Surface Design in Feltmaking Online Workshop

  I'm so excited to be able to offer the Surface Design in Feltmaking workshop  in an online format.  It's taken many months of thinking and planning to get everything in place, with the teaching materials presented in a way that I feel best meets the needs of the students. 
  It's so important that each idea is well covered, with every question answered, every pitfall troubleshooted. I've gotten there, I hope, with a combination of instructional PDF's with lots of pictures and detailed, clear text, a video demonstration, plus private blog area to share finished projects, questions, answers and inspiration.  

  This is an intermediate level class-for those with some feltmaking experience. If you are a beginning feltmaker, I will have a free introductory mini class available in the last week of January that will prepare you for this workshop. 

  This workshop is for people interested in deepening their knowledge of fibres, learning new techniques to add to their craft or art practise, or those just wanting to have some fun exploring new ideas.  We make a 6 x 6 inch sample for each new technique to build a fantastic resource library, or inspiration board and then implement these techniques in a finished felting project in the last week.

The class is six weeks long and is delivered in one week modules for this session:

Week 1:Fibres and Surfaces
short and long fibres, combining felting and non felting fibres, shadowing,silks and cottons-quilting, folds and ripples, photos and text
Week 2: Surface Resists
wool breeds, plastics and foams,  craters, pockets, loops and bridges, gems and beads, tape,
Week 3:Nuno Felting Inclusions and Resists

Week 4: Wool and Prefelt Additions

prefelt, pencil rovings, yarns, locks, spikes, cones, blossoms
Week 5:Surface Alterations
holes, multilayered hills and ridges,carving, lace, shibori stitching and anemones
Week 6: Individual project
Each student will pick out the elements that they most want to explore further and integrate these surface design elements in a felt project like a scarf, bag, wall piece, sculpture. 

New material will be available each Sunday, with about 4-6 hours of student time required for design and feltmaking. You can decide when you work on each module. Work on one design element each day, or dedicate a day to work through the material all at once. As well as by email, I will be answering questions and giving comments throughout the course on the private blog, allowing all participating students to learn through one another's projects.

  The full materials list will be sent out with confirmation of your registration.
Materials kits with everything required for the workshop can be ordered up until January 15th, for delivery in time for the workshop starting date. 

If you have any questions about this class please just email me! 

Please note: This class is now full. 
Only use the registration link below if you have already contacted me regarding the workshop.
I will be offering this class again in April and September 2014! Thank you to everyone for the enthusiastic response!

Workshop Dates:
February 2nd- March 9th,
Online materials and resources will be available to students until August 1st, 2014

Workshop Fee: $125.00

New Work Outside-Pollination

 This week the time was right to make a new outside feltwork for my display area down by the road.
  I wanted to play with shadows, layers of felt, and lace cutwork.  I imagined the types of flowers created in kirigami, while not trying to replicate that style...more beginning with that in mind and then allowing the openwork to develop....I'm quite fixated on traditional Chinese chrysanthemum designs right now.....those are working their way out into this felt openwork.

It is quite a different thing to work on a piece that you know will be living outdoors- it needs to be able to withstand the climate, and will only viewed from a distance. The felt needs to be dense and strong, but light enough in this case to allow light to permeate.  I would have been inclined to add more stitching and detail to the surfaces. Silk pieces were calling...but this piece is more about the impact made in the quick viewing as one drives or bikes by...less about the subtleties of surfaces...so a few rows of red stitches made it into the piece, but simplicity was the main domain here. An opening, flowering, dropping of seed....dispersal....Summer.....

 Every morning the light shines through creating beautiful, shifting shadow patterns.  It is quite lovely and uplifting. Delicate and feminine- a fine thing to balance this house of males I live in - and they can live with it more than the giant flowers I once wanted to paint over the house! (the boys/men have to live with a lot of wild ideas! I think it's good for them! Grin!)

  This piece has been a good prototype for a series I am working on for an outdoor installation this fall....One that will have multiple layers of shadowing effects....Very exciting!  Just waiting for my next batch of Finn wool to arrive so I can start on those pieces....

  In the meantime, a glorious box of silk charmeuse was delivered yesterday....oh, how sumptuous...and will soon become silk/felt gowns and coats....this week's work!

Happy weekending!
Warm wishes,
Fiona