Past Workshop Topics

Email the Workshop Co-ordinator to go on the wait list.

a workshop with Soosie Jobson

Take the challenge in this two day workshop to use only what you have or can share or swap. We will create a stylish wrap or vest from our studio stash, whilst exploring many design methods and embellishment techniques. At the same time liberating our treasurers from the confines of their plastic box prisons!  This simple but effective shape can be a straight wrap or have arm holes to create a vest. Depending on your experience level you may like to add collars, pockets or for the ambitious – sleeves!

New trial workshop format

We know how precious weekends are with family, friends, and work commitments so we are trialing a new format for workshops longer than one day. If the workshop schedule permits we are splitting the days over more than one month. For example, Soosie has agreed to be the first test run and her workshop will be the first Saturday (our regular workshop day) over 2 months instead of 2 consecutive days over the entire weekend. We are hoping this will make the workshop more relaxed and enhance your learning experience. We have all experienced that last minute panic to finish or catchup with the rest of the group, often working that night then returning the next day tired. By spacing out the days it will give you time to catch up if required but definitely recoup and absorb what you have learned. Soosie’s workshop is flexible in structure so if you can’t attend one of the days she has included a “finish off or catch up day”. For example you could do Day 1 in February but if you can’t make Day 2 in March then do the catchup day in May – or attend all 3 days its up to.

The workshop will be held over 3 months – Saturday February 4th and Saturday March 4th & “Finish off or Catchup” Day May 6th

All wraps made from a rectangle.

Techniques and skills covered: garments on a resist, handling large projects, design, colour matching & planning, fine laying, multiple shrinkage rates and fulling.  Embellishments – there are 5 stages during the felting process that present opportunities to embellish – we can do all of them.

Experience level: beginners to experienced – all welcome.

Studio Detritus has been an ongoing series of workshops that focus on using what we have rather than acquiring more yet getting more in the end.  Soosie has been a practicing felt and textile artist for over 30 years and has won awards, prizes, and been featured in many exhibitions and publications around the world.  

Estimated materials list hopefully $0 but if you have nothing in your stash at all $100!

Resist Material for sale @ $5 per metre.

Bookings Open December 17th

For details of the Cancellation & Refund Policy click here

Members

Non Members

For all queries, please email the Feltwest Workshop Co-ordinator through our Contact page.

a workshop with Sharn Bruere

Close your eyes for a moment and imagine warm honey being drizzled over you brain. Relaxing right? Now imagine getting home from a long day, kicking off your hard shoes, and the same relaxing feeling pouring over you as you slip into your super cosy 100% wool slippers made just for you by you.

Bliss found.

Come learn the magical art of felted wool slipper making.

Sharn will take you through the entire process in six easy to follow steps – from resist making to sole options. By the end of the workshop you will have made a beautiful pair of slippers and will be able to share the magic by making a pair for everyone you know.

Sharn is a town planner by trade and wool felter at heart. She started her wool felting journey making felted wool baby shoes. She now takes custom orders for ladies slippers through her website Woolly Wombat. She has made hundred of pairs of wool felted slippers using the wet felting technique. Through the making of each pair she has perfected the art, streamlined the process and made all of the mistakes (so you don’t have to!). She has written an e-book on how to make felted wool slippers and knows all the tips and tricks to complete a pair of beautiful and magical slippers.

Find her online (Woolly Wombat) or say hi when she is next at a club toss and tell.

Sharn will have the following products available at the workshop:

• Core wool
• Wool kits to make a full pair of slippers
• Shoe soles
• Resist material
• My e-book (printed) on the magical art of slipper making

A materials fee of $nil is payable to tutor.

Estimated materials list $40

Bookings Open Now

For details of the Cancellation & Refund Policy click here

Members

Non Members

For all queries, please email the Feltwest Workshop Co-ordinator through our Contact page.

a workshop with Sharn Bruere

Close your eyes for a moment and imagine warm honey being drizzled over you brain. Relaxing right? Now imagine getting home from a long day, kicking off your hard shoes, and the same relaxing feeling pouring over you as you slip into your super cosy 100% wool slippers made just for you by you.

