I took a Class in Medieval spinning with a distaff last Thursday. I originally signed up for the class before the COVID-19 lockdown. So I have been waiting a while to do this class. This was a 2-hour evening class. We were learning 2 things at once. How to spin in hand and how to use a distaff. Our teacher Judy said it’s like patting your head and rubbing your tummy at the same time.
First, we got some distaffs to dress. This means we had to tie the fiberbatts to a stick. Judy had a couple of nice wooden ones, but mostly we had forked branches she had taken the bark off.
Judy brought several spindles with different whorls. The whorl is the disk that adds weight, so the spindle spins better. The whorls are removable. Once you have some yarn built up on your spindle, you can remove the whorl.
First, we practised twirling the spindle with the leader. You have to make a half hitch on the end of the spindle and then twirl it.
Judy showing us how to twirl our spindle
Lucie is seeing if it is easier standing up.
Then we practised the drafting and the twirling at the same time. milking cow motion on the right and twirling on the right. This is the patting your head and rubbing your tummy part. The only thing we had to bring to class was a belt to stick the distaff in. I do not own a belt, so I got some bailer twine and braided myself a belt for the night. You can see this great fashion piece below.
Then we started spinning. It’s hard to know where to look, at the hand that’s trying to twirl correctly or at the hand trying to draft the fibre down from the distaff.
Here I am winding on. The idea is to make a football (rugby ball) shaped cob on the spindle.
Here’s a close-up of twirling and short suspension. You can let it drop a bit on the last twerl before winding on. Usually, you need to keep it in-hand so you can twirl it again.
Here is what I managed to make by the end of the class. It’s lumpy and thick and thin just like the yarn I made when I first started spinning. I was just starting to wind off when I remembered to take a picture. I haven’t decided if I will ply it or not. First, I have to find my spindles. I’ve seen them recently in their little case. Of course, I couldn’t find them before the class. I will find them again when I am looking for something else. I hope I will be smart enough to grab them and not think I will remember where they are.
This summer I am volunteering at Camp Judy Layne in Kentucky for a week. I grew up in Kentucky and went to CJL Girl Scout camp every summer for years. Girl Scouts and this camp made me who I am and I have many fond memories and friends from more than 45 years ago. I will be helping with arts and crafts and also teaching wet felting to the campers. In preparation, I decided I needed to make some friendship bracelets to give away. Here is the tutorial that I found on Instagram for “Jellyfish” bracelets (Kumihimo).
Kumihimo means gathered threads and was historically used for samurai armor ties. The round ones that are made with this technique are kakugumi. The seven color bracelets are considered lucky and ward off misfortune. Mainly, I wanted something simple and easy to make.
I started with some wool yarn that I had in my stash and made a few bracelets. But I thought they were a bit too “hairy” and might be itchy for some people to wear. Suddenly, I remembered the embroidery threads that I got from my mom. There were a bunch of #3 perle cotton threads that I rarely use in my stitching/embroidery. She had already cut most of them into lengths and I found that I could make two bracelets from the cut lengths.
The nice thing about the Instagram tutorial was that the disc used was made from cardboard and was simple to create. There are Kumihimo discs that you can purchase with more slits and you can create more intricate patterns, but this was something that can be reproduced to teach the girls at camp.
Here’s the top of the circle once the threads are “loaded”. If you put similar colors together as shown above when you start, the pattern is different than if you randomly place the colors.
And here’s why it’s called a jellyfish bracelet. It definitely looks like a jellyfish when you’re making it. The directions are quite easy and it is a simple pattern. The bracelet slowly developing is quite satisfying to see.
Here are my finished bracelets so far. You can see the “fatter” ones on the right are the wool yarn bracelets. I think I will use small rubber bands to connect them although I will also look into a sliding square knot closure. But I was supposed to leave long ends for that type of closure which I didn’t do.
