Felting in the Rocky Mountains

view from my classroom

I've just arrived home from a very beautiful trip. As mentioned before, Texas was fantastic- such a great group of creative people.  I had a few days before the beginning of the Felters Rendezvous and I had some writing to complete, so I created a little writer's retreat for myself in lovely Estes Park, Colorado. I had four days of felting, writing, good coffee, beautiful views, and silence. It was delightful! The sunshine, snow, mountain vistas and crisp but not cold temperatures were invigorating. 

Chapter 5 of the book complete, I headed further into the mountains to Rocky Mountain National Park and the Felters Rendezvous. After four days of silence I chatted (far too long and late) with felting friends, Heather and Tylar, as well as new friends, Cathy and Marsha. It was lovely to be with them all, and a highlight of my week to finally meet Heather in person!
 

before the classes, set up and ready....what a great space!

My first class was in felt bags. It was a full house and a very creative and exploratory group. In construction we had a variety of shapes, inner pockets, inner divisions, and outer pockets, and delved into some surface design play. There was a range of experience from beginner to master, and everyone challenged themselves to stretch their boundaries. That's a great thing in a class. No restraint was exercised and everyone made beautiful work.

Gorgeous and elaborate bags...it was such a fun class! For Dayle, in the top picture, this was her second felt project ever! Bags make such a perfect canvas for exploration of resists and surface design forms.

In days 3 and 4 we moved on to Surface Design.  Another full room, with some students continuing after the bag making, and some new faces to join our group.

 

A few of the extraordinary surfaces created on Day 3.  Over the two days, each student made two large felt tapestries, created as samplers to hold the multitude of techniques.

This whole event was extremely well co-ordinated by Deb Tewell of The Felting Source. Thank you Deb, for all your assistance, and the time and effort that goes into creating such an event! Next years dates and teachers are all set- It promises to be wonderful...and always a beautiful and inspiring location!

And now here I am...back again in my little studio on this little island.... gearing up for Surface Design Online-Spring and creating a new body of work for my exhibition this summer.  Life does not get better than this, and I thank you all for being a part of it!

Warm wishes, 
Fiona

Surface Design, now and in 2014

 

These last two weeks I've been making the last arrangements and samples for my 2014 classes, which will have a strong emphasis in surface design.  This is such an exciting topic, and my favourite theme for exploration in the studio. 
The spikes above are a new addition to the curriculum and one I love...sharp metallic gleamings in a landscape of soft, matte fibre.

 It is a challenge to fit in all the design elements covered in the course in a single piece. Just in the actual physicality of making it all fit, but also from the design aesthetic of having some cohesion and a beautiful finished project. These island samplers really do feel like maps of mythical worlds....

The Surface Design book will be at the printers by the first week of February (I shudder to say anything about this project after picking it up and leaving it multiple times over the last two years...but this time- it is for certain!) I'm finishing one chapter per week over the next two months.... I'm also building online classes that will be available next spring.

 This was my 30 minute felt project for this week...playing with surfaces and resists....I think I'll call it Territory.  A little soft and welcoming, a little threatening and unknown...a space to be navigated with attention.

  Next year is coming together beautifully, with a nice mix of teaching, exhibitions and creative breathing spaces.  
Surface Design classes upcoming in Texas, Colorado (Full),  Vancouver, Salt Spring, Wisconsin, and Ontario so far...
A post is coming with all the dates, details and links....

Warm wishes, 
Fiona

Trickster Tales

Last week was the last week in our Storytelling and Arts day in the studio. This was a weekly series of classes I have been running since the early Fall. So much fun! What a sweet, talented, and creative group of children!

In our Spring session we studied Trickster Tales, and we explored these through storytelling, painting, drawing, plant dyeing, and of course, feltmaking! 

 The children each chose the Trickster they most identified with, and slowly transformed themselves....This picture was taken on the last day of our classes- introducing Squirrel, Fox, Coyote and Monkey....I was Raven, but also photographer! They did wonderful work...on all of their projects!

It was truly a pleasure to get to have these afternoons together.... 

And now the studio is cleaned up and transformed once again into my full time adult space ...ready for visitors and for me to focus on my exhibition work and book....here we go!

Happy summertime....
Fiona

Spring Holiday Camp

The week after getting back from FibresWest, I hosted two fibre art camps for children in the studio.

It was great fun, and such a pleasure to share my passion for fibres with enthusiastic young people and get to know some of the island's children a little better. They are just so sweet....and sometimes left me nostalgic for my own boys younger years...

We did some plant dyeing on silks, making a mystery bath from the children's garden collections, and then  eco-printed them with golden rod, rose leaves and petals, carnation flowers and cinnamon sticks (deliciously scented bundles!).... left to age until the last day of camp...

 We felted, of course! Needle felted figures and animals...wet felted flowers and pictures....experiencing some roving, batting, prefelts and inclusions, like magic mirrors! Which made for fibre adventures to try and find them and make them shine again!

