February's Frolic with Felt.

Some examples of lattice work Gail Cooke brought along to show us, which were very inspiring! This was a great morning packed with instruction and handy tips, plus terrific fun as Lesley Blacklock will now tell you.
The session was taken By Gail Cooke and she inspired and instructed us on how to create lattice work with felt to make a sample of a scarf. We discovered that natural wool is good to use to learn the technique as dyes can change the  characteristic of the wool making it harder to work with.
                                                                            

 We started by marking a template with a permanent marker on our bubble wrap to aid us laying out the wool design. Our wool tops were then split into three lenghts, two were set  aside and the first lot was then split into three lengths. The wool was teased out to lengthen it and we laid three horizontal lines on the bubble wrap, the second of the three pieces was split into three and laid vertically making sure the squares were equal sizes.

                                                                          
The third piece of wool was split and used to finish the lattice design. Some people laid silk or other colours onto the lay, for added interest. The wool was wetted and a piece of polythene was placed over the lay and it was carefully felted in only one direction to ensure the fibres did not move.
 We waited with eager anticipation to see our end results and were all very pleased and cant wait to make a full length scarf we can wear!!
Thank you Gail it was a very enjoyable morning.
Lesley Blackstock                                                   

 Gail modelling one of her own designs a lovely lattice scarf suitable for summer.

Mary Nugent also wrote another great Saturday was spent with Feltmakers North learning lattice work technique under the professional guidance of Gail who showered us with an abundance of knowledge and patience. I learned several new and handy tips and am delighted with my finished piece. I intend to experiment at home and look forward to showing off my new creations at next months felt in.


The draw will take place soon for the Elizabeth Bonnar Nuno workshop, and the lucky people will be notified. The great thing about these workshops all the materials are supplied all the patiscipants have to bring is their felting kit and a packed lunch. We have another surprise for the lucky felters but that will be revealed at the workshop and I will tell you in the post about the workshop!!
I would love people to send me some photos of their felting which I can add to the gallery, its very inspirational seeing other felters work, so dont be shy and send me a photo to feltmakersnorth@gmail.com
Fiona Harvey
                                                                                                   

The Mad Hatters!

Saturday 4th February Feltmakers North held a hat workshop, the tutors were Gail Cooke and Fiona Harvey (me) Gail had ordered lots of lovely wool tops in a great variety of colours also some silk fibres! We started with a wee cup of coffee to make sure everyone was awake and raring to go.

                                   Gail discussing the variety of hats we had brought with us. 
Everyone selected a pattern, and set to create their hat. The workshop was full so there was plenty of chat, but everyone worked hard to produce their hat reflecting their own style.

                                          There was great concentration and attention to detail.

                                                                                           
Like most times when a crowd of ladies get together there were lots of laughs, especially when Denise first tried on her hat! (below)

The day passed very quickly and Gail and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of being with a group of very creative and keen feltmakers. Everyone went home with a finished hat and the variety of hats was tremendous. I am putting more photos in the gallery for you to look at!

 This is what Cherri Conlon wrote about the day; Have just finished my first hat workshop. it was a great day and coming home with a completed hat was a thrill and a wonderful sense of achievement. Many thanks to Gail and Fiona who obviously had put in a lot of preparation.

                                                The Mad Hatters
Dorothy Dinsmore wrote; thank you both for a great day. I thoroughly enjoyed the workshop, it was very much a hands on day.
Don't forget to check out the gallery for close ups of some of the hats! Looking forward to seeing you at the felt in in February, I know its going to be great fun learning how to make lattice felting!   
Fiona Harvey                     

Flying start to 2012

Our first meeting of the year got off to a flying start, with a tremendous turnout of familar faces and also some new faces, which was great to see. Denise Phipps was kindly taking the felt in and showed us how to make a flower using a polystyrene egg! Unfortunately I was unable to stay for the felt in so here is an overview from Maria, who joined in the fun!

Our intention was to make a flower. previously we had made a flower with a flat piece of felt, on this occasion we used a polystyrene egg along with our basic felting kit, wool tops and silk fibres. The importance of planning for the finished item was brought home to us during the felt in, we had to think which colour for the outside and which colour for the inside of the flower.
We began by laying down the fibre;
Tip; a fine lay is best.
The fibre was laid extending over the ends of the egg, this would create the stems.

We rolled the egg and wetted the wool inside the bubble wrap. then we were off in our individual directions- squeezing and rolling the flower stem between our hands and gently rubbing the fibres over the egg to shrink the wool.
Tip: when rolling the stems, work from the outside inwards to prevent the egg from moving.
An odd hole appeared as we rubbed the egg. our choice was to add some fibres or not and far from a felting disaster, the holes produced some lovely filigree type work in the felt.

