Artist-2-Artist: Felt Weird - Needle Felting a Mushroom from Scratch

In this hands-on beginner workshop led by artist Ally McLean Hennessy, you'll learn the foundations of needle felting while building a small soft sculpture mushroom that’s entirely your own. No two will look alike! By the end of the session, you'll leave with a finished piece that reflects your own sense of shape, colour, and personality.

We'll cover everything you need to get started: how to hold and use a felting needle safely, how to build up form and density, how to join and layer fibres, and how to construct a three-dimensional object from scratch. The mushroom is your guide, but your interpretation is up to you - lumpy, elegant, menacing, or sweet.

Ally McLean Hennessy is a multidisciplinary artist and game developer from Sydney, Australia. Her work sits at the intersection of the body and technology - exploring themes of transformation, intimacy, and the uncanny through games, interactive media, and visual art.

Her work has been exhibited at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image and the Powerhouse Museum, and presented to audiences around the world. She speaks and runs workshops internationally, most recently in Cologne, Germany and at SXSW Sydney.

She brings a playful, layered sensibility to everything she makes - drawing equally from gothic literature, 2000s cartoons, esoterica, body horror, and postmodern media theory as from game design craft. Alongside her studio practice, Ally maintains Sungirl Universe - a visual art project spanning soft sculpture, tapestry, and illustration where handmade creatures explore human experience.

What will you learn?

• Safe needle felting technique and tool handling

• How to build and control three-dimensional form with wool roving

• Joining and layering fibres for structure and surface detail

• How to approach a soft sculpture from concept through to finished object

• Basic troubleshooting - fixing holes, adjusting density, reworking shapes

Who is this session for?

Anyone curious about textile arts, soft sculpture, or making things with their hands. No prior experience with felting or fibre arts is required.

No experience is required, this workshop is designed for complete beginners.

What will Brand X provide?

• Needles

• Wool roving

• Finger protectors

What should you bring?

• Optional: images of a couple of mushrooms that inspire you

• Train: Town Hall Station 2-minute walk.

• Light Rail: 2-5 minute walk from light rail platforms

• Metro: Gadigal Station is a 1 minute walk from the Bathurst Street exit/entrance

• Bus: 5 minute walk from Elizabeth Street, Stand C and D

• Car: Wilson Parking, 14 Wilmot St, Sydney or Meriton Suite Parking, 100 Bathurst St, Sydney

Register for a building tour:

Email programs@brandx.org at least 4 days before the event to organise a tour of City of Sydney Creative Studios. We’ll meet you 30 minute before the session starts and show you our Performance, Music, Digital and Visual Arts spaces.

We welcome all visitors to City of Sydney Creative Studios.

If you have access requirements, please add your accessibility requirements during the booking process. This includes booking companion card tickets. 

A Brand X team member may be in touch to ensure we understand your requirements. If you require an interpreter, or would like to contact someone about access, please email Dean Nash (Accessibility Coordinator) at access@brandx.org.au.

Community tickets:

We offer free tickets for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and people experiencing financial hardship. To access these tickets please email marketing@brandx.org.au for a no questions asked spot (unless sold out).

Want to cancel your ticket? Please email us at programs@brandx.org no less than 24 hours prior to workshop commencement. We can refund your tickets minus transaction fees of 1.75% + 30c.

Header image: Ally McLean Hennessy, photography by Jacquie Manning.

This project is supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW and the City of Sydney Creative Studios.