Beret Workshop Report

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 Nest Workshop Report

“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.

FeltWEST Toss ‘n’ Tell July

Demonstration July 21st

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 2nd

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 15th September meeting. If members are unable to deliver items to Craft House on the 15th, 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 15th & October 13th. Hoping to fill these by attracting new members at the Craft Show and the Royal Show.

Beginners’ Extension Workshops – Next one is Tuesday August 7th – “Spikes can be fun”, followed by October 13th – 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 29th 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.

 

Feltwest Toss N Tell June 2018

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

  1. 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.

 

  1. 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 (7th) 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.

 

Feltwest Planning Workshop June 2017

On Sunday 26th June, ten Feltwest members met to discuss past, present and future options for Feltwest activities.  Discussion was lively, constructive and wide ranging, and we all came away enthused with new ideas to be implemented or further explored.

We started off looking at the membership and attendance figures, membership has remained steady for the last 3 years at 140.  Attendance at monthly Toss and Tell is around 30, and at the monthly Tuesday Group, is around 10.  We hold approximately 8 workshops per year, plus 3 beginner’s workshops.

Results of the recent survey of members did not identify any clear trends or major issues, but did provide a number of useful comments and suggestions.

At the planning workshop we reflected on this information, and identified the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to Feltwest.  With this in mind we looked at the 4 objectives of Feltwest:

  • To promote quality felt
  • To share feltmaking skills and information
  • To support members and encourage fellowship
  • To make contact with other feltmakers.

In small groups we talked about how we can better achieve those objectives.  The suggestions were then grouped into themes, and turned into an action plan. An abbreviated version of this plan is below.

Strategies for the future: Promoting Quality Felt:

  • Consider options for changing the format of Toss and Tell
  • Enhance our use of social media including the website, Facebook, Pinterest.

 

Strategies for the future: Sharing Feltmaking skills and information:

  • Ensure the Tuesday group is regularly advertised in the monthly enews.
  • Promote Feltwest to students and tutors at TAFE and Colleges and community art galleries
  • Promote Feltwest activities in local newspapers, radio

 

Strategies for the future: Support members and encourage fellowship:

  • Identify options for supporting new members
  • Explore opportunities for selling work

 

Strategies for the future: Make Contact with other felters:

  • Participate in the themed project of the annual International Felt Day. 2017 theme is Collaboration
  • Link with Bunbury Felters, FIGS and interstate groups. Offer to set up billet exchanges
  • Increase links with WAFTA
  • Encourage inactive members to re-engage
  • Have a re-union at the November Christmas party
  • Share the list of member’s contact details amongst the membership

We would love to have your involvement in any of these exciting actions. Contact a Committee member with your ideas and let us know which group you would like to participate in.

Where did it all begin? The Origins of Feltwest By Judith Shaw

ORIGINS OF FELTWEST by Judith Shaw. Our story belongs with the contemporary practice of hand felting in New Zealand and Australia before formal Feltmaking associations were formed.

By the time feltmaking took hold in Australia, Mary Burkett in England and Beth Bede in the USA were researching traditional feltmaking around the world ,experimenting with complex techniques and encouraging others to share the excitement. Beverly Gordon’s book, Traditions, Techniques, and Contemporary Explorations FELTMAKING, 1980 N.Y gives comprehensive information about the craft and the feltmakers in the USA at that time. Although materials and equipment have made the work easier it might surprise new feltmakers to discover the level of expertise achieved before 1980.

In a letter to the Felt West editor in 1996 Marion Valentine in New Zealand refers to the increasing interest and expansion of feltmaking since 1990. Val Gilmour of Bunbury, now an Hon.Life Member of Felt West, travelled back and forward to New Zealand and saw what was happening there, influencing the creation of the first WA felting group in Bunbury. Earlier still, Peggy Buckingham co-ordinated TAFTA’s only WA Convention at Muresk Agricultural College near Northam in 1978.

Two feltmaking enthusiasts from Queensland’s Toowoomba Spinners and Weavers calling themselves the “ Gundawindi Greys”, demonstrated hand feltmaking taught to them by “a migrant lady”. Their technique was passed on by participant Ellie Eaton (Royal Agricultural Society & Melanian Society) and others, when they met with woolcraft practitioners. Ellie recalls that the felt was very thick, which was usual in countries with colder winter climates. All of this occurred in the midst of the hand spinning craze which resulted in an increased use of natural fleece and increased understanding of the properties of different types of wool for knitting and weaving.

