Alpaca Open Day, Saturday 4 September 2010

If you were interested in my posting back in April (see below) about felting with alpaca fleece, then you may like to come along to an alpaca open day on Saturday 4 September. It's being hosted by Barbara at Lightfoot Alpacas based in Hawkhurst, Kent (click on the poster, left, for full details). It's an opportunity to see and even pet alpacas, as well as learn more about them and what can be done with their fleece. I'll be there all day demonstrating felting with alpaca fleece, so I very much look forward to chatting with everyone about the process. The farm is in a lovely setting, and this annual event is a really nice way to spend a couple of hours - so I do hope some of you are able to make it!

Baines Surrey Artist of the Year 2010

Had some exciting news after the Surrey Artists Open Studios finished in June when I found out I'd been voted one of the top 14 favourite artists by visitors - thank you to everyone who voted for me! This has led to me and the other 13 artists being invited to exhibit in a show at the New Ashgate Gallery in Farnham in September/October, when the public will have a chance to vote for their top favourite (which will be combined with votes from a judging panel). So I'm currently working on producing 4 new pieces for the exhibition, to be delivered by the end of August (and trying not to panic at the same time!). See the sneak preview photos here for an idea of what I'm making (focusing on combining felting with knitting techniques).

The exhibiton takes place from Friday 10 September to Thursday 7 October, with a Private View on 10 September 6-8pm and a Closing Reception on 7 October 6-8pm when the winner is announced - and all are welcome to both evening events or to visit the gallery during normal hours (Tuesday-Saturday, 10-5). The gallery is very close to Farnham station, see the gallery website (left) for more details and a map. So if you get a chance to go along and vote, please do! I'll let you know how it goes!

More Felt Flowers

Wanted to share the results of a felt flower-making workshop a couple of weeks ago with some talented ladies, making double-layered flower brooches and bold lilies. The brooches (and more like them) should be making an appearance later this summer amongst all the real flowers at RHS Wisley, so do keep an eye out!

Woodturning Lesson

Couldn't resist showing these photos of my husband Steve having a woodturning lesson with Andrew the week after Open Studios finished. He was a very good student, and Andrew's a very good teacher, and the result was a lovely polished tea light from a piece of cherry wood. Very impressed!

Feltmaking Taster Workshops

Here are some of the fantastic results of the the feltmaking taster workshops during the Surrey Artists Open Studios event in June - as you can see, some lovely flower corsages and really creative mini-journals.

If you would like to attend a day workshop, making felt jewellery, bags, purses, other accessories or a larger felt journal, then please email me for further details at natashasmartdesign@yahoo.co.uk. Look forward to hearing from you!

Surrey Artists Open Studios 2010

Welcome to everyone interested in details of this year's Surrey Artists Open Studios event! For those of you who don't know, artists and craftspeople across Surrey are opening their studios over a 2-week period in June, giving the public a chance to see artists working in their studios and demonstrating how they create their work (and buying or commissioning work if wanted). This will be my third year of taking part, it's been really fun meeting people interested in feltmaking and textiles - or even just passing by the studio and dropping in out of curiosity!

New for 2010, I'm exhibiting this year jointly with Andrew Griffiths, who's a very talented woodturner. So you'll be able to see a range of art and craft pieces in the studio, from wooden bowls, platters and pens to felted bags, pictures and jewellery. We're also working for the first time on some collaborative pieces, such as wooden pots, pincushions and artwork, which will incorporate both our ideas and work - an interesting concept, so do come along and see how we do!

Andrew will be demonstrating woodturning throughout the event, and will be happy to show you how he makes any of his pieces. He's not able to be present on weekdays, but will be around at the weekends. So if you'd particularly like to see him during the event, please take note of the following dates/times:

Saturday 5 June 1100-1700
Sunday 6 June 1400-1700
Saturday 12 June 1100-1700
Sunday 13 June 1100-1700
Saturday 19 June 1100-1700
Sunday 20 June 1400-1700

As for me, I'll be present on Saturdays, Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays between Saturday 5-Sunday 20 June, 1100-1700 (see the Surrey website on the left for exact details). I'll also be running taster workshops on many of those dates (0930-1130, £15 per head, 3 people max) as follows:

Nuno Felt Mini Journal: Monday 7, Sunday 13, Tuesday 15, Sunday 20 June
Felt Mini Flower Corsage: Sunday 6, Tuesday 8, Monday 14 June

I'll also be running a range of day-long workshops (eg felt bag and jewellery making) after 14 June, just let me know if you'd like further details or to book a place on any of the above.

It's a great event, so if you're in the Surrey area in June then do pop along to your nearest studio - again, check the Surrey website for details.

And now for something completely different...Alpaca Felting

For something a bit different in the felting world, try felting with alpaca fleece. It's very different to felting with trusty Merino wool - much harder work for a start, as it takes longer to get the fibres to start melding together and then to shrink, and it's difficult to get up a good soapy lather to help the process (which I believe may be due to the fact that Alpaca fleece does not contain lanolin like sheep's wool). However, if you are a fan of beautiful natural colours (ranging from creamy white through browns and greys to black) and the extra silky feel of the finished fabric, then alpaca may be for you!

Back in December I had a day felting with Jane, who has an alpaca farm with husband Peter: Quarter House Alpacas on the Kent/Sussex border (check out the qhalpacas website). She is keen to properly utilise all the fleece which results from the annual shearing (can you believe, for some alpaca owners it's easier/cheaper to burn the fleece than have it turned into knitting yarn or felting fleece?). So she brought along some of her own alpaca fleece, cleaned and carded (combed) and ready for felting. We spent a day making her a wonderful big bag from a mainly dark brown fleece, with a tie design for the strap that we were both particularly pleased with. Of course by the end I was totally jealous that I didn't have one - yet another thing for my 'to do' list I think!

Anyway, Jane sells her fleece and still has some knitting yarn available (which is lovely and silky) - so do get in touch via her website for futher details. I've also included here some alpaca felt bead jewellery I've made using Jane's fleece, which gives a good idea of the different natural colours.