Here’s the difference in the patterns using this method. The bracelet on the left is loaded with the orange threads together and the blue threads together. The one on the right is random blue and orange mixed when loading. I have been making these at night while watching television. Not sure how many I will get finished but it’s been a relaxing activity.
Here’s the square knot closure for the bracelets. The bracelet needs to be long enough to easily slide over the hand for this to work correctly. The video I viewed used long lengths of extra thread for the closure but I had already cut off those ends. I will use this type of sliding closure for the longer bracelets and use a small rubber band for the shorter ones.
This post is from guest author and our multi-talented felting friend, Sarah Ritchie, please check out her website to see all the incredible things she does (it’s not all felting!): https://www.sarah-ritchie.com/
Earlier this year, I had the privilege of being part of Deeply Felt (and the stories carried within) – a group exhibition by Auckland Felters, a Creative Fibre community of contemporary felters from across the Auckland region. The exhibition was held at Nathan Homestead Pukepuke in Manurewa, Auckland.
This exhibition was spearheaded by Teri Berry, whose vision and leadership brought the group together to present a cohesive and thoughtful body of work. Auckland Felters is a diverse group, and what makes this group so special is the breadth of practice within it. While we are united by wool fibre as a medium, the way each maker approaches it is entirely individual.
That diversity was evident throughout the exhibition. Works ranged from finely detailed fibre paintings and wall hangings, to sculptural forms and wearable works, each reflecting the interests, techniques, and creative voices of the felters involved. There was no single style or narrative, but rather a celebration of process, patience, and the tactile nature of fibre. It was also a privilege to bring fibre to the attention of the public as an artform – more than just a functional material or a craft.
As needle or wet felters and fibre artists, we all understand the time it takes to bring a piece into being. The process itself becomes embedded in the finished work. That sense of time and touch was present throughout the gallery, inviting visitors to slow down and engage with what had been deeply felt and carefully made.
This was the second exhibition held by Auckland Felters and it felt like a natural progression for the group. There was a sense of growing confidence – both individually and collectively – and an excitement in sharing felted works as art.
Held in Remembrance
Alongside the exhibition sat a special art installation titled Held in Remembrance.
The original idea came from Clare Hocking, who envisioned a collective work of handmade felted poppies to mark ANZAC Day. What began as a simple concept quickly grew into something much larger.
A call-out was made through our personal networks, social media channels and Facebook felting groups, inviting contributions from the wider felting community. The response was immediate and generous. 287 poppies were sent in by more than 50 felters from across Aotearoa New Zealand and around the world. Each poppy was handmade and unique, and many were accompanied by messages of personal connection with the men, women and animals who served.
What arrived was not just a collection of objects, but a gathering of individual acts of making. Different techniques, fibres, and interpretations came together, unified by a shared intention of remembrance, and a remarkable generosity of time, resources, and care.
I had the privilege of leading the installation, with the support of Clare Hocking, Teri Berry, and Jaq Spirrett. Jaq also created the felted barbed wire that formed a central element of the work, adding both visual structure and symbolic weight.
Constructing the installation was not without its challenges. Covering 3.6m wide and 2m tall, each poppy was attached to clear nylon thread and suspended between two battens. The felted barbed wire added a strong narrative to the artwork. Every poppy could be seen. Every maker’s contribution held its place within the whole.
The installation was created as a fundraising initiative for the RNZRSA (Royal New Zealand Returned and Services’ Association), supporting the health and wellbeing of New Zealand’s veterans of military service and their families. All qualifying donations will receive one of the poppies from the installation as a thank-you gift.
Apart from its fundraising purpose, what stands out most to me is the sense of international connection and camaraderie the project created. Felting can often be solitary, yet Held in Remembrance brought together a wide and generous community of makers – many of whom we have never met in person, yet are now connected across distance through a shared act of making.