Bliss found.

Come learn the magical art of felted wool slipper making.

Sharn will take you through the entire process in six easy to follow steps – from resist making to sole options. By the end of the workshop you will have made a beautiful pair of slippers and will be able to share the magic by making a pair for everyone you know.

Sharn is a town planner by trade and wool felter at heart. She started her wool felting journey making felted wool baby shoes. She now takes custom orders for ladies slippers through her website Woolly Wombat. She has made hundred of pairs of wool felted slippers using the wet felting technique. Through the making of each pair she has perfected the art, streamlined the process and made all of the mistakes (so you don’t have to!). She has written an e-book on how to make felted wool slippers and knows all the tips and tricks to complete a pair of beautiful and magical slippers.

Find her online (Woolly Wombat) or say hi when she is next at a club toss and tell.

Sharn will have the following products available at the workshop:

• Core wool
• Wool kits to make a full pair of slippers
• Shoe soles
• Resist material
• My e-book (printed) on the magical art of slipper making

A materials fee of $nil is payable to tutor.

Estimated materials list $40

Bookings Open Now

For details of the Cancellation & Refund Policy click here

Members

Non Members

For all queries, please email the Feltwest Workshop Co-ordinator through our Contact page.

Email the Workshop Co-ordinator to go on the wait list.

a workshop with Soosie Jobson

Take the challenge in this two day workshop to use only what you have or can share or swap. We will create a stylish wrap or vest from our studio stash, whilst exploring many design methods and embellishment techniques. At the same time liberating our treasurers from the confines of their plastic box prisons!  This simple but effective shape can be a straight wrap or have arm holes to create a vest. Depending on your experience level you may like to add collars, pockets or for the ambitious – sleeves!

New trial workshop format

We know how precious weekends are with family, friends, and work commitments so we are trialing a new format for workshops longer than one day. If the workshop schedule permits we are splitting the days over more than one month. For example, Soosie has agreed to be the first test run and her workshop will be the first Saturday (our regular workshop day) over 2 months instead of 2 consecutive days over the entire weekend. We are hoping this will make the workshop more relaxed and enhance your learning experience. We have all experienced that last minute panic to finish or catchup with the rest of the group, often working that night then returning the next day tired. By spacing out the days it will give you time to catch up if required but definitely recoup and absorb what you have learned. Soosie’s workshop is flexible in structure so if you can’t attend one of the days she has included a “finish off or catch up day”. For example you could do Day 1 in February but if you can’t make Day 2 in March then do the catchup day in May – or attend all 3 days its up to.

The workshop will be held over 3 months – Saturday February 4th and Saturday March 4th & “Finish off or Catchup” Day May 6th

All wraps made from a rectangle.

Techniques and skills covered: garments on a resist, handling large projects, design, colour matching & planning, fine laying, multiple shrinkage rates and fulling.  Embellishments – there are 5 stages during the felting process that present opportunities to embellish – we can do all of them.

Experience level: beginners to experienced – all welcome.

Studio Detritus has been an ongoing series of workshops that focus on using what we have rather than acquiring more yet getting more in the end.  Soosie has been a practicing felt and textile artist for over 30 years and has won awards, prizes, and been featured in many exhibitions and publications around the world.  

Estimated materials list hopefully $0 but if you have nothing in your stash at all $100!

Resist Material for sale @ $5 per metre.

Bookings Open December 17th

For details of the Cancellation & Refund Policy click here

Members

Non Members

For all queries, please email the Feltwest Workshop Co-ordinator through our Contact page.

Email the Workshop Co-ordinator to go on the wait list.

a workshop with Soosie Jobson

Take the challenge in this two day workshop to use only what you have or can share or swap. We will create a stylish wrap or vest from our studio stash, whilst exploring many design methods and embellishment techniques. At the same time liberating our treasurers from the confines of their plastic box prisons!  This simple but effective shape can be a straight wrap or have arm holes to create a vest. Depending on your experience level you may like to add collars, pockets or for the ambitious – sleeves!

