Upcoming Workshops at FibresWest

Nui Shibori Scarves- Creating Texture with Felting Yarns on Silk:

Shibori is a Japanese textile art form that has come to mean cloth that has been bound or compressed. This is accomplished through  stitching, clamping, knotting or folding, then processed through  dyeing or heating to add a new "memory" to the cloth and leave it  transformed in color or surface texture.
  For this beautiful scarf project, we are using the Nui Shibori method of stitching, but rather than pulling the yarns to create patterns with dyes, we are using a feltable wool yarn for our stitches,  then shrinking them to create new textural surfaces. We'll cover traditional stich patterns to create different shaping, yarn and fabric selections for effect, plus fulling your shibori scarf to  transform it from flat to dynamic!

Materials provided for supply fee of $15.00, payable at the beginning of the class.  No experience necessary, but a readiness to sit happily, chat and handsew-a must!   Please specify your main colour preference for your scarf at the time of registration.
9:30-2:30
Maximum Registration: 12
 

Nuno Felt Wrap Vest:
 
 Constructed all in one piece and completed all in one day, this is a unique and flattering wardrobe staple for all seasons. Perfect for layering, and customized to your own sizing and colour preferences. Using silk chiffon and habotai fabrics laminated through felting with merino wool  and accented with silk fibres, we will cover aspects of colour work, design, and nuno felting, while creating this fabulous piece of  wearable art.

Materials provided for supply fee of $25.00, payable at the beginning of the class.  No experience necessary.  Silk Fabrics will be custom dyed for this class- please specify your main colour preference at the  time of registration. We will use the wool to achieve patterns and  highlights in colour. Feltmaking is a physical craft- please wear  older clothing, and be prepared for some physical exertion.

9:30am-3:30pm
Maximum Registration:  10

FibresWest runs from March 22-23, 2013.  
For more information, pricing, and to register visit: www.fibreswest.com/

I'm so looking forward to heading to Cloverdale for FibresWest again this year. It's always so much fun- with classes full of creative people, and a show floor full of delicious fibre. In additon to teaching, I have a glorious 10 x 20 foot booth space that will be full of handdyed yarns and the best felting fibres.

See some of you there!
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.

Evergreen Felt Houses

 This week I finished up some pieces for donation to the Evergreen Independent School in Cobble Hill.

  It was so fun making the little home for a gnome! I first made these to sell last fall, and never got any pictures taken of them. Probably because I made them while camping, out in the rain, in late November! I've made them in a variety of sizes and shapes. I love them all.  These little homes will be available for sale again soon, and also as a tutorial and workshop offering. I really enjoy making felt work for storytelling and play. The warm tactile nature of the wool is ideal for inviting and involving children in the story or play. 

  I feel so fortunate to have so many creative outlets for my work. Sometimes I feel like I should be focusing on only one; that I would go further by only pursuing one vein of interest, but I love to do all these things, at different times, and I hope that exploring them changes and deepens and improves the other avenues of making. 
  I make small and large whimsical storytelling  creations for children, parents and teachers. I make felt accessories; scarves, purses, jewelry, clothing, light, soft, feminine and involved for craft shows, galleries and studio sales. And I make an interior design line, with crisp lines, using felt in unusual contexts, with a strong Scandinavian influence.  

  So today I jump from making little gnome houses, to designing a floor covering that is a wood/felt hybrid. I am so excited about the potential in this. It all came together during a conversation on the ferry, after dropping off my donations to the Evergreen School....I could barely stand still- in fact I wasn't. I was jumping up and down and waving my arms! My partner is amazing- he is a brilliant sounding board for creative ideas, and has plenty of his own to add to the mix. We are lucky to have each other!

 Off with my sketchpad and colouring pencils in hand to the property...I hope the Auction at the Evergreen School is going as well as my day is today!

Warm wishes,

Fiona

Felting Surface Design

  I have a few feltmaking classes coming up, and so I've been making up some samples, for pictures, and for show and tell.

 One felting session is devoted to felt and surface design. This is a class I will be teaching at FibresWest in Abbotsford, BC in March.  There are so many places you can go with this! Wildly textured three dimensional pieces- such fun!  And for another class! This time,  I'm working mainly with surface textures and techniques that still produce a flat felt once finished. One that can be manipulated cut and sewn or further embellished to create bags, book covers or artwork.