The Open Day that wasn’t
We had originally planned to hold our exhibition Open Day on ANZAC Day itself, bringing together the Deeply Felt exhibition, Held in Remembrance fundraiser installation, a fibre market, and a workshop. However, we were advised (at short notice) that Auckland Council-run galleries would be closed that day, and the event could not go ahead (though, fortunately, the workshop ran as planned in an alternate location). This was immensely disappointing to everyone involved.
Clare and Beth demonstrating the art and magic of felt-making
And yet, in some ways, it felt fitting. ANZAC Day is, at its heart, a day of pause and reflection. While we had hoped to gather, the quiet absence of that event served as a reminder of the deeper purpose behind both the exhibition and the installation.
The finished poppy paintings – it’s hard to believe none of the participants had tried wet felting before!
What remains is the work itself – the hours of making, the shared effort, and the connections formed along the way. For Auckland Felters, Deeply Felt was more than an exhibition. It was a continuation of a collective journey, and a reflection of what can happen when individual makers come together with a shared intent.
I’m a member of a local group of artists and makers called Made in Whitstable. We have an annual two-week group exhibition around Easter which has a theme. This year’s theme was Perspectives. Only one piece of work has to meet the theme, with the rest being whatever work we normally make.
I have to admit I struggled a bit with ‘Perspectives’. It didn’t really speak to me. I thought about both visual / architectural perspectives and perspectives as in opinions / points of view. I spent quite a while thinking about sea, water, my viewpoint in relation to water and all sorts of other things but I wasn’t really happy with what I was coming up with.
After much rumination, I decided to do a printed tree picture, but instead of a flat piece of silk below the tree, I’d try to create a simple sense of perspective using strips of different recycled silk scarves.
I picked out a few scarves I’d like to use. They included a couple where I wasn’t sure what the fabric was, so I thought I’d better make a quick sample to test their felt-ability.
I bought this lovely scarf in a charity shop thinking I might make some kind of seed pods with the orange section. I’m pretty sure the orange fabric is raw silk and assume the pale area is a slightly elasticated fine silk. I ironed some of the scrunched (probably silk) fabric and cut out a small rectangle.
The second ‘unknown’ scarf has stripes of dense material and something fine and open-weave. I think the dense sections may be cotton or linen and the open-weave feels like silk. I put a small square alongside the other sample on top of a piece of merino prefelt. I’m rather mean with this type of sample – I do hate to feel I’m wasting materials.
They both felted like a dream so I would definitely incorporate them into my picture.
I had done several very rough sketches to think through potential ‘perspective’ pictures. Having settled on one, I made a rough to-size paper template so I could try out what to put where.
I thought I’d put something on top of the scrunched silk strip so lightly prefelted some fine spotty silk then cut out some oval shapes. I mixed strips of the spotted silk with the ‘unknown’ other fabric. I then cut out leaves from a very fine silk scarf to put larger ones in the foreground with the size receding into the background.
Testing out the layout of different fabrics took a surprisingly long time. How I fiddled about.
When I was choosing from a couple of options I sent photos to my Mum for a second opinion. She’s got an excellent eye and made a couple of really useful suggestions.
Finally happy with my layout (number 3) I carefully transferred the fabric pieces from the paper template onto wool.
I ran a line of dark brown recycled tapestry yarn across the top of the silk-filled area to give the idea of a horizon and could finally get on with the actual felting.
Here’s the felted piece. I was pleased I had mostly kept all the fabric bits in the right places.
All that remained was to dry and iron it, ask my local frame-maker to make a frame (at rather short notice), find & print a suitable tree and put it all together.
The printing process is the scariest bit. Heat transfer printing onto felt is not 100% reliable: sometimes the print doesn’t fully transfer, leaving gaps, the image can transfer but sit too much on top of the felt or it can singe as it transfers. All are pretty disastrous and usually completely ruin a picture. In the past, I have cut up a spoiled picture and turned it into cards. I SO did not want this to happen in this case: partly because I’d already invested a lot of time in this picture and partly because I didn’t have time to make a new picture for the exhibition. My fall-back would either be needle felting a tree over the failed print, or printing a tree onto a separate piece of felt and hand-stitching it into the picture.