New trial workshop format

We know how precious weekends are with family, friends, and work commitments so we are trialing a new format for workshops longer than one day. If the workshop schedule permits we are splitting the days over more than one month. For example, Soosie has agreed to be the first test run and her workshop will be the first Saturday (our regular workshop day) over 2 months instead of 2 consecutive days over the entire weekend. We are hoping this will make the workshop more relaxed and enhance your learning experience. We have all experienced that last minute panic to finish or catchup with the rest of the group, often working that night then returning the next day tired. By spacing out the days it will give you time to catch up if required but definitely recoup and absorb what you have learned. Soosie’s workshop is flexible in structure so if you can’t attend one of the days she has included a “finish off or catch up day”. For example you could do Day 1 in February but if you can’t make Day 2 in March then do the catchup day in May – or attend all 3 days its up to.

The workshop will be held over 3 months – Saturday February 4th and Saturday March 4th & “Finish off or Catchup” Day May 6th

All wraps made from a rectangle.

Techniques and skills covered: garments on a resist, handling large projects, design, colour matching & planning, fine laying, multiple shrinkage rates and fulling.  Embellishments – there are 5 stages during the felting process that present opportunities to embellish – we can do all of them.

Experience level: beginners to experienced – all welcome.

Studio Detritus has been an ongoing series of workshops that focus on using what we have rather than acquiring more yet getting more in the end.  Soosie has been a practicing felt and textile artist for over 30 years and has won awards, prizes, and been featured in many exhibitions and publications around the world.  

Estimated materials list hopefully $0 but if you have nothing in your stash at all $100!

Resist Material for sale @ $5 per metre.

Bookings Open December 17th

For details of the Cancellation & Refund Policy click here

Members

Non Members

For all queries, please email the Feltwest Workshop Co-ordinator through our Contact page.

a workshop with Martien Van Zuilen

Learn to create colourful Coiled Vessels and small platter in this workshop with Feltwest member and popular tutor Martien van Zuilen. Over the two days, you will learn a variety of techniques to combine the art of making hand-felted cords with the (basketry) technique of coiling. We will start with making a variety of strong cords using hand-dyed wool and novelty fibres & fabrics. Once dry, waxed linen and other coiling materials including raffia and wire(!) are used to transform the felted cords into 3-dimensional treasures. A range of coiling techniques will be shown, and many tips will be shared so your artworks will be unique and finished to a high standard.

Martien van Zuilen is a felt maker and fibre artist widely recognised for her technical excellence and design skills in the medium of handmade felt. Since the late 1980s, she exhibits her distinctive artworks nationally and internationally. Martien is also one of Australia’s leading felting tutors with an extensive teaching portfolio of national and international workshops at all levels of experience, across a broad range of topics. She is passionate about the role of the arts in community and counts herself lucky to be able to inspire others about the ‘magic’ of Felt in all its forms. Based in Perth, WA, Martien has a full-time studio practice which she combines with her roles as Editor of FELT (Australia’s national felting magazine) and Convenor of Fibres West Inc. Her work is included in numerous international publications, books, and specialist arts magazines. www.martienvanzuilen.com Instagram: @martienvanzuilen

A materials fee of $10 is payable to tutor.

Estimated materials list $ – not provided

For details of the Cancellation & Refund Policy click here

Members

Non Members

For all queries, please email the Feltwest Workshop Co-ordinator through our Contact page.

a workshop with Martien Van Zuilen

Learn to create colourful Coiled Vessels and small platter in this workshop with Feltwest member and popular tutor Martien van Zuilen. Over the two days, you will learn a variety of techniques to combine the art of making hand-felted cords with the (basketry) technique of coiling. We will start with making a variety of strong cords using hand-dyed wool and novelty fibres & fabrics. Once dry, waxed linen and other coiling materials including raffia and wire(!) are used to transform the felted cords into 3-dimensional treasures. A range of coiling techniques will be shown, and many tips will be shared so your artworks will be unique and finished to a high standard.

