WALLHANGING WORKSHOP - INSPIRATIONS IN CREATIVITY!!

   

Some samples from Elaine and Sarah

What a great day the girls had on Saturday at the Wall hanging workshop led by a very creative team Elaine Mc Combe and Sarah Foster Jarden.  They had brought along some samples which proved very inspirational to our felters as the lovely results of the day have shown.

The girls got cracking quickly building up the background to the hangings and it looks as though they had some fun -

Karen is happy!

Olwyn is too!

Sharon starts her background (she looks happy too!)

Lesley with her stunning sky 

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"I had a definite plan  ....knew I couldn't manage it on my own ....their knowledge and advice helped a lot"'  "excellent explanation of how to build a picture...create definition"'  "time to plan and think", "learnt a lot of tips", "great demonstration and help given throughout". 

Elaine giving Karen some practical advice

Fiona works her magic!

Sarah giving Olwyn some tips

Helen in the midst of the hard work!

Deirdre gets creative!

Ann's hanging taking shape

Deborah's creation begins

Ann and Sharon make progress

Once the initial lay was complete, it was time to get down to details which included needling, using prefelts, stitching and host of other techniques.

Elaine and Sarah inspired everyone and as one happy felter wrote "great ladies so helpful and kept inspring everyone and nothing was a bother"

The girls worked hard all day and produced work to be proud of.  Their evaluation of the day speaks volumes of the learning which took place and also the enjoyment  -  "a well worthwhile Saturday", "had a lovely day", "thoroughly enjoyable".

A very happy group of felters with tutors Elaine and Sarah

Well done everyone and special thanks to Elaine and Sarah.  Looking forward to seeing the finished pieces at our next Felt-In!!.

Gossamer Cobwebs!!

Sarah's little cobweb creation

Our January Felt-in was led by Gail and we had a great morning learning about making cobweb felt from a single length of wool roving.   It was so good to see old faces as well as new as we began the new year with a brand new technique.

Johanne checks out one of Gail's sample pieces

Our session began with show n tell but alas only Bronwyn and Sarah had something to show so hopefully everyone will be inspired to get felting again in January!

Bronwyn's beautiful scarf

Gail explains about cobweb as an embellishment

Helen and Alwyn with Gail's scarf

The girls got the hang of things pretty quickly and applied themselves to spreading fibres very finely!! 

None of us would be happy without a little bit of sparkle and the final lays all had a little bit of that something special to enhance

Jane happy experimenting

Norma trying out Firestar

No one seemed to mind the usual tedium of rolling if the smiles are anything to go by!

The cobweb begins to take its final shape and form during the stretching process and it was lovely to see the delight on faces as the fine webs begin to appear

Gail offers a helping hand!

ar.

The final pieces attest to a good morning's work and it'll be great to see if anyone is inspired enough to create their own masterpiece!

Any ideas?

Not sure what I'm doing here but Ann may be able to tell me as she took all our photos today and a big thank you to her.  Think Deirdre enjoyed it anyway!

Christmas Cheer

Christmas Cheer!!!

All the Girls

We all had great fun on Saturday at our last Felt-in of the year.  Elaine demonstrated her take on using silk cocoons and silk rods in felt.

She had cleverly dyed the silk cocoons and some of the rods and brought along some samples of how she had used them.

Of course we had our usual Show n Tell which is always inspiring.

Sarah's winged creature!

Jane's slippers

We all had great fun throughout the morning practising some of the new techniques, using the carder to produce some lovely blends, eat chocolates and have a laugh!!

There was lots of creativity in full flow as you'll see from the range of samples produced

Our last felt-in of the year was rounded off in good cheer with a little Christmas buffet and lots of "Merry Christmasses"


All that remains is for me to wish all our felters a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and to share a little image from a wee trip to the north coast at the weekend.

Christmas is Coming!

3 Wise Sheep!!

Well felters it's time to plan for Christmas and beyond.   I think the 3 wise sheep would tell us to relax and enjoy ourselves and share some Christmas spirit among friends. And what better way than at the December Felt-in?  There will be a Bring n Buy Sale, so gather up your felting goodies to sell and bring lots of pennies to buy some more goodies to add to your stash! 

Elaine will be finishing off the year with the last of our focus on silk sessions, demonstrating how to use silk cocoons and rods with felt.  So that's a lovely treat to finish the year. 

And as if that isn't enough the session finishes with Christmas goodies of the edible kind with a buffet lunch to set you on your way to a very festive Christmas.

Lonely sheep!

This little lady was captured just last week in the Mournes.  I'm sharing it with you as a possible inspiration for our next workshop where we'll be learning the techniques for creating a lovely felted wallhanging.  Our own Elaine and Sarah will be leading the workshop which takes place on Saturday 4 February and I think we're in for a treat.

I did say at the beginning that Christmas and beyond is coming, because not only do we have the wall hanging workshop but also we are delighted to announce that Gabi McGrath will be back to take another of her inspired workshops and this time she'll be helping us all to create one of her stunning little bags incorporating pieces of leather into felt.  This will be on 4 March so watch out for details.

Gabi's lovely bag

So girls plenty of inspiration to pass on to friends and family for Christmas presents eh!!  Watch this space for news of our programme as it unfolds and I look forward to seeing you all soon.