LAMPSHADE WORKSHOP

What a beautiful sunny day for this May workshop with Gabi McGrath & Yvonne Shiels. The windows & doors were thrown open and the sun streamed in. 

Gabi gave a synopsis of the work to be completed & very quickly members got down to laying fibres & adding embellishments. Amazingly this was completed by all by lunchtime. Lunch was provided by Feltmakers North & supplemented with Mandy's short-shortbread & Elaine's husband's lush lemon cake. Nyum nyum. 

The afternoon focused on felting & shrinking the piece. Because only one or two layers were used the piece felted really quickly. 

The results were beautiful with everyone leaving with a finished product.

Another great workshop with Gabi & Yvonne.

Mandy's new mate!
(Sheep by Joan)

Saturday 19th May AGM

The 8th AGM took place on this most beautiful sunny morning. Chaired by Elaine the Secretary's, Treasurer's & Chairperson's report were read. Thanks were given to the hard work of the Committee over the year and to those who helping with the teas & coffees at the felt-ins.

Two members, Jane Fox & Dympna Curran are stepping down from the Committee due to other commitments. Feltmakers North thank them for their support over the past years & wished them all the best in future endeavors. 

Two other members, Mary Walker & Pleasaunce Perry were nominated, seconded & accepted onto the Committee. They will soon be busy, busy busy! Welcome on board.

The annual members survey was completed by those present. This is so important in ensuring the Committee can focus resources in delivering what you as members would like to achieve & participate in. This shall be collated & analysed shortly & next year's programme developed & added to the blog.

Thank you to everyone who brought along items to the 'Bring & Buy'. A great selection of wools, fibres, silks etc to add to your stash. Some were even used in the Lampshade workshop. 

The next Felt-in is on 16th June when Mandy will be demonstrating holes in felting, wholly exciting!

Remember keep the July exhibition in mind. And, please bring any items for the exhibition to the June meeting. If your unsure about your piece bring it along for some guidance & advice.

The Editor

NEEDING INSPIRATION?

Recently added under "Blogs we like" (look to the right 👉🏼 & scroll down 👇🏼) are some links to other felters webpages. Hopefully this will spark some ideas for your own designs & projects. 🤓

21st April Felt-in

Gail opened the meeting with Guild notices including a reminder of the AGM in May. Gail reported that there are openings for new committee members. If you are interested in joining the committee, supporting the group & having a bit of craic just let Gail know. 

The AGM is open to members only & shall be followed by the popular "Bring & Buy" sale. Time to look in your drawers & bring along any items you may wish to sell. This may be books, fibers, equipment or even items you have felted.

Lunch shall be provided & there then follows an exciting felting session making a small lamp shade, led by Gabi McGrath. Gabi is a great felter & we are delighted that she is able to join us again. Bring along your usual felting kit, some fibres & embellishments. Remember if you wish to attend this (for a small fee of £5) or the lunch please ensure that you have informed Jayne Burgess asap.

Our workshop programme continues with Mandy Nash & felting a fish using a resist - 23/06/18 followed by Wendy Bailie - 25-26/08/18. Jayne will be sending out applications so get these in early to avoid disappointment.

A great 'show & tell' this week. Feltees have been busy this month. Ann & Gail brought along the results of their eco-dying with Nicola Browne. The resulting colours from the dyes were really autumnal & can be seen below.

 Elaine's celtic brooches

Sarah's tower. 

Springtime snowdrops.

Hats & fascinator

Deborah's scarf - so colourful

Sandy's scarves

Love Mandy's bee & the hexagonal flowers.

Pleasaunce's tower

Tina's turret

Cactus silk strands - lovely shimmering jewel colours

USING KAP MERINO & RESIST TO MAKE KINDLE/IPAD/PHONE COVER

Ann led today's workshop and introduced the group to kap merino - a fibre believed to be taken from the neck of the sheep. It is a short stapled wool that is dense and felts relatively quickly producing a dense hardwearing smooth finish. Great for sculptures, jewellery, bags etc. 

After choosing the wool shades and drawing the resist members began laying down the fibres with a final layer of embellishments. Although the wool felted easily most were unable to complete the project in the allotted time. This was due to the announcements & show & tell taking a bit longer than expected. 

Ann is to email the instructions for feltees to complete. Please bring these to the next show & tell. Some of Ann's beautiful bags, covers, purses can be seen below.

And, lastly a fond farewell to Karen who leaves to return to Oxford.  Below is a pic of Karen holding her grandmother's felted tea cosy. Her first introduction to felting. Best wishes Karen & hope to see you in June.

Karen's last day