Martien van Zuilen is a felt maker and fibre artist widely recognised for her technical excellence and design skills in the medium of handmade felt. Since the late 1980s, she exhibits her distinctive artworks nationally and internationally. Martien is also one of Australia’s leading felting tutors with an extensive teaching portfolio of national and international workshops at all levels of experience, across a broad range of topics. She is passionate about the role of the arts in community and counts herself lucky to be able to inspire others about the ‘magic’ of Felt in all its forms. Based in Perth, WA, Martien has a full-time studio practice which she combines with her roles as Editor of FELT (Australia’s national felting magazine) and Convenor of Fibres West Inc. Her work is included in numerous international publications, books, and specialist arts magazines. www.martienvanzuilen.com Instagram: @martienvanzuilen

A materials fee of $10 is payable to tutor.

Estimated materials list $ – not provided

For details of the Cancellation & Refund Policy click here

Members

Non Members

For all queries, please email the Feltwest Workshop Co-ordinator through our Contact page.

a workshop with Soosie Jobson

A palimpsest was a mediaeval way of recycling.  Parchment was a prized commodity and not to be wasted: scribes and scholars would scrape back the ink to rewrite a text leaving subsequent layers faintly visible through to the top.  This soft ghost like effect would hint of things past and remind us of the story beneath.  What better way to tell story than to use what we already have?

All of those beautiful little pieces of leftover felt, the odd and precious bead, glorious threads, scraps of divine fabric or exquisite handmade papers that accumulate in our studios can be set free using this recycling technique.  I love that we can use less to get more.

We will take the challenge in this one-day workshop to use only what we have.  Materials are supplied for this workshop all you need to bring will be your own tools like scissors, needles, notebooks that will be in the materials list  but you are welcome to bring your own little treasures.  Either way we will make beautiful earrings, brooches, and necklaces that will tell us stories every time we wear them.   You can also bring treasures to share or swap which will add another layer upon each others’ stories.

Experience level: beginners to experienced – all welcome.  Return participants more than welcome – do the things you missed last time plus a few new surprises.

Studio Detritus has been an ongoing series of workshops that focus on using what we have rather than acquiring more yet getting more in the end.  Soosie has been a practicing felt and textile artist for over 30 years and has won awards, prizes, and been featured in many exhibitions and publications around the world.  

Magnetic brooch clasps will be for sale $5 at the workshop.

Materials are supplied.

For details of the Cancellation & Refund Policy click here

Members

Non Members

For all queries, please email the Feltwest Workshop Co-ordinator through our Contact page.

In this 1.5 day workshop we will explore obtaining colour from plant material and natural dye extracts. This is a hands on workshop with lots of opportunity to experiment.

You will learn how to prepare silk for dyeing. How to obtain beautiful colours from ordinary food items in your kitchen.
Basic techniques and safety procedures of natural dyeing will be covered and you will get plenty of practise in experimenting with different plant material, to see what colours you can achieve in different dye baths. In addition we will explore a range of natural dye extracts. 

We will use mordants to extend the range of colour samples. During this process you will be guided in the practice of record keeping to give you a comprehensive silk sample library for future reference. We will talk about water and pH, colour fast and light fastness, and you will experiment with both fugitive and substantive dyes. 

The focus is on having fun, play and experimentation with natural dye foodstuffs and extracts.

For details of the Cancellation & Refund Policy click here

Members

Non Members

For all queries, please email the Feltwest Workshop Co-ordinator through our Contact page.

In this 1.5 day workshop we will explore obtaining colour from plant material and natural dye extracts. This is a hands on workshop with lots of opportunity to experiment.

You will learn how to prepare silk for dyeing. How to obtain beautiful colours from ordinary food items in your kitchen.
Basic techniques and safety procedures of natural dyeing will be covered and you will get plenty of practise in experimenting with different plant material, to see what colours you can achieve in different dye baths. In addition we will explore a range of natural dye extracts. 

We will use mordants to extend the range of colour samples. During this process you will be guided in the practice of record keeping to give you a comprehensive silk sample library for future reference. We will talk about water and pH, colour fast and light fastness, and you will experiment with both fugitive and substantive dyes. 

The focus is on having fun, play and experimentation with natural dye foodstuffs and extracts.