  I used all Norwegian Wool Batting.  It costs a little more, but is so wonderful to work with- some projects just demand it!  It produces a great firm felt; very nice for sculptural work, home furnishings and art cloths that will be handled a lot!  The first layer, or the back, is Ochre, and the top layer is Magenta. I want to give the class the experience of seeing the shadowing that takes place as the fibres migrate and combine. The Norwegian wool is amazing for this, and the resulting colours have a real depth to them. The effect stands out most of the back of the piece.

  Isn't it amazing how flat the back surface is, considering the shibori "flowers" on the top?

I couldn't help add a few decorative elements on the back also.  I'm going to use this colourway to make a new bag- the smaller one I had meant to make originally.  Love the warm tones these two colours produce!

The basic elements I want to cover with this piece are nuno, with silks and cotton. I used silk gauze here, along with some Indian cottons that already had the silver sequins sew on. Those are a real highlight on the felt work. I love adding some reflective, shimmery, shiny element to felt pieces to interact with the matteof the wool.

Using found objects to make protrusions.

 Working with prefelts.

Creating pockets and loops.

 Shibori shaping.

Using yarns, natural and synthetic, for shibori shaping and flat felting.

We'll also be doing some cutting and slashing and using clamps for folding and shaping, but I want each felt work to also develop as a fibre art piece on it's own, so I expect to use some techniques with some pieces and not with others.  

  Lots of fun to play with... I need to set aside the time more just to create samplers like this. Investigating different fibres, colours, and techniques.   I'm developing this idea as an online class, where we gather and work on one sampler per week, with full instruction, guidance and shared inspirations. Is this a good project for spring- new learning and playful creating, or for Fall, back to "felt" school", at a time when we start to move indoors and work even more with wool?

Back to my dyepots - naturally dyed deep madder orange today!

Warm wishes,

Fiona

 

Upcoming Workshops- Southern California

  I am so excited to be going to southern California in a few weeks. What a great way to start the New Year, with some great making, in a beautiful setting, with creative people!

WetFelted Playmat- as seen in Living Crafts magazine, Summer 2010

There are still some spaces available in these classes. 
Wouldn't it be a great gift?  To have someone buy a workshop for you so you could start the new year learning a new craft, or to give to a friend so you can attend together.  I've done this with friends and family before, paying for the workshop for each other as a surprise. It is so nice go to a class together, sharing, making and chatting... 

Costa Mesa, California 
Monday, January 10th, 2011
Nuno Felting- Fairy scarves:
as seen in Living Crafts magazine, Summer 2008


This gossamer light, wool felt wrap can be worn around the shoulders as a shawl, as a scarf or even as an overskirt; a luscious combination of silk and merino wool. Dressed up for formal events such as weddings and the theatre, or worn fun and funky with jeans and a tee. To just wrap one on is to feel more beautiful- regardless of the occasion!  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.
Silk fabrics, merino wool and embellishments in a wide range of colors, all included.
9:00am-12:00pm
Workshop Fee: 85.00, including materials

Monday, January 10th, 2011
Wet Felted Market Bag:
as seen in Living Crafts magazine, Summer 2009
 
Create an amazing wetfelted bag- strong, durable and absolutely unique!  We will be wet felting the wool around a form to create a seamless bag all in one piece, with beautiful colour, textures, and surface design. This workshop teaches the skills of wet felting, and felting with a resist- everything you need to know about traditional felt work, while making a bag that is the perfect carry all size for shopping, the library, or craft supplies.

1:00pm- 5:00pm
Workshop Fee: $85.00, including materials

 

 

Tuesday January 11th, 2011
Wet Felted Children's Playmat
as seen in Living Crafts magazine, Winter 2007/2008 and Summer 2010

Create a playmat scene that will ignite the imagination of your child- a farmyard, forest meadow, ponds or mountains! During this workshop we will discuss felting with different fibres, including wools, silks, mohair and yarn embellishments; we will cover traditional felting techniques using soap, water and different tools and accessories; we will explore elements of design,and discuss projects and ideas that are all possible with wet felting. Wool batting, wool roving, tools,and embellishments included.
9:00am-1:00pm
Workshop Fee: 85.00

Workshops

Felted Fairy Scarves $85.00 Felted Market Bag $85.00 Felted Childrens Playmat $85.00

Contact me to register, or for more information:

Email Fiona,

250-931-FELT

I look forward to hearing from you, and hopefully seeing you soon!

Fiona