So, felt making began as demonstrations showed the way for a further and exciting use of wool already on hand. At this time wool crafters washed and carded raw fleece. Demonstrations often included advice on washing wool. Some country people had their own sheep, others bought from emerging seller breeders or from Elder Smith’s wool stores where fleeces for hand spinners were put to one side and sold by a helpful character in the back of the shed! Wool was also imported from NZ.

West Australians who went to NZ for the National Woolcrafts Festival, Manawatu, in 1990 saw prepared, dyed wool on sale for the first time. New Zealand had many wool processing outlets and feltmakers there could choose the type of wool batt they wanted for specific felt works or purchase sheets of machine made natural wool felt. Wool batts were even available in broadloom widths which allowed for commercially viable production of felt coats etc. In a demonstration, well made felt sufficient for a large car coat was made from a large wool batt in around 20 minutes using a cane blind, soapy water and woman power.

During the Woolcrafts Festival a group of leading N.Z feltmakers posted a notice inviting anyone interested in becoming part of a Southern Hemisphere Feltmakers register to come to a meeting. Elaine Hutchinson and Judith Shaw attended that meeting of a group which went on to host two NZ Conventions followed by the Third Convention and first in Australia organised by Val Gilmour and Bunbury Feltmakers, at the Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School in 1994. It drew an incredible group of talented feltmakers nation wide plus representatives from NZ. Registrations from other States included Polly Stirling, Molly Littlejohn, Clare Carolan, Jan Clements, Christine Sloan, Jenni Farrel, Liz.Evans and others who went home to form felting associations and undertake teaching. Bunbury inspired the formation of groups in Canberra and Victoria and the recognition of felting by existing woolcraft organizations in other States.

Undaunted by the huge joint effort required for that first Australia wide Convention, Bunbury hosted a second live-in retreat for WA feltmakers which offered a programme of demonstrations and exhibition of work by all participants. All shared their experience on an honorary basis.

The first Felt West newsletter was issued to approx. 50 members in July 1996 after the three day retreat in Bunbury at which participants agreed to work towards a formally constituted felters’ network. It was agreed that this should now be based in the Perth Metro.area with Judith Shaw as co-ordinator. The first newsletter was paid for with funds carried over from the Bunbury retreat. Our stated aims were

i) to send out two or more Newsletters annually
ii) Plan a felters’retreat once or twice a year at a suitable live-in venue
The Bunbury Feltmakers with Val Gilmour at the helm and Hon.Treasurer Gloria Truman had done a marvellous job of providing for felters’ interests over the last few years and thanks from all concerned were gratefully recorded.
The first Newsletter invited all members to attend felting days at Craft House on Friday 15th November and Saturday 16th 1996 to give them an opportunity to meet and share. Arrangements were made to billet out of town members. Thus began Felting days & teaching sessions in Craft House, Menora. Seven current members have been part of Felt West from that beginning.

The early newsletters contain felting hints and ideas which remain relevant. Copies could be available at Craft House for reference on Felting days. When Felt West was formed (later to be incorporated) we had already began to take advantage of tutors with world wide experience. Lene Neilsen from Denmark was the first international tutor. Most of us had learned from each other and from demonstrations at Felt happenings. Lene went on to produce FELT FILT, available in English as well as Danish, setting high standards for hand felting and undoubtedly influencing many subsequent tutors.

E & O.E ( errors and omissions excepted!), many names deserve inclusion. In WA however, we cannot but remember the influence of Susan Seaman, Holly Nutley, Jenny House, Eileen Cresswell, Teresa Lawrence, Val Gilmour and others who set high standards and were inspirational by example and thus contributed individually and collectively to encourage feltmaking in WA.

Inspiration? by Vianne Sleypen

As a Hairdresser I find it easy to create something new, to start a haircut and finish it to mine, and the client’s satisfaction.  That it the easy part because for several reasons; there is someone sitting in the chair who can talk – they can provide feedback or preference, has a type of hair, […]

To access this you must purchase Feltwest Membership or Membership Renewal.