I did a couple of test prints on scraps of felt then took the plunge. Fortunately the print transferred well.
I collected my frame and was ready to frame the picture when I realised I hadn’t specified it needed to be a box frame. The felt was thin and would sandwich fine between the glass and the backing mount but I wouldn’t usually mount felt without a gap between the glass and the mount. I chatted with my felting friends (some fellow-bloggers on this site). At their suggestion I considered framing it without the glass but I decided to go with it as it was. Here is a lesson for myself: try not to leave everything to the last-minute, Lindsay. I have had this thought many, many times in my life, but it doesn’t seem to make a lot of difference.
And here it is as part of my exhibition display.
In addition to the wall pictures, on the table I have (back row) mounted prints (left), felt and printed cards (middle), mounted felt pictures (right) and felted glasses cases in the front.
I sold quite a bit of work at the exhibition but not this picture. I’m happy to have it in my stock of felt pictures for other sales & exhibitions. I’m still not entirely comfortable with the standard (non-box) frame but I’ve decided to live with it. Will I learn the lesson of not leaving everything to the last minute? Probably not.
It is again that time of year, when opportunities to replenish, or increase, your fibre hoard begin in earnest. April brings the 2026 Peterborough Fibre Arts Festival & Sale, hosted by the Peterborough Weavers and Spinners Guild. It is held in the massive gym at the Sports and Wellness Centre beside Sir Sanford Fleming College. If you meet us on the driveway at about 6:15 am, we can start the 3-hour drive from Ottawa to Peterborough.
It was a pretty drive down Hwy 7, and only a few cars that could not read the speed limit as we approached our destination. Don’t get between someone and the acquisition of more fibre!!
I had two goals for this trip. The first was to shop at the Olive Sparrow booth with Monika. I am a little low on background felt for the picture felting class. The other was that I had spotted that the new owners of Lendrum Wheels would have a booth there.
Gord Lendrum was an engineering student who, upon graduation, made his mother a folding upright castle wheel. She took it to her local guild and received requests for more wheels from her friends. So instead of going into a company to do engineering, Gord started his own company and made folding Canadian Lendrum spinning wheels. We had heard he was retiring, so all Lendrum owners are ecstatic that this wheel design will continue with another generation.
Gord would occasionally have a wheel repair clinic in Kingston (only 2 hours drive away), but I kept missing them. I have one of his very early wheels. It was stored for 20 years in an unheated storage locker, after a divorce, before I bought it. It tips from side to side as she spins, and it looks like she has a heavy drinking problem.
The second Lendrum wheel I own is also second or more hand, she is a Rook, and don’t tell the other wheels, but she is my favourite wheel. She is a small Castel travel wheel, but one of the uprights supporting the wheel is loose, and the wheel rotates if knocked. A light nudge will bring her back to true.
So you can see why I need to find out where Lendrum Wheels has moved to and when I can bring my wheels for a spa and repair day.
1.1) We arrived before opening, but a lot of other people had had the same idea, and there was already a line up. (There were at least 15 people in front of us) Glenn brought a book, so he was happy.
1.2) As in previous years, there was an hourly door prize draw. We will come back later and check out the prizes, but first, let’s look at the booths and find Lendrum wheels.
1.3) There was one row of booths around the perimeter of the huge gym and a double row in the centre.
I kept getting distracted on my quest for wheel repair. This is the first fibre festival in the last couple of years that has more than one booth with batts of fibre. There were still lots of top, various fleeces, and finished yarn to choose from.
1.41-1.44) shopping at various booths
1.51–1.53) Shopping Fibre
1.6) I could not put anything more on my walker, so it was time for Glenn to take a trip to the car. He had found a chair and had been reading beside the demos.
