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Hello reader

Feltwest is very pleased to announce the 2024 Bush Retreat at Nanga Bush Camp.

Thursday 6th June to Sunday 9th June

Bookings Open Midday Sunday 4th February 2024

The only place to find the booking is on the Members Area scroll down to Nanga Bush Retreat Booking - it will appear here.
Join us for a magical bush retreat in the middle of the magnificent Jarrah forest of Dwellingup.

From Midday Thursday 6th June to 2pm Sunday 9th June the first 24 Feltwest members to book will participate in a fantastic and enriching workshop with the internationally renown Fiona Duthie, who has developed this 3 day workshop just for us.
The lucky participants will enjoy fun, fellowship and felting in the beautiful surrounds of Nanga Bush Camp – this will be an event to remember.
As a gift to our Membership the cost of the retreat includes the workshop that Fiona has specially designed to draw on the magnificent surrounds at Nanga and translate them into exquisite silk designs and prefelts.
Nanga Bush Camp is not a 5 star luxury resort but what it is – is a tranquil hideaway from our regular lives.

We have booked the Currawong bunk house that has small bunk rooms with 4 beds. The rooms are positioned around the mezzanine floor that surrounds the incredible open space that we will call home for 3 nights. But! At most you will share with 1 other person, and there are more than enough bunks that we all get a lower level one.
There are several exterior spaces for gathering and of course all of that beautiful bush.
The main space has a huge fireplace and drum heater to make it toasty warm which will be perfect for sipping mulled wine by.
A chef will cater for lunch and dinner in the fully equipped kitchen. We ask you bring your own breakfast and a slice/cake/tart etc to share with everyone. There is a large urn and we will provide our usual tea, coffee and milk.
Once you have booked, the Materials list for Fiona’s workshop will be sent to you. And full details of the retreat, including directions and what to bring, will come in the beginning of May.

Layers in Design

with Fiona Duthie

Layers in Design explores inks, paints, markers and gold leaf for printing and drawing on cloth and on finished felt, to individualize your felt projects. Through nature observation and creative exercises, we look at where to find inspiration and use it to make your own personalized fabrics through abstraction in colour, forms, text, asemic writing and gestures in markmaking. We’ll paint fabric with colour, black and white and metallics, using paints and inks to create durable, complex cloth designs that can be collaged into dynamic nuno/laminated felt surfaces. We’ll make prefelts from these,and discuss ways these can used in many styles of projects, covering design process and composition, reviewing colour theory, contrast and scale. Participants will complete the workshop with a wide range of printed cloth and handmade nuno prefelts to bring into future projects.
Fiona Duthie is an artist/maker recognized for her dynamic surface design. She explores personal narrative using mainly textiles, focusing on relationships between people and place, and our psychological states and responses. She starts a new piece with the story and creates tactile metaphors in form, material and process to best communicate that narrative.
She first encountered feltmaking in 1996 and it immediately became her medium and passion. Fiona has a full-time studio practice based on Salt Spring Island, BC and has exhibited her work in Canada, the US, New Zealand, the UK and Australia.
If you need to pay for the retreat in instalments please contact the Retreat Co-ordinator before bookings open for instructions. feltwest.vicepresident@gmail.com

Contact Us

President Liz Owens - feltwest.president@gmail.com
Vice President Soosie Jobson - feltwest.vicepresident@gmail.com
Treasurer Claire Russell - feltwest.treasurer@gmail.com
Secretary Jo Ganon - feltwest.secretary@gmail.com
Workshop Co-ordinator Cynda Empsall feltwest.workshops@gmail.com
Skill Extension & Beginners Sue Eslick feltwest.eventscalendar@gmail.com

Detailed contacts list available here

Feel free to forward this eNews to any like minded people who might like the opportunity to meet felters, learn and share new skills and generally do all things felty.
If you are not a member of Feltwest you are missing out on amazing workshops from experienced local, interstate and international tutors, and heaps of event opportunities like exhibitions and markets. Sound good? Join here:

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