MakeFest

I might have mentioned a while ago that I'd be doing wet felting workshops at an event called MakeFest at the Museum of Science and Industry in August (8th and 9th, if anyone's interested!). I must admit I didn't realise it was a 2 day thing when I applied, or I probably wouldn't have. I started getting ready for it back in May after getting accepted so I didn't get overwhelmed with stuff to do. I bought the wool and fibres, made some batts, dyed some wool locks and fibres etc. The last few weeks I've been making small samples to take, just to give people a few ideas, so they can make something nice for themselves.

They have a textiles gallery at MOSI which I've always loved, they have working machines processing cotton from raw fluff into cotton sliver and then into fabric, and and also displays of different fibres showing the raw material they came from, like coal, oil, flax or cotton and the fabric they are usually processed into. And since I kind of like the odd fibre or 20, I thought it'd be a perfect chance to show wet felting and get people to try those fibres out with it. I made a small sample piece showing how lots of different undyed fibres look after felting. They're mostly in alphabetical order, from the top: Bamboo top; Bamboo staple and Soy staple; Banana; Cotton; Flax; Hemp; Ingeo; Milk; Nylon staple and Plastic staple; Ramie; Soy top; and on the bottom Viscose staple and Kapok:

I love natural wools and fibres, so I made a small piece showing some of these, this is the piece before felting:

And this is after felting:

 I did a simple piece to show what could be achieved just with a few different shades of Merino:

I've dyed some of the fibres I'm taking as well as having samples of them all undyed. One which dyes really nicely is Nylon. I usually go for more muted or 'natural' looking shades, but Nylon seems to suit more vivid colours. This is a sample made with dyed Crimped Nylon before felting:

 And after felting:

And this little sample was made with some of the wisps I pulled off the ends of some hand dyed trilobal nylon:

One other thing I really love is wool locks. I've had a few hundred grams of Gotland I've been really careful with over the years, but recently my friend Zara was really generous when we did a swap and sent me loads (well over a kilo!) of the most gorgeous Gotland in many shades and varieties, so I dyed a lot of my 'old' ones to take to MakeFest. I used some of them on a couple of small samples, this is one before felting:

 And after felting:

The locks sometimes get a bit 'tatty' or 'scruffy' after dyeing so I usually pull off the wispy bits to neaten them up. I had a tubful so I thought I'd use these on a little sample too:

This last sample uses a variety of hand dyed fibres and a few silk threads all in shades of blue. I twisted some cotton scrim in the centre, this is before felting:

 And this is the sample after felting:

I tried to do a video to show how quickly and easily you could make a piece of felt, but at just under 14 minutes it was too big to upload, so I edited it down to the highlights:



There will be many different displays, demos and workshops there, it's a huge place, so I'm sure there'll be something for everyone, so if you have some spare time over this weekend (8th and 9th August) try and get to MOSI. And if you see a weary felter in the Textile Gallery, come and lend a hand :)

Online Classes

The Felting and Fiber Studio's next "Wet Felting for Beginners" online workshop will start on Friday June 19th. It’s a 3 week course developed to give absolute beginners a good foundation on which to develop their wet felting skills. Not only are there the expected ‘How to Felt’ instructions, but there are also simple exercises designed to show what happens when wool felts under different conditions so you can control the outcome. There is also lots of info on using different types of wool and animal fibres, tips for inexpensive tools, alternate techniques etc. For more info on the course, have a look here: http://feltingandfiberstudio.com/classes/wet-felting-for-beginners/ There is all the information you need, including what 'equipment' and supplies you'll need and there's also a link to a simplified supplies list.

If you'd like to sign up for the course, please use the Contact form at the bottom of the Class information page. There are some prices in different currencies listed there too. Don't forget to include your PayPal email address in the specified field. Once payment is received, you will receive an email with all the information you'll need.

Our first class was really successful, if you'd like to read testimonials from some of the students, please have a look on our main Online Classes information page: http://feltingandfiberstudio.com/classes/  You can also have a look at some of the work produced by students on the gallery page: http://feltingandfiberstudio.com/classes/wet-felting-for-beginners/wet-felting-for-beginners-student-gallery/

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions, or if you are interested in teaching a course or workshop yourself, we have everything in place for you to host your own online workshop on a secure site.

Exciting News and a Giveaway

We've been working on a new venture for The Felting and Fiber Studio ... Workshops and Classes!  The first class we're offering is "Wet Felting Workshop for Beginners". The first one starts on Sunday 1st March 2015. It's a 3 week course developed to give absolute beginners a good foundation on which to develop their wet felting skills. Not only are there the expected 'How to Felt' instructions, but there are also simple exercises designed to show what happens when wool felts under different conditions so you can control the outcome. There is also lots of info on using different types of wool and animal fibres, tips for inexpensive tools, alternate techniques etc. For more info on the course, have a look here: http://feltingandfiberstudio.com/wet-felting-for-beginners/

We have lots of ideas in the pipeline and some classes are in development, keep an eye out on our Classes page for further info. We are also hoping other fibre artists will 'hire' the Studio site and the Class support forum as an online venue to teach their own classes from. We haven't figured out the details for this yet, it's still early days, but it won't be expensive, we just want to cover hosting costs and media storage expenses; our aim has always been to support the community,  not make our fortunes :) Feel free to contact us if you're interested.

So, to celebrate the launch of the Workshop, we're giving away 4 free class places. The giveaway is for the 3 week course, you just need the supplies and felting equipment listed on the information page. All you have to do to win is leave a comment in reply to the Giveaway post on The Felting and Fiber Studio site. We would really appreciate it if you would blog about it or share the info on Facebook or other social media. We'll announce the winners on February 6th and contact you with the details. If you'd like to sign up for the course, please use the Contact Form at the bottom of the Class Info page. Good Luck!