For details of the Cancellation & Refund Policy click here

Members

Non Members

For all queries, please email the Feltwest Workshop Co-ordinator through our Contact page.

a workshop with Nancy Ballesteros

This 2 day workshop will explore a unique abstract painterly-like method of working with Silk Hankies. Feltmakers first impressions of Silk Hankies are usually one of frustration. Learn how to transform this experience into creative bliss.  Silk Hankies possess unique properties which create gloriously lustrous and textural surfaces when laminated with minimal amounts of superfine merino and silk fabric. We will experiment creating a variety of different visual effects with the hankies.

We will explore design ideas including edge extensions, unusual bottom finishes as well as working your design on both sides. A variety of silk fabrics may also be incorporated into the design work. Specific fulling techniques will be taught to ensure proper quality felt. Embellishment ideas to be explored as time allows, particularly hand stitching with a self-made silk thread. 

Silk hankies traditionally have been underutilised as a source of silk by felt makers. You may ask “what is so special about a Silk Hanky”? A silk cocoon is spun by a caterpillar as one continuous strand of silk.  Each hanky is made from a degummed silk cocoon that has been pierced and stretched over a square frame (resembling the shape of a handkerchief), and then stacked layer upon layer. Hankies have the amazing property of being very strong and behave as a continuous mass, the fibre have not been cut like in a silk top.

Nancy Ballesteros has passionately worked with fabric all her life. She spent most of her childhood sewing and then was introduced to spinning, felting and dyeing while at university. These elements quickly took over as her life’s passion and she hatched a fibre business called Treetops Colour Harmonies in 1987. Since moving to Australia in 1990, Treetops continued to grow into a successful international web-based company offering felting supplies for discerning felt makers. She has taught felting for many years before taking a break to raise her two children and run Treetops. Since 2014, she began teaching again in Australia, Europe and the USA, mostly concentrating on unravelling the mysteries of working with superfine Merino and Nuno felting. Nancy was instrumental in developing the technique of Silk ‘Paper’. She has written about felting in numerous publications and participated in many workshops and master classes.

www.treetopscolours.com.au  facebook.com/treetopscolours   instagram.com/treetops.colours

A materials fee of $0 is payable to tutor.

Estimated materials list $80

For details of the Cancellation & Refund Policy click here

Members

Non Members

For all queries, please email the Feltwest Workshop Co-ordinator through our Contact page.

a workshop with Claire Russell

In this 2 part workshop participants will be able to make their own fantastical flying fairy and magical home for them. Learning construction and armature skills along the way.

DAY 1 June 3rd

From wisps of wool a fairy will emerge like magic. Using basic armature wrapping skills the residents of your fantasy garden will begin. Fairies can be as simple or as fantastical as they want to be. And of course all fairies need a home – and we will start their magical mushroom mansion. We will learn how to use wet felting in combination with needle felting to produce spectacular mushroom caps that can be embellished in many ways.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither are fairy homes so we will start on Day 1 with plenty of time before Day 2 for you to get Rome in order. By the end of Day 1 participants will have an understanding of what good needle felt looks and importantly feels like with sound basic shapes. We will also discuss the embellishments that can be be added to your fairy home when we resume the workshop.

Students will need to work on these between day 1 and 2.

Fantastical Fairy

Magic Mushrooms

Detailed caps

DAY 2 August 5th

Putting it all together.

All the work that you put into your fairy mushroom base parts will pay off and  you will be able to put your parts together. We will develop the mushroom whilst learning how to add the decorative gills using multiple options.

Then your creative side can flourish. Doors, windows, and garden planters with flowers can be added to your fairy’s home – even a chimney if you want. Maybe some smoke too!

Bringing items from home that you think your fairy’s house would want.

Estimated materials list $

Claire Russell started her needle felting journey through a combination of online and in person tutorials from local to international felt artists. Claire has been teaching Feltwest’s beginners needle felting for the last 2 years and through her love of the fantasy realm lead her to win “Best Exhibit in Felting” at the Perth Royal Show as well as 1st and 2nd place for items in other Felting categories.

Bookings Open April 15th

For details of the Cancellation & Refund Policy click here

Members

Non Members

For all queries, please email the Feltwest Workshop Co-ordinator through our Contact page.