                                                   Happy Felters having fun!
After shrinking the wool, we snipped and cut around the middle of our egg- whether in half or two thirds and one third- to give two flowers. As we reflected on the technique we had just used, the possibilities for future work began to flow. we could cut petal shapes, create passion flowers, seed pods, colombian cup fungi-even!! We could embroider, bead, add spikes- soo many ideas, so little time.... the felting devils were unleashed. We're making our plans. Thanks Denise.
Maria Geoghegan-White

That certainly sounds like a very inspiring felt in and tremendous fun!
Gail Cooke and myself are looking forward to taking the hat workshop on the 4th February, Gail has ordered in fabulous colour combinations of wool and looking out the window now I think its the definitely the weather for a hat!!
Fiona Harvey

Happy New Year!!

I just thought I would give you an update on Feltmakers North plans for 2012, which I think will prove to be an exciting year!! We are kicking off with a felt in on Saturday 21st when Denise Phipps will be showing us how to make felt flowers.
On the 4th February Gail Cooke and myself Fiona Harvey are taking a workshop where we will be making a hat. This is a great opportunity to extend your felting knowledge and thanks to Lisburn Arts Advisory Committee who has given us a helping hand finicially, the workshop is an amazing £20 for members and £35 for non members this includes all materials required to make a hat,(wool and silk fibres) all you need to bring is your felting kit, pack lunch and may be  hat block. For more details contact Ann at amccullough1949@gmail.com

                                                   Just had to add this cute little lamb!!
                         
In March 24th we have another workshop Elizabeth Bonnar is teaching the art of Nuno felting, anyone that knows Elizabeth knows she is a first class tutor with immense knowledge on nuno felting. The application forms for this will be out soon and again contact Ann for details. This is also sponsored by Lisburn Arts Advisory Council, so I have point out that this makes it such good value and again so handy in Hillsborough Village Centre.

                                                                              
The felt ins continue in February, March and April, then in May we have our Agm, where members will be in for a treat, we have invited Elizabeth Bonnar, from Dublin to come and talk on the versatility of silk in felt making, the meeting will be all day (with only the shortest time possible for AGM business) and we hope to experiment with some of Elizabeth's silk techniques in the afternoon, but more details will follow shortly!!

In the Autumn we are planning to hold an exhibition at The Island Arts Centre, in Lisburn, this will the members work that they have made since the founding of Feltmakers North. The Exhibition will be entitled " Stepping Stones" we hope all members will submitt up to 5 pieces for the exhibition the date has to be confirmed.

                                                   Charity van der Meer is coming to FN!!!

This is such a prestigious tutor for Feltmakers North to have come to teach us. She is an amazing designer and felt maker, and an excellant tutor. A couple of us were on a workshop with her recently and we both learnt such a lot, it was terrific, so we decided we would love to have her come to FN. Now I can hear you all say I wouldnt be good enough to go on that workshop, well you are wrong! Charity is a very great tutor who will teach each partiscipant individually all you need is the desire to learn and a love of felting and you will be grand. We are still in the planning stage, but we hope it will be a 2 and half day residential workshop. What fun!! The dates are Friday 2nd Nov Saturday 3rd Nov and Sunday 4th Nov, so now you have no excuse get those written in the diary and get them booked off work!! It is definately a workshop not to be missed.

                                                                                
Another one of Charity's beautiful dresses, made of silk fabric, merino wool,and wensleydale curls.
We have now a Rolling membership, so if you would like to join this can be done at anytime of the year, this will enable you to get the workshops at the reduced price and also members are drawn first for the workshop, so this increases your chance of getting a place!!

Well all that remains for me to say is I hope you all have a peaceful and healthy New Year, and I look forward to seeing you all at the Felt ins.
Fiona Harvey

O yes and please email me some photos of your work the gallery on the blog needs updated.

Christmas is coming!

I hope you all enjoyed this little video! (thanks to my daughters for putting this up for you, as it was beyond me!!)
We had our Christmas felt in, with Dorothy Dinsmore and what fun it was!! We made little needle felted stuffed robins and Dorothy inspired us with her other array of Robins! If only I had time before Christmas to try and make a few more!!

Dorothy demonstrating the technique of how to needle felt the Robin.

The morning session flew in(!!!) as we were having such fun and needless to say the chat was mighty!

The concentration was intense! Or may be they are just camera shy?

Dorothy had made up little kits for us, that Feltmakers North gave out to everyone as a Christmas present, this meant everyone had all the ingredients they needed, which meant no stress! Well except for the odd person you stabbed their finger instead of the wool, but luckily no serious injuries were incurred!

                                                    Here are the fantastic little Robins!

Just a wee reminder about the hat workshop which is February 4th the details are in the workshop section. It will be a fun relaxed day of felting, and a good way of learning another skill. If you would like an application contact Ann or email us at feltmakersnorth. Details will follow in the New year re the Nuno felting workshop in March, with a Elizabeth Bonnar.

So all that leaves me to do is to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a healthy New Year, and I look forward to seeing you all in 2012!
Fiona Harvey

Lots of Biz!!

Gabi McGrath hungarian felting using traditional patterns and colours.

Another lovely workshop took place on Saturday 5th November, this time by Hungarian born Gabi Mc Grath. To commence we were given a brief insight into felting in Turkmenistan, how it is used for rug making and actual houses for the tribes. We looked at traditional designs and patterns and had fun trying to copy and personalise our own design for the small rug we were about to make. We mostly used the curly motif depicting the horns of the ram. We used hungarian wool and under Gabi's supervision transferred our designs outlining the pattern with thin strands of wool-then filling in using chunky pieces.

