits’. She found the process very fiddly – ‘precision, precision, concentration’!, but is pleased with the result. She ended up turning the piece over, as she liked the back better than the front, as the colour was more diffused, without hard edges.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jan Stroud showed some felt toys that she had purchased some years ago in Kyrgistan. She told us about the women making them as a co-operative process.

 

Jill Jodrell also attended the Treasure Nests Workshop and showed her vessel ‘Kimberley Memories’. She learnt a lot at the workshop – spikes, carding, inclusions, and said that it has reminded her about good felting techniques.

 

 

 

 

Marion Finneran showed us a chair that she had upholstered in a jigsaw felt technique, as inspired by the Jigsaw Felt Workshop that she attended run by Martien. She said that the project taught her about patience and attention to detail. She also advised that it was helpful to make a sample first to help assess shrinkage rates and how the colours work together before doing a project.

 

 

 

We had alot of fun and laughs, see you at the Next TnT.

Liz

Thanks Alison for pictures and the reports.

 

Demonstration/Mini Workshop

Sue Eslick – Fins/Flaps

Martien’s proposed demonstration on “Tunnels and Loops” was postponed, due to illness. Get well soon Martien.

We would like to thank Sue & Sara for stepping in at the last minute.  We hope Martien and all who have caught this winters bugs are on the mend and back to the felt days soon.  Sunshine and oranges can help especially as the flu can also bring the blues too, so stock up on lots of colour to keep us happy and ready to felt.

Sue & Sara delivered a very informative demonstration of how to create fins or flaps within a felted piece.

Any wool is suitable unless it’s very coarse.

Bubble wrap and freezer wrap are useful as material for resists.

There are a number of different techniques to create fins.

1.  Straight topped fin

Layout a base in the normal way. Use some thick or thin plastic to create a resist. The size of the fin will be ½ the width of this plastic, minus a bit of shrinkage. The wool for the fin will overlap the plastic edge. If your fin is a different colour to your base layer and you don’t wish the fin’s colour to show through at the ‘root’, put more of the base layer colour over it to cover. When sufficiently felted, cut along the middle of the plastic line, and open the cut felt outwards.

 

 

 

 

 

And for the one I prepared earlier

2. Pointy/curvy edged fin

Cut a resist to the shape required. Lay your wool out as normal. Go carefully around curved edge, laying wool beyond the edge so that you have enough length on the fibres to fold over the edge. When felting the top curvy edge do not roll it, just massage with soapy water. Don’t felt the ‘roots’. Open it out from the unfelted ‘roots’ edge, so that they are separated from each other, then felt these edges into the base layer. If desired, bury the ‘roots’ under more wool the same colour as the base layer. Keep the fin standing up or use glad wrap to prevent the top edge sticking to the base layer. Flip the fin backwards and forwards as you work to ensure that both roots are well felted.

 

 

 

 

 

Fins or flaps may be single or in rows; they may be straight, pointy or wobbly as you fancy.

 

3. Spiral fins (by Sara Quail)

A herringbone layout would work well as a base for this technique. Very thin pre-felts are used in order to maintain flexibility. Lay the pre-felt leaf shapes on top of one another and stitch through the ‘mid-rib’ with very strong thread. Separate these ‘leaves’ with thin plastic and felt them. Swap the plastic around so that you can get at the different surfaces to felt them. When the felting process is 95% complete, shape each leaf by massaging individually to attain the spiral shape.

Toss’n’Tell

Karen Wood showed us her felt and leather messenger bag which she made at the Feltwest Leather Workshop at Hammered Leatherwork with Bec (tutor). Karen opted not to do the backpack straps and went with the messenger bag option. She is

using her bag often.

 

 

 

 

 

Jan Manning showed us the beginning of her flower meadow piece.

She was inspired by a laser cut metal flower garden she saw at Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery recently.

She is combining wool with mohair (which doesn’t felt) & beads to create a variety of flowers of different colours, shapes and textures.

 

 

Sue Eslick showed a red handbag embellished with silk fibres and machine embroidery as surface texture. The bag was made of one piece of felt. She used a combination of clear plastic tubing & smaller diameter foam tubing inside the handle to keep it firm and flexible.

 

Sue also showed a felted vessel with a resin coating on the inside (no picture). This is an idea that Sue is still experimenting with, and she would like some other members to get together with her and do further experimentation.

 

Kerry Bertucci showed a multi coloured spiky tea cosy, and a piece of spiky ‘lawn’. She has been experimenting with different techniques of getting spikey by crikey!

 

Feltwest Meeting

Led by Karen Wood

• Leonore Fairfield has been co-opted onto the committee and will be doing the Treasurer’s role.
• The retreat planned for June this year has been cancelled due to lack of numbers. Officially the deposit of $780 paid is non-refundable, but very kindly Muresk has given us a full refund. (They hope we will attend next year.) We need 20 participants to make it viable.
• Membership renewals will be sent out 29 June or near. Our membership is currently at 123, with 27 already signed up for next year. Make it easy for the Treasurer by signing up early. 😊
• Feltwest meeting July will feature merchandise from Bilby Yarns and a needle felting demonstration – don’t miss it!
• Workshops – Martien’s July workshop (Treasure Nests) is fully booked. You may add your name to the waiting list.

Olga Finkel’s September workshop (Painted Landscapes) has approximately 10 bookings at this stage, get in now to make this a better financial proposition for Feltwest. This tutor is coming from the east coast, so costs us more money than a local tutor. NOW FULL.

All workshops have a host/assistant who provides morning tea, helps tutor set up, pack up & clean up, and assists tutor and participants. The assistant also takes photographs and writes a brief report. If you would like to assist Feltwest in this way, please contact Sue Eslick the Workshop Coordinator to add your name to the list.

The next Beginners Extension Workshop “Spikes can be fun” has had a date change from July to the first Tuesday in August (7^th) 10.30-3.30 at Craft House. Tutors Kerry Bertucci & Jean MacKenzie.

• The Wood & Craft Show will be held at Claremont Showground from Friday 3 August – Sun 5 August. Feltwest will be having a Guild Stall at this event. Jan Stroud & Jill Jodrell are organising this. A guild stall does not involve any selling, but we are hoping for good publicity and recruiting of new members. There will be felting demonstrations, and felted items will be needed for exhibition. Jan & Jill will collect items for display. Volunteers are needed for 4 hour shifts over the 3 days – Karen will be circulating a sheet, so that people can nominate their preferred time/s. Volunteers will get a free entry pass to the show.
• Royal Show – Feltwest will be having a stall from 22-29 September. The Feltwest stall will be located in the Centenary Pavilion near the regional displays. The stall will be 6×6 sq. metres This will be selling, as well as demonstrations and publicity. EFTpos will be available for customers. Martien will be co-ordinating this event for us. We will need many members to run the stall, as it is open from 8am-9pm each day. Anyone submitting work for sale will be obliged to work 2 x 6 hour shifts. There will be 24 of these shifts. All work for sale will attract a 15% commission to the show if sold. Feltwest will charge members $25 to submit work.

July 31 official closing date for Feltwest tags.

August 18 Labels & tags will be distributed to sellers.

September 15 work to be handed in.