Join visual artist, Xin Cheng, for a meditative workshop repurposing local organic material offcuts into versatile woollen felt.

In this workshop you will be making your own super cosy felt slippers!
(NB. This workshop is 2hrs longer than our introductory felting workshop, but no previous experience is necessary).

Felt from wool is the oldest known textile, originates in central Asia, and has many traditional practical uses such as shelter, clothing and footwear.
It is a wonderful, sustainable, soft-yet-sturdy material, and is often used for crafting artworks, toys, festive decorations and handmade gifts.

In this workshop you will:

1. Deconstruct organic woollen mattress scraps (thanks INNATURE!)

2. Learn the felt-making process

4. Make a pair of felt slippers

PLEASE BRING

an unpicking tool
plain soap
a container for soapy water such as a lunchbox or large yogurt container
a plastic vessel with lid such as a milk bottle or washing liquid bottle
plastic bags and bubblewrap
sponge or old hand towel
a wooden dowel
rubber gloves

For making slippers, you will also need:

a thick plastic, vinyl or strong cardboard for resist, around A3 size
a clean, textured plastic meat tray or similar
a bamboo mat or washing board
if you intend to gift your slippers, you will need to make an outline on paper of the recipient's feet.

ABOUT

Xin Cheng (www.xin-cheng.info) is an artist and researcher and sometimes design teacher. She has been researching everyday resourcefulness around the earth since 2007 and has run hands on making workshops in Germany, Mexico, Taiwan and around Aotearoa.

Xin Cheng and Adam Ben-Dror are both keen gardeners, composters and worm farmers. In 2020 they made two films on inter-species kinship within Te Whanganui-a-tara (Wellington) and Te Awa Kairangi (Lower Hutt) looking at Common Unity Project Aotearoa and Manawa Karioi. They are passionate about resourceful making, joyful playing, inquisitive thinking and resourceful living in an interconnected world. Together they run Local Making (www.localmaking.org). A design studio, project space, online publishing platform and neighbourhood-scaled laboratory for living and making.

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