1.71) A brief shopping break while I fill out the door prize.
The 12 pm prize will be drawn shortly. It’s hard to hear the announcement, but I think the end of the name sounded like Scott. I should go check.
1.72) Winner of door prize draw for noon, Jan Scott. Well, that was a surprise.
1.73) There were 4 baskets left, and I chose the one that had more of one of the fibres I had just purchased.
I took a quick trip out to the car, since Glenn had not returned. (I think I did not catch him napping in the fibre fest, because he had retreated to the car for a nap). I left him to check out the basket and head back to chat about wheels.
1.8 The Lendrum Booth
I was so excited to see this booth! They had one of the folding double treadle wheels for people to try, and examples of some of the accessories and types of wood available. The new owners are a young couple. They are just restarting the business. James Nugent has moved the business from Odessa (near Kingston) to Carlton Place (Near Ottawa)(!!!!). He even has a website! https://lendrumwheels.ca/
He is continuing the tradition of making Lendrum wheels, but would love to see the Rook and my old single treadle drunken upright. We made plans to chat next week.
Since I have shown you the shopping, let’s take a quick peek at the Demos.
1.91-1.92-) Weaving on a Triangular loom, she finished it before we left!
1.93)Demo of Spinners, Basketry and Tapestry weaving
It was time to head home. What a day! Great shopping, Lendrum wheels is now only ½ an hour away, and the second Door prize!!
1.94) There was even room left in the car!
We drove back along Highway 7 past Carlton Place on the way to Ottawa. Let’s give you a chance to unload all your perches, and we will head back to Lendrum Spinning Wheels in Carlton Place next week. Well, next post.
I taught a Nunofelt Scarf class a couple of weekends ago. I had a fun group of ladies who were really interested in learning this technique.
Here are a couple of pictures of the setup with the ladies working on thier layout. They used hand-dyed silk blanks and Merino wool. Then there were lots of extras for them to add, lots more merino in many colours, handspun yarn, speciality wools and several types of silk, silk top, silk hankies and silk throwsters’ waist. A few brought some of thier own alpaca too.
and the scarves they were working on.
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And then we were too busy enjoying the felting for me to remember to take more pictures. Well, I thought I took more pictures, but I guess I didn’t do it properly.
I had two ladies who had to leave early as they had a long drive. They worked diligently to be done before they had to leave. They did a great job, and I hope to see them again.
Here are the other 6 ladies and thier finished scarves. I am pretty sure they had a good time.
After that fun I had to get to work myself. I had to resupply The Log Farm store. They sold the last of everything during Sugar Bush. I have been busy making Dryer Balls and Felted Soap
Next are some drop spindle kits.
All 3 of these are fairly easy to put together and sell well at a relatively low price point. What do you make and sell in this price category? I have been thinking that cards with pictures of my felt might be a good idea.
In my recent art and design class, I painted a series of tree spirit portraits. In researching tree spirits, I found many photos of young women with ‘beautiful’ faces. I thought that if a tree had a spirit, it would be the same age as a tree, which can live for hundreds of years. I decided to base my tree spirits on the beauty of older women, with wrinkles, grey hair and wisdom shining through. Once these were painted, I decided to create tree spirits in felt and stitch. I will be continuing with this series as I found stitching and creating portraits a challenge.
I printed a copy of the original artwork and found a piece of deconstructed screen printed fabric that worked for the background. The fabric was silk organdy and I nuno felted it to a dark green wool. Then I taped a piece of water soluble fabric to the artwork and traced it on the light box.
I pinned the traced outlines of the face and the pinecone down to the nuno felt. Then I used a dark green to stitch the face outline and a dark brown to stitch the pinecone. It’s not shown here but I used a white thread to stitch the outline of the hair. The tree on the left hand side was developed free hand as there was already dark green in the background fabric that reminded me of the shapes of the tree branches. Once the outlines were stitched, I dissolved the water soluble fabric and let the piece dry.