                                            Liz transferring her pattern onto a piece of fine cotton.

We incorporated several traditions in our rugs- the use of small bit of camel wool for luck! When applying water to the wool we used a type of fanned fork of branches to sprinkle, this was also a type of good luck!
                                            Below Gabi, demonstrating the edge stage.

An interesting method of rolling took place-all our rugs were placed side by side and rolled up inside one large woven mat. this was tied up, then rolled between pairs of people, so easing the workload.

We had a lovely "taster" into felting from another country, as well as ending up with a beautiful mini rug. A big thank you to Gabi for sharing her knowledge with us and hope she will join us again.

 By Marguerita Mc Clean.

Feltmakers Ireland have launched a book hilighting feltmakers in Ireland, and Feltmakers North are very proud that three of are members have work included in this lovely publication. If anyone would like a copy they are 15 euros and available from Feltmakers Ireland!

Gails selection of felted pen she had made to inspire us all!

November's felt in was taken by Gail Cooke and her topic was felted pens!! We had a good turn out and the craic was mighty, after being fortified with a welcome cup of coffee, we all set about making  many variations of a theme. It is always interesting to see different peoples colour choice. 

Jenny on her second pen!

Under the very good instruction and supervision of Gail everyone had a very successful and productive morning. There was tremendous curling,  twisting. and manipulation to create different shapes to the end of the pens, there was also plenty of laughing!! A very good morning was had by all, and some stocking fillers were made.

TO ALL MEMBERS OR FUTURE MEMBERS OF FELTMAKERS NORTH!!
Feltmakers North is holding an exhibition of members work in The Island Arts Centre, Lisburn at the end of 2012, we hope each member will exhibit three of four pieces. It is a great opportunity to showcase the art involved in felt making and talent of  the members of Feltmakers North. The title of the exhibion will be released in the next blog post! For those of you who are not exhibiting there will be invition to the opening night of the exhibition when you will be able to see and hopefully be inspired by the work on show!

Hat Workshop
There are details on the hat workshop which is taking place in February in the "workshop" section of the blog and details of how to receive an application form! Next month there will be details on the Elizabeth Bonnar nuno workshop in March 2012!! So many exciting things coming up!

For those of you who enjoy looking at felt making on the internet check out www.feltunited.com they have just posted there 2011 exhibition. For the last three years they have taken a section of the colour wheel and asked people to felt using the said colours and then send in there photos, they are from all over the world and I must say I find the work very inspiring! Cynthia Reynolds and Elis Vermeulen who organise Feltunited do it to promote feltmaking world wide and to link like minded people around the world!

I couldnt resist including this wee pet, who I have named The Strawberry Elf!! How cute!

I think I have brought you up to date with all that is happening in Feltmakers North but keep checking the blog for the latest news! We hope to see a really good turn out at our Christmas Felt in, forget Christmas shopping come and have a little quiet relaxing ME time. December 17th 10.15-12.30 Hillsborough Village Centre! So like they say ( used to say I'm may be showing my age here!!) in all good cartoons That's all from me folks!!
Fiona Harvey.

Yikes! Spikes!

Pudding the Pug modelled her new winter coat complete with Spikes this Autumns Must have!!

Our felting session today was learning how to make spikes and then attach them to felt or make them into the cutest flowers.
We started with equal lengths of merino tops, and using the small plastic bag and band, provided by Fiona, we kept about 1/4 of the piece dry. The spike was then made by wetting and gently rolling it until it became solid. Felting was achieved by firmly rolling the spike, so that it would stand up on its own.

We made a flat piece of felt, taking it to the pre felt stage, so it was still fibrous and ready to take the spike. The plastic bag was removed and the fibres were fanned out. This was then placed on the prefelt, dampened with soapy water and rubbed gently, so they became one. Once the spike was firmly attached, the rolling began. the resulting piece revealed a stunning piece of felt with a spike attached!!
A second spike was made and the plastic bag removed. We then added more fibres and worked on the top to develop a really lovely flower, small enough to make a brooch.

                                                               Completed Flower.


A great session with lots of new techniques learned and new members  producing stunning, creative work! All thanks to Fiona's excellent tutelage.
By Elaine Mc Combe.

At next month's felt in (November 19th) we will be making felt pens so please bring with you a new biro style pen. They are fun ,colourful pens that would be a lovely stocking filler! Please check out the workshop page as we regularly up date with all the information on up and coming events. We have some very exciting workshops planned for the next year, including an exhibition of members work in the latter part of 2012. This will be an excellent opportunity to show case the work that is produced by Feltmakers North members. We hope to have examples of the new technique we have acquired through attending our great workshop.
On the blog we now have a new section Book Review, this one was very kindly written by Barbara, But I hope some of you will send me a book review of your favourite book, or be a bit controversial and write a review of book you didnt like!!
Thats all from me, hope to see you all at November's felt in. Fiona Harvey.