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