 

  
One of the groups also made fine nuno felted scarves, sharing the rolling process....we also did some sewing, wool fiber paintings...and on the last day we opened our eco-printed bundles, and the children danced under the plum tree blossoms, flying with golden silks behind them....

 The days were glorious and sunny, and went by so fast. It is a nice balance to have some time working with children, in amongst all the more adult fiber pursuits....A truly enjoyable week... thank you all for joining me in my studio!

Warm wishes,
Fiona

ps..for those wondering...the rose leaves, golden rod flowers and cinnamon sticks all gave nice prints....the rose petals left no trace...but the red carnation flowers were a very pleasing surprise- the deep purple marks on the silks above are all from the carnations....

Kattikloo @ FibresWest

As usual, it's been a very busy few weeks!

I've rebranded my handyed yarn and fibre company, Kattikloo, all ready for FibresWest in Vancouver last week.  I still have to make all the website changes and load up the shop, now that I'm back...but it still feels like a major accomplishment to have gotten this far!

I was able to use most of my display units from the studio at the show...so wonderful and easy....and the show was a great success.....we doubled our sales from last year, with equal sales in yarns and felting fibres. I was so happy to bring all of the felting wools and prefelts....to have the intensely coloured yarns that I dye, and also the walls of felting supplies, which is most true to my creative heart! This was a dream from last years show...and so great to have realized that goal!

I hardly spent a minute in the booth though, as I was teaching all day on both days of the show. My wonderful friend Rachel talked with all of our fabulous customers, and I am so grateful for her company! Every other year all of my boys have come with me, and they don't enjoy fibre talk half as much as Rachel does...so all around a good plan! 

 I have no pictures from my first class in nuno felted vests....but my 10 students were wonderful, and their finished vests, amazing....We used sheer, handdyed silk gauze and extra fine 19 micron merino rovings in a vast array of colours....the finished results were superb and I think everyone was pleased with their results...and a little surprised at the ease of construction. Great students, great fibres and great felting.....

(In the getting to this class there was a little incident with a long train and a very large roll of bubble wrap that I may tell you about separately!)

The second class was a shibori class of 12. It is an idea I developed for an article in Living Crafts magazine last year.  It was quite delightful to teach....a refreshing departure from full on felting or dyeing, but a process which certainly has applications in both.  The last 30 minutes of fulling provided a fun balance to the time spent stitching traditional nui shibori patterns in the habotai and chiffon silk scarves. 

In addition to feltable yarns, we added silk organza, prefelt and silk ribbon elements. Experimented with shibori and yarn to create three dimensional shaping and texture.  One of the best parts of workshops- the new directions that emerge as we share...Lots of fun- room for creativity and application in other textile crafts.   The finished results were fantastic. No finished pictures- I'm sorry...It is a challenge to get picures while teaching, and also of finished items in thses short, one day classes.

Thank you to everyone who came...to my classes and to my booth at the show. Thank you to Rachel for being my super salesperson! And thanks to Brenda from Penelope Fibre Arts for organizing such a warm, friendly, and inspiring show once again!

Warm wishes,
Fiona

Golden in the (Felt) Garden

 Wow. What a golden month it has been....gold in colour and experience.  This was our shimmery lake view from the cottage in Quebec where the first Fall felting retreat was hosted.

  Oh so busy, and the busier things are here, the less I write about it all....I know others manage to keep it all going- the doing and the writing about the doing, and I am so respectful.....but this moment of life for me is about engaging inner passions, not disciplines! That has come and gone and can come again later!

Eco-printing on Day 1, with flora from the farm

Fall Felting Retreats went well.....with lots of learning for both the participants and the teacher.....My main lessons- comfort takes precedence over beauty (at least in our teaching spaces), and sometimes, less can be more.  I arranged the class days with great planning, mainly in order to convey as much as I possibly could, while pacing my own energies to be able to deliver, but have learnt from these retreats to re-evaluate how much is enough- and to also, and more importantly, pace the class to the energies of my students.  A three day retreat is very different from three days of intensive workshops.  Next years retreat sessions will have a different format, to accomodate our best learning and doing rhythms...
  So....lots of learning, and much, much beautiful making with two incredible groups of creative people. Thank you all for coming! I wish I had some images of the finished works to show you- the surface design tapesties are all stunning and very unique, and the bags....again- wow- so much diversity in design choices.....they were fabulous!  I only managed to take 3 pictures from both retreat sessions- lots going on!

  I have one more Fall Felting Retreat session coming up in Nelson, BC, on November 16, 17, and 18th.   I'm very much looking forward to this time and place. A week in the beautiful Kootenays- can't wait!

  In the midst of these retreats, I've been able to do some new felting...my own projects including lots more "joomchi" pockets and layers, as well as felting with friends including storytelling carpets and gorgeous BFL cowls-yum! I have pictures to share with you as soon as I get my battery charged....that is my camera battery....I'm personally now feeling fully recharged and ready to go!

