The Creative Feltmaker - Part One with Wendy Bailye

Class Title: The Creative Feltmaker- Part One: Developing imaginative surfaces on flat handmade felt.

Instructor: Wendy Bailye 

Class Duration: 2 day workshop

Class Description:

The Creative Feltmaker class; Part One, is designed to take your surface design skills on flat felt to the next level and explore the possibilities of feltmaking as a creative art medium. This class will delve into various techniques, experimentation, and sampling to inspire and expand your artistic practice. It will be a journey of exploration and artistic expression through feltmaking. Suitable for beginners to advanced feltmakers.

Do you want to learn how to:

• Explore and experiment with a wide range of new felting techniques?
• Build a more solid and expansive foundation in felting methods?
• Create a unique portfolio of small, felted samples to inspire further work?
• Learn new skills from a feltmaker with over 30 years professional making and teaching experience?
• Make your work more meaningful, satisfying and exciting?
• Learn the joys of sampling for creating more unique, imaginative, felt?

Class Outline:

The class has a theme and it is “MY PLACE IN NATURE”. Choose a place in nature that you have loved. Find some images of the place either online, or bring images you have taken yourself. We will not be copying the pictures. We will be using them as a reference for the colours, patterns and textures we will explore. When choosing your materials to bring, reflect on the place you have chosen. What colours, textures, patterns, and forms speak to you?  We will use this place as inspiration for our felt samples.

Techniques :

• Brief introduction to surface design and pattern development, exploring a huge collection of texture samples
• Exploring, in depth, the fusion of felt with fabrics-learning to use  materials in new ways
• Experimenting with surface layers to form fabulous 3D textures on flat felt
• Exploration of middle layers- using a variety of materials to create interesting textures
• Formation of interesting and creative backgrounds.

Materials Required:

Reminder: Choose colours that match in with your “My Place in Nature” colours and textures. We can finger card fibres to change the colours! Have some dark and light colours.

• Notepad and pencil.
• Camera if you want to take photos of samples
• Felting wool in various colors. Each sample will be about 15 grams in weight so the amount depends on how many samples you make.
• Fabric scraps for Nuno felting any size -30cm square or scraps. Any variety of fabrics-Paj silk, tissue silk, cotton muslin.
• Small fabric scraps like cotton quilt batting, cotton sheeting, denim, old lace doily, printed cotton fabrics these will be used between layers for texture.
• Small quantity of fibre in “top” form-anything you have -silk, ramie, Tencel, linen etc.
• Scraps of wool yarns and fancy yarns (any fibre make up) , even jute and cotton string. ,whatever you have.
• Scraps of partial felt and hard felt (Wendy will bring some to share if you do not have any)

Felting kit:

• Bubblewrap 50cm square
• Stiff ballet tulle net 50 cm square (not negotiable item!) I do have a few I will bring.
• Recycled soft plastic bag for wetting down felt (A couple of Coles bags used for fruit and vegetables will do !)
• A container to hold 1 litre of water.
• Olive oil soap
• Photo’s based on your chosen theme.

Prerequisites: This class is designed for students with no prior experience in basic wet felting, but caters to experienced feltmakers as well. The primary focus is to encourage creativity and experimentation in the medium of feltmaking.

Class Kit $20 : To be placed in a named envelope and given to Wendy on the day.. Wendy will provide a material rich creativity kit with a variety of unusual yarns, fibres, fabric scraps , wool batting , partial and hard felt scraps and template material and plastic wrap. There will be lots of other texture goodies as well.   

BYO lunch. Tea and coffee facilities provided. Fridge & microwave available.