'Pine Needles' Nuno Felting

I spent an enjoyable (but hard work!) 2 days last week on a fantastic feltmaking course with Leiko Uchiyama as part of the International Feltmakers Association annual get-together at The Friars, Aylesbury. We used her 'pine needles' technique to make nuno-felted wraps and scarves.  It took about a day and a half to lay out the fleece (or 'pine needles' as Leiko calls it) in an intricate design, then half a day to do the wet-felting.  It was great to learn a new technique - it always amazes me how much variety there is in felting.  Here are a few photos of my work in progress and my finished scarf.

Back to School!

Well we all like to get kitted-out for the new school term, don't we, so for my first September workshop we created an embellished journal for all those important notes! OK, not really for school, as I suspect these creative ladies will actually be using them as art journals for their ideas, designs and samples - but where better to store them all than in a notebook you're created yourself?

We made long rectangles of Nuno felt (felting into dyed cotton muslin) for the covers, with added surface embellishment in the form of yarns, ribbons and silk fibres. We stitched in some handmade paper pages, and topped it all off with a felted cord to secure the book. Another enjoyable day, and I was really impressed with the results.

More Summer Nuno Bags

Another enjoyable August workshop with creative felters making nuno bags - even matching their new bags to their outfits (have a look at the black and green one which perfectly matches her hand-made skirt)!

Nuno Bag Workshop, 3 August

Had a fantastic day on Monday with 3 felters making Nuno felt bags (Nuno felt is where you felt the Merino wool fleece into fabric, eg muslin). There was an amazing variety of colours and shapes for the finished bags - they were all really pleased with their creations and gave me lots of new ideas to think about too. Photos show work in progress as well as finished pieces.

Summer Workshops

Here's a selection of the fantastic felt jewellery, accessories and flower corsages made by workshop participants so far this summer.