Happy November!
Fiona

SaltSpring Island Fall Felting Retreat

Foxglove Farm, SaltSpring Island, British Columbia

 

October 19/20/21st, 2012  10:00am-4:00pm + evenings

  

The British Columbia retreat will be hosted at the very beautiful and charming Foxglove Farm. The farm is located on one of the original homesteads on the island, surrounded by hundreds of acres of protected forest and agricultural fields, bordering Maxwell Lake. An idyllic, inspiring and very relaxing natural setting.  There is accomodation available for up to eight people in the three cottages.

 

All of the retreat details are available on my website here and on the retreat page of the blog here.

It's going to be a beautiful woolly October! I can't wait!

Warm wishes,

Fiona

Fall Happenings....

   I'm immersing myself more and more in my creative journey...more and more into exploring feltmaking and dyeing in my own way...exercising consciousness through the process and the artistic impetus within each method....Stretching into new ideas and finding my way into my full creative potential.... playing with words that have meaning in relation to the work I want to do...topography, terroir, migrations, entanglement, aspiration, permaculture and art....I'm very excited about some future plans and directions! 

  Top of the list is completing a felting book I have been working on for the last month, which I hope to have complete by the end of September. The focus of the book is surface design in feltmaking and includes every idea I can imagine, with step by step instructions and images, as well as project ideas.  It is based on the super popular surface design workshop that I've been teaching for a few years now, and gives me the opportunity to get into each technique in much more depth.....I'm loving the exploration....

 
And the realization of a beautiful vision- a felting retreat, scheduled for the second week of October, in one of my most favourite places on earth...a place I have a deep connection to that I can't wait to share with other creative souls!  The retreat will take place in a cottage on Meech Lake in the Gatineau Hills of Quebec, just outside Ottawa, Ontario, for very easy access. 

  It feels like another world, and this is my favourite time of year to be there.  The cottage will be wreathed in the gold of the trees, and looking over the lake through the Fall colours is a deeply inspiring and peaceful experience.  We'll have access to some local dyeplants, canoeing on the lake, hiking in the hundreds of kilometers of trails that start at the trailhead next door.....wonderful food....heaps of wool....plus three full days of feltmaking. I am so looking forward to creating a space that combines relaxation, serenity and beauty with energy, enthusiasm and the joy of making!   I'll post the details tomorrow.

  Yay Fall! Yes, I did just say that.  In the Fall we can wear wool with abandon!
And now that my Fall is all settled, I can relax into the rest of summer with my head and hands in the same place- in the studio creating new work for the book and the retreat!

  Warm wishes,
Fiona
  

Upcoming Workshops at Fibres West

I'll be teaching three classes this Spring at Fibres West in Abbotsford BC.
For more information and to register, visit the Fibres West website: www.fibreswest.com

Friday March 16th, 10:00am -1:00pm
Nuno Felted Scarves: During this hands on class, we’ll create a gossamer light, wool felt scarf in a luscious combination of silk and merino wool. Nuno felting is a wet felting technique that encourages wool fibres to migrate through fabrics, bonding them into one unique textile surface. We will explore many aspects of nuno felting, from making the sheerest of textiles to using nuno to create great surface texture for other projects. Everyone leaves with their own finished, wearable art. Suitable for beginners.
Class fee: $45.00
Material fee of $15 includes: silk fabrics, merino wool and embellishments in a wide range of colours, plus print instructions. Please indicate your general colour preference on the registration form. Additional kits will be available at the workshop.

Friday March 16th, 1:30pm -4:30pm

Felt Surface Design: In this class we’ll play with as many combinations of felting and surface design as we can fit in to the time we have together! Nuno patches in silks and cottons, protrusions, shibori shaping, slashes and holes, prefelts, pockets, clamping…… We’ll each create our own wet felted art cloth sampler, that can be later made into a great needle case, bag front, or further embellished and mounted as a tapestry.
Class Fee: $45.00
Materials fee of $15.00 includes: silk fabrics, merino wool and embellishments in a wide range of colours, plus print instructions.

Saturday, March 17th,  10:00am-4:00pm
Felt Bags: 3-D felting with resists: Felting is a great medium for making bags - beautiful, unique, and durable. 3-D felting involves using plastic resists to create seamless hollow forms, in any shape you desire. This technique is commonly used to make slippers, hats, sculptural works as well as one of our favourites – hand bags! We will cover resist making, and felting on a form. We’ll be using the best sculptural tools, Norwegian C-1 and Pelsull. We’ll be adding all sorts of individual ornamentation, silks and cottons, ruffles, protrusions and prefelts, all while making your own personalized, functional art.
Class Fee: $90.00
Materials fee of $35.00 includes all wools and embellishments in a wide range of colours, leather handles, plus print instructions.