In a Spin!

Sarah Jarden delighted us with her knowledge and skill for our March Felt in. (above some of Sarah's lovely hand spun wool!) Sarah started by showing us various methods of carding wool, including using a small dog brush, she did advice us to have a piece of leather over our knee as getting your leg carded is a very painful process!

                                              
Sarah showed us how to load our carders, and then demonstrated the process of carding old matted wool, and transform it back to lovely soft felting wool.

I think two of Sarah's best tips were; don't over load your carders, and be very gentle as the carders barely touch each other. This was a great help to me as I had always found it quite hard work to hard card and after Sarah instruction it seemed much easier.

This is Sarah carding a fleece that has been dyed, it was in a more natural stage and had curls still visible!

Carding that blends colours together. Now it was our turn to have a go, the room went very quiet(this is unheard of?!)  as everyone was concentrating on placing their carders in the right position!

Fiona (Me) using the drum carder!

Our morning of new knowledge and techniques was not over! Sarah showed us a very clever way that we could all make our own spinners out of kebabs sticks and a few plaiting bands. This was so much fun, quite challenging, but we all enjoyed the craic, as I don't think any of us were naturals, however under Sarah's guidance we got there in the end!
Then the morning of fun, friendship and learning came to an end, the time had flown in.
A Big Thank you to Sarah.

There is a very busy time ahead for Feltmakers North over the next few weeks, First of all our exhibition of members work opens in The Island Arts Centre, Lisburn opening night Wednesday 10th April approx. 7pm then it is open until 30th April, so we hope lots of people will pop in and have a look at the progress we have made in such a short time, as we are going less than 3years.

Feltmakers North will also have a stand at The Creative Stitch Show in the Kings hall Belfast, from 18th -20th April Thursday 10am- 8pm Friday and Saturday 10am -5pm if you check out their web site we are also running workshops daily at 4pm but you need to contact www.sccshows.co.uk

Our April Felt in is on the 20th April as usual in Hillsborough Village Hall, and Ann and Barbara will be showing us how to make felt pens, another fun filled morning to look forward too,

Please leave a comment in the bow below we would love to hear from you.
Hope everyone has a good Easter.
Fiona Harvey

Wall Hangings with Maria.

Maria started her workshop by showing us some of her lovely work, which was very inspirational, this is a view of the countryside near where Maria lives, the colours of the hills were beautiful!

                                                                               
Maria had a great variety of styles in her designs to show, and they were an interesting insight into what can be achieved.

 Beneficial lessons were given on the mechanics for hanging the wall hangings once completed.                                              

 

                        Two of the ladies selecting their colours for their design!

                                                    Concentration!

                                          A few of the pieces at the end of the day! Everyone went home very pleased with what they had learnt and produced!  

       Next Saturday Feltmakers North  is holding its usual Felt in and we are learning how to card wool with Sarah, so bring along your old wool and your carders if you have some!
Also a reminder to those of you who are not members that there is an exhibition of members work opening in the Island Arts Centre, Lisburn  on the 11th April, 2013 and the exhibition will run until the end of April. We hope you will call in and have a look, all the work has been made by members since joining Feltmakers North!               

Spring time!

The February Felt in was taken by Liz Nicholl one of the founder members of Feltmakers North, Liz showed us how to make a Vessel. Before we started with the instruction on vessel making we had a great show and tell, with lots of members bringing their latest work along! This was very inspirational for everyone present and it showed the members are focused and getting ready for the up and coming Feltmakers North Exhibition at The Island Arts Centre! (Opening night is 10th April by invitation only)

Dorothy had sent along some pieces she had made using her swiss roll beads! There has already been another request for this felt in to be repeated as a few missed it due to the weather, so watch this space!!

      Liz started her demonstration and in no time everyone was hard at work, making a small vessel. this was an extended felt in, which gave people the opportunity to stay for the afternoon and take what they had learnt a stage further!

    Above two FN members enjoying making their small vessel!

      Liz had stated on the information sheet to bring small scissors, and I think Lesley won the prize for the smallest scissors! They were good for cutting a small hole in the top of the vessel, so as the resist could be removed.

