Winter wonder December 2010

It has been a delightful experience for me to have so many creative people around me for the run up and the whole of this weekend. The weather was one of the toughest two weeks we have had this Winter and those that braved the elements were glad they had.

I guess more than the twinkling lights and the snug warm of the wood burning stove in the felt lined yurt it was the sharing that made the whole event...sharing of skills , of jobs to be done and songs to be sung. this whole event epitomises why I do what I do ...why on the hard days I struggle to focus on my self imposed workload and sometimes silent, alone work time. It is a way of life for me and weekends like this make it all worthwhile so a great big thank you to those who could make it or support it and especially for new friends made and old friendships rekindled.

Catch up photos from yurting in Ireland

The Yurt and Squirt in the Phoenix park in Dublin

Heritage week in Ireland and the CCOI Feltmakers Ireland supported the journey of the Scottish Story telling yurt on its travels this summer. We set up the yurt and the squirt in the beautiful setting of the Phoenix park Dublin. The Irish feltmakers have a wonderful studio space there and we had many members of the public who came by and learned about the art of feltmaking.

On Saturday I had a wonderful session with the very talented group who opted to lean about using native wools, a subject dear to my heart.

The group are a lively dedicated fun loving bunch and myself and my family had a lovely time in their care.

I hope to join in with them again soon.

Yes it is hard work! How big is the shrinkage rate?


Hat fit for any occassion

No wonder the lamb is looking ...

Painting with wool

some felt work

Summer school in Greenock

This year was a busy 3 days of feltmaking at the McLean gallery in Greenock.

12 students ...6 beginners and 6 who attended the previous years workshop and are forging ahead with felting in Greenock with their new felt group.

We covered all the basics but this time with a twist to allow the newbies time to fit in and the experienced ones o have a new slant on things ...a challenge.

As always this group were dynamic and worked so hard and so well together that they had to be forced from their tables to have the wonderful lunch laid on by the organisers.

Day 3 saw us changing room to the art gallery upstairs and mountains of textiles made their way up the stairs to the beautiful setting of the art gallery and the priceless painting made us a little more cautious with our water.

I think you will agree there was some wonderful work produced during this intense time but well worth it.

Some good articles in SAC website

Liz Brown Have a look at the SAC website
http://www.craftscotland.org/felt-and-knit.htm
An interesting article to let you know where some of the textile artists in Scotland are at...more soon

Feltmaking in the steeple Newburgh

Newburgh workshops March 2010

A fantastic weekend was had by all at the two days of intensive workshops at the beautiful seting of the Steeple in the heart of Newburgh.
The workshops were organised by Twist Fibres, a treasure house of fibre wonderment.
Sturday took students through the skill of making Nuno felt and breaking down the myths of this recent art in feltmaking.

Students work on Landscape workshop

Busy workshop time as Spring gets the creative juices flowing.