Rivers and Tides

In Honor of Spring

Felt Snails are the safest type. He was fun. I did him at the zoo demo a couple of weeks ago.
Another finger puppet to keep the mice company.















A close-up of the shell. I've also made a ring using the same process. He doesn't like to share!

IFA

Well, I'm off to Loch Lomond Scotland for the International Feltmakers Association annual AGM. 4 days of workshops, socializing and seeing the wonder of felt. I'm scheduled for 3 workshops: Art Therapy, Printing on Felt and Shibori (which is meticulous tying, then over dying)
Heading off with 12 ladies from Feltmakers Ireland tomorrow at some wee hour of the morning. Should be great!!

Annette Quentin-Stoll

Finally a post.


















Feltmakers Ireland has just hosted a marvelous German felt maker. We invited her to come and give 2 two-day work shops. She has recently published an amazing book called The Felted Play. It's a composition of early work from Textile Design school and recent work. Soft toys, play mats for babies, puppets and inverted pleating provide exceptional texture and interest.















She makes unbelievably smooth felt. Very thin and light weight. Amazingly cute and child like. Hidden pockets and folding surprises. It was really a pleasure to learn from her.


















This it the mouse finger puppet that I made after coming home from helping all day on Thursday. Plus another brown mouse and of course DD needed to make a pink one with purple ears and tail. The design is very simple, yet very effective. As you can tell, I was impressed!















This is the 1st group with their mats that were made the first day, as well as all the items that were made the second day.















Workshop 2 was animals. We did a small mat the first morning to learn how to insert dimensional pockets, spikes and tubes. This is my camellion. He turned out well. It was very difficult because of it's size. Making and inserting the tail and legs was hard as well. Annette does most of her felting dry in the beginning which makes it tricky to work with initially. I got the eyes and 3 legs done by the end of the first day and took the rest home. I worked until 10:00pm and finally got the body laid out, eyes and legs attached and was ready to do the tail the next morning. I would have never finished if I hadn't done a bit of homework.















This the the group shot of the second workshop. There were 2 seahorses, a mythical animal, spotted chicken, dragon, yak, snail, Very Hungry Caterpillar, elephant, cat and a spotty insect. Everyone had a great time and I'm very happy to have taken the workshop from a talented Felt Maker. Thanks Annette and Sonja!!

Valentine's Day or Keebler Factory?

We love baking at our house. Allergies and waistlines prevent us from doing more, but when holidays come... We must bake.
Avery wanted to make up cookies for Valentines Day for her class mates. Might as well do both classes while we're at it. So 2 batches later we have dozens of cookies. DD thought we might ice and decorated each one.
This was Wednesday night. Thursday schedule was jammed with Mom's craft morning at school, Feltmaking with 2nd Class in the afternoon and Family Fun Night to follow. Hardly had time to make dinner and swallow it.



















So when time it short, production mode commences. Put the children to work. Decorated 60+ cookies in one shot. 3 colours of icing, bags and tips and off we go.













I think they turned out well and the children seemed to enjoy them. Have a great day whatever you're doing.

Mehmet Girgic - Felt Rug Workshop

I've just completed a three day workshop with Mehmet Girgic. Nicola Brown is hosting him for 2 workshops this month. He's a fantastic rug maker from Turkey. Very calm, doesn't lecture, gives as much help as people want. He started by teaching us the Osman method, which starts with making ropes and outlining your design. Then you fill in each section with colour. The same colour choices were given to everyone and I was amazed at the style differences that came out of it. Myself and 9 others took the course.















This is the basic rug base that everyone started out with. You could make them smaller if you wanted by cutting them. It is really a pre-felt of cheesecloth and a light layer of wool. These were provided for us, but it would be interesting to try and make them.















Here is a bit of the outlining. Using tops, you pull off a sliver and roll in on your leg to make a yarn type of material.















Filling in is done by wetting the wool with thick olive oil soap/water and stretching it into the outlined form. It can be difficult in the pointed areas.



















This is how far I got by the end of the 1st day. It takes a lot of time to do this.















The final finishing of the corners before laying it out to be rolled.















Huge mats were brought in from Turkey to roll the rugs on. We rolled 4-5 at a time.















One they were rolled up, we rolled them in one direction to tighten the mat down so nothing would shift in the design work. The mat was lifted, turned and rolled to the other end for about 10 minutes.



We then tried to stay behind and on top of the roll. Kicking and stamping for about an hour. Always turning and rolling in the same direction. It makes smooth, dense felt this way. This is Elizabeth Bonnar and Mehmet working on the rugs.



















The final rolling with 4 rugs together. It's a lot of work, but well worth it.















Here are all the rugs that were done before we left. Nicola and I were taking pictures. Check out Feltmakers Ireland and Clasheen for more photos and videos on the course.

New Glasses

I got new glasses. I find it odd that you have to get used to glasses that are measured for your eyes. Like shoes you have to break in.. " Wear them a week or two and you'll adjust" So I did. I'm sure my sinus headaches came from them. Took them back... "Sorry, we made them too strong" "We'll lower the script" so they did. First two days, I'm back with the headache, but not as much and last night I discovered that my head wasn't hurting at all, except when I went to look for a lost lipstick under the cabinet. Thought my brains were going to pop out from the eye sockets. Won't do that again. That's what kids are for, Right??

Anyway, I like them a lot and think everyone needs more than one pair of glasses. You don't wear the same shirt everyday, so why do it with this. As soon as the "newness" wears off, I'll take the green ones in for an update.

I'm off to County Carlow for a felt rug making workshop for a couple of days. Laundry first.