September Toss n Tell By Sara Quail

Demo: Bloomin’ Flowers with Soosie Jobson

Hot on the heels of her recently published e-book ‘Structural and Sculptural: Complex 3D shapes in felt’,  Soosie showed us an array of her ‘Bloomin Flowers’ incorporating some of the same principles and techniques detailed in her book.
Using the shape of the lateral view of a flower head and stem, daisies were created using an all-in-one resist technique. The flower head consisted of multiple layers of wool, separated by thin plastic and robustly prefelted before the next layer was added. These layers were simultaneously felted onto the stem in a small area where the head meets the stem. The flower head section was cut open along the top when the resist starts to buckle, opened up, petals cut and fulling continued. A foam gap filler rod was used as the stem resist, which can be easily removed after fulling and replaced with a wooden dowel for strength.

Roses comprised several parts using robust prefelt made from 4 layers of wool in the desired colours.  A foam rod was again used as the stem resist. 4 templates in varying sizes were used to create the petals and sepals. 3 rows of petals and then the sepals were stitched to the stem with un-waxed strong natural thread. Each petal requires individual fulling with very soapy hands. Treatment of petal edges produces different results. Cut edges before fulling creates a firm sealed look to the petal, whereas cutting after fulling reveals the colour of the internal layers. Tumble dry to complete the fulling process.

Another variation involved a resist to create a ball shape for the centre of a flower. Once robustly prefelted, it could be cut open, stuffed and stitched onto a stem, with rows of stitched petals added as before. Stitching disappears once fulling is completed.

Soosie’s wrap and stitch method involved 2 elements – a foam rod stem and rectangular strips of prefelt. Covered in plastic except for a small portion on one long side, the prefelt is stitched spiral fashion around the stem. After fulling, plastic is removed and petals can be cut. Different effects can be achieved by varying the size of the rectangle and placement of stitching. Soosie emphasised throughout that prefelts need to be robust and hanging the flowers upside down was the best way to dry them.

And as if that didn’t blow our minds she showed us some experimental flowers under development – Daffodil, Cymbidium and Phalaenopsis orchids. Watch this space…..

SoosieFlowers1 SoosieFlowers2

SoosieFlowers3 SoosieFlowers4

Announcements

1.      Workshops:

·         Sue Harrington advised that Soosie’s Complex 3D forms October workshop has sold out. Soosie’s latest e-book on the same subject is now available for purchase with a free copy of ‘How to Felt’ to the first 50 purchasers.

·      Bookings are now open and filling fast for Hanky Panky with Nancy Ballesteros 6-7 November.

·         Members are encouraged to submit ideas and suggestions for workshops and demos to Sue Harrington or Sue Eslick for consideration by the committee for the annual Planning Day 15 November. The aim of this day is to create a diverse and instructive year for the benefit of all members.

·         The upcoming Felting Frenzy 30 Nov – 1 Dec is the equivalent of a local retreat especially for those who didn’t attend the annual retreat in May. It is a great opportunity to spend all or part of the time to focus on special or large projects.

·         Wafta – To celebrate their 21 years of existence, Wafta is calling for applications for their twentyONE+ 2016 Juried Exhibition. Refer Wafta’s website for details. The Ilka White workshop has sold out.

·         Fibres West; 4 – 10 October at Muresk. A few places remain, refer to their website.

·         A visit to the Feltmakers of the Great Southern at Torbay Hill Function Centre, 1 Shelley Beach Road, Western Australia during the Art & Craft Trail, 26 Sept – 11 Oct, 2015, is highly recommended if you are in the area.

·         Chez Armstrong of FIGS has advised there are a few spaces left in a Fiona Duthie workshop in Cranbrook 21/22 November. Contact: FIGS2015@yahoo.com.au

·         Pauline Franklyn workshops are now available – enquiries to twopauls@iinet.net.au
2.      Borrowing FeltWest items – a reminder that a maximum of 2 Feltwest items may be borrowed at any time, for a month only. Thereafter the items must be returned or renewal discussed. All items to be returned by November Toss n Tell.

3.      Craft House – the APCH committee has made an application to Lotterywest for block-out blinds for the hall and the studio, which should reduce summer heat and enable daytime slideshows and video presentation.

4.      Missing equipment is ongoing. Return of the FeltWest mannequin is still sought. The general storeroom is now locked. Items for general use can be used on the premises only. Items belonging to user groups and available to borrow must be borrowed officially via Susan Sheath, booking officer for APCH.

5.      Soosie gave us more ideas and inspiration about the theme for the MACRO/Micro exhibition expanding on how enormous things can be made small and vice versa. Keep updated via the website and Facebook posts for info and inspiration on a variety of topics. Members are invited to contribute ideas and inspiration. The Exhibition venue – Central TAFE is a great exhibition space. Now is the time to start mulling over ideas. Open to all members, there will be no entry fee.