                                   Great variety of colours, which made it all the more interesting!  
Below some photos from the extended felt in, great work!

                                                                      
For the March felt in we are having Sara come to show us how to card fibres, now for those of you that have wool that is matted or tangled in your stash, this day will be the best thing ever! I can quite honestly say I have had several people show me how to card wool but Sara has been the best. If you have hand carders bring them along, so you can have a go even if you havent Im sure someone will lend you a pair so as you can have a go! Sara will also show us how to spin wool and is bringing along her wool that she has spun herself. there also might be a few drum carders so you can experience seeing drum carding, all of which tranform old matted wool to fluffy useable wool! The committee will be on hand to help any members that may need help filling in their forms for the exhibition. The application forms are now available from Ann for the wall hanging workshop on March 9th!
I look forward to seeing you all in March! Fiona Harvey                                                                                                                                             

Felted bead workshop

Hello everyone & Happy New Year! Its 2013 and everything and everyone is a little snowed under!

 Im Vicki and Im hear to tell any of you who didn't make it to the felt in on Saturday what you missed! We had a great turn out despite the snow covered roads. The workshop was taken by the lovely Dorothy who was demonstrating to us how to make swiss roll style beads for necklaces and bracelets.

This technique proved simple and really enjoyable, as I found I could gossip easily while doing it!

 

These were my beads once I cut them up into thick slices.

Dorothy's box of treasures!

 

We were also priveldged to have Marie all the way from America attending the felt in! Marie is an avid crafter and felter and brought with her this beautiul bag that she felted of an Irish landscape.
It was great hearing from her about the different techniques and ideas that she has picked up and filled us full of ideas!

 I hope everyone is staying warm in these snowy conditions and looking forward to the next felt workshop!

Vicki Harvey

Happy New Year!

                                          Shrek The Sheep!
Happy New Year everyone! I just thought I would share this lovely story of Shrek the Sheep with you. The photo is of Shrek the sheep after he was discovered hiding in a cave, he had hidden for seven years to avoid being shorn! He is a native merino sheep from New Zealand, who after being discovered became a national treasure! He was shorn live on television and his wool weighed 60lbs a normal fleece when shorn yearly weighs about 9lbs! His 60 lbs fleece was more than enough wool to make 20 men suits! After his live performance he went on to promote New Zealand wool and raise money for Charity, he even met New Zealands Prime Minister!

                                           Before his televised Shearing.

        After the Shearing! He needed the coat to keep him warm as it was quite a change once his wool was shorn.
The sheep had an amazing character and loved children and old people, he raised over £75,000 for charity. Sadly in 2011 at the age of 16years he had to be put to sleep due to age related diseases. His owner is putting a bronze statue of him in his town so all his good work will not be forgotten!

Happy New Year and we look forward to seeing you on January 19th at 10.15 in Hillsborough Village Centre, Dorothy will be showing us how to make swiss roll beads!

Festive Felting!

The felters at Feltmakers North were full of the Christmas spirit this morning, starting off with mulled wine (non alcoholic) and mince pies! Maria was taking the felt in and she showed us some beautiful work that she had made using prefelts, then we all set about planning our pieces.

         Maria had cut out some shapes for us to use as templates for our designs and there were a selection of prefelts to buy.

     Here is Barbara cutting out her prefelts to add to her design, good christmasy colours!  Below is Dorothy who has woven her prefelts together, she said she was hoping to make a ring out of it when it had felted so I hope she brings it next month so we can see the final outcome.

                                      Barbara was having fun creating her design this morning!

    As you can see there was a great range of designs, and everyone was very relaxed.

Feltmakers North committee has organised what we think is a very exciting programme of events for 2013, so keep checking the blog for the latest details. We have another International Tutor organised for a weekend residential in November, plus lots of workshops in between. The exhibition of our work opens in The Island Centre on the 10th April and will run for three weeks. We will also have a stand at the Creative stitch show in Belfast which is also April.
In January Dorothy is showing us how to make swiss roll beads and I have a wee sneak preview for you, they look brilliant and I think we are in for another treat at January's felt in!

     So all that remains for me to say is to wish you all a Happy Christmas and a healthy New Year and we look forward to felting again in 2013!
Fiona Harvey.