6.      The 3 new ladies doing the beginners course were warmly welcomed.

Toss and Tell

 

·         Teresa O’Malley intrigued us with a small, wet felted ‘poodle wool sheep’ made for a friend who collects sheep ornaments. The body of the sheep was made from the hair of the friend’s poodle and the head incorporated the hair of a Hungarian water dog.

TeresaO'Malley JudithShaw1 JudithShaw3

JudithShaw4 JudithAnts

·         Judith Shaw showed us some of her very tiny micro pouches no bigger than 7 x 4 cm. Very discreet, detailed and dainty. One of them had a flap, with one side suitable for day wear, the other for the evening. Her brown hat was one of 5 made some time ago. They were looking a little sad and floppy so she went about refreshing them by giving them a good wash in the bathroom sink with a little shampoo. Squeezed and dried off with a bathroom towel, she then re-blocked them, edged and titivated where necessary and voila – good as new!

·         Gudren Griffin produced 2 beautiful monochromatic necklaces created from Nancy’s meditation beads workshop, in pink and red. Determining their length was governed by the number of beads her new cat had appropriated for her own use. The Jacaranda shawl she had made using a silk lap had shrunk more than she expected, but she achieved beautiful detailing each end of the shawl by using silk hankies in subtle shades.

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·         Marion Finneran has been exploring the possibilities of recycling silk fabrics into nuno scarves. While pleased with the result, she noted that on one, where she had used an old silk scarf, the fabric had visibly deteriorated. In future she would be more careful when selecting this sort of fabric for a project.

·         Jill Jodrell and Pat Kendall had both made wearable items to suit the theme nights for the upcoming NZ Felt-makers Convergence in Auckland.  Jill created a stylish 3-cord necklace to wear herself and an asymmetrical evening bag for a friend which had been felted over muslin and incorporated some stitching.  Pat had used fine decorative prefelts on her nuno scarf for the Sky and Sea theme night, resulting in a delightfully delicate piece.

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·         Sue Eslick made another dotty bag in the style of Atsuko Sasaki whose workshop she attended a while back. Apart from the raised bumps, the challenge was to reduce the 15hrs of rubbing required in the original workshop to get the same extremely firm and flat felt. Her experiment succeeded by using the rubbing technique in conjunction with rolling, tossing and various tools – and took only 8hrs to achieve a very similar result.

·         Antoinette Boyd had meditation beads in progress and noted having small components to work on, made it one of those things you can do when away or with restricted time and space.

·         Katalin Dobos – This bag was originally a cat cocoon /cave that morphed into a bag once it was established the cat had declined to occupy it.

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·         Soosie showed us more items made using 3D resists illustrating that the technique can be used for more than cacti and unusual abstract shapes. Her Mandarin fish and Spotted Wrasse or ‘fish on a stick’ was an inspiration in using resist techniques in another direction.  She has also donated her ‘Cape to Cape’ scarflette created for the Scarf festival to the Xmas raffle. The elegant shaping of the cape was achieved by using a resist. The distribution of the beads was based on an 80:20 ratio representing the 80% of people living on the coast of Australia and 20% inland. The beads were counted exactly.

·         Lyn Blasgund’s small green and brown bag was testament to the importance of fulling… again… and again.

·         Sue Harrington made a cat cocoon for a friend. With wattle flowers still to be added, the result was not as stiff or as large as expected, despite a lot of hard work. She used 12 layers of 30 micron Corriedale each side of the resist, and felted every 2 layers. Her original shrinkage rate was based on a sample made with 8 layers each side. Using 12 layers altered the planned outcome. We don’t think the cat will mind, but there was a suggestion the structure had ‘foot warmer’ potential if the cat turns up its nose.

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·         Sara Quail showed her fulling boards made from a brickies smoothing tool and glass gems attached with Tarzan grip glue. Adhesion was made easier by the already roughened surface. She also showed the 10 metres of silk she had dyed for Fiona Duthie’s Joomchi felting and garment construction workshop she is doing at FibresWest . She had also been experimenting with dyeing wool roving using a variety of techniques, partly because 700g is needed for this workshop which seems a lot of wool for a wearable piece, even allowing a healthy %age for making samples.

·         The meeting closed with Sue wishing all the best to those participating in both FibresWest and the NZ Felt-makers Convergence.  We look forward to seeing the products of their labours in due course.