Then on to stitching. This will probably seem like an exercise/game of find the differences as some of the photos seem very much alike. I used 1-2 strands of cotton floss and stitched in a distorted cross stitch. Unlike regular cross stitch, this is a very loose form of cross stitch where the stitches do cross but they are different lengths and directions to fill the space. It is a fairly easy way to shade for darks and lights without doing precise stitching such as long and short stitch. I started with the eyes. I have found when stitching a portrait before, that I stitch the “important” areas first. If I don’t like the eyes, I can either re-do them or start over without wasting loads of time on the rest of the face.
I continued using various shades of green and developing the face and then on to the hair. It was a really interesting process as it seemed like I would add more dark into an area and then find that I needed to add more dark to other areas. There are many layers of stitched threads and hours of work in the final piece.
As you can see, I didn’t take many photos of the tree development or of the pinecone stitching. But I continued with the distorted cross stitch for these areas too. The pine needles were done with stem stitch.
I changed the hair multiple times. I had added stem stitch curls but those seemed to stand out too much. I went back in and stitched over that with a variety of shades of lighter green to make the hair look more natural. I also worked on deepening the wrinkles around the eyes and mouth.
I probably could have kept working on this piece but decided to stop.
Once I was satisfied with the face, I needed a background fabric. I had linen that had been screen printed at the same time as the silk organdy. I tried an overlay of blue green silk but ended up choosing the linen for a background. The nuno felt was stitched to the linen background and laced over a matte board. The final piece is 10″ x 10″. I was planning on framing it but couldn’t find the correct size frame for it. I ended up covering a 10″ x 10″ canvas with green felt and stitching the edges of the fabric matte to the canvas. Sorry that I don’t have a photo so that you can see the edge of the canvas and how that looked.
The piece is named the Essence of Nature and will be in an exhibition in May at 4 Ravens Gallery in Missoula, Montana.
In my last post I mentioned several pieces I was working on and some events that were coming up and I thought I’d use this post to update you on how those went.
I’d made several superfine Merino pendant samples in preparation for a wet felted workshop I had been asked to run for IFA Region 8 in Arnesby, Leicestershire. I had tried to cover options for all abilities from a very simple design that didn’t require a resist, through to a complex design requiring multiple resists. As it turned out all of the samples proved useful because between them my 10 students chose to make one of each of those designs. I was too busy on the day to remember to take progress photos (sorry) and nobody got fully finished before we left but these are some of the images Ive received since…..
One of the ladies, Leah, enjoyed making hers so much she’s gone on to make two more in a style very much of her own which I love!
Another project I’d been working on was Passage of Time, a wet felted Wallhanging inspired by a huge sandstone slab, for the IFA’s online exhibition “Time” which launched in March. You can see the exhibition here. I’d rushed to get this done to meet the deadline. It wasn’t as colourful as I’d intended and I knew it was far from finished! This was how you saw it last…..
After submitting it I continued to embroider and decorate adding colonial knots, free motion stitched mussel shells, machine wrapped cords and embroidered barnacles. As well as needing more surface texture I felt it should be larger and more irregular in shape so wet felted and embellished a second piece to hang adjacent to it. It’s now approximately 1m x 50cm and I’m much happier with how it finished up…..
The exhibition at Harding House in Lincoln went better than any of us could have imagined! Five months of planning and two days of setting up with my friend Jo resulted in an event that we were all very proud to be a part of. Fourteen out of the eighteen participating members travelled from various parts of the midlands to attend the launch party on Saturday 14th March.
We tried to cover as many different techniques as possible with our exhibits and included an “Education Station” with info boards, “touch” samples and the new promotional material advertising the International Feltmakers Association. We also ensured there was an artist in residence every day for the two weeks, either wet felting or needle felting. This meant visitors not only got to see felt being made but they had a point of contact if they wanted to learn more about the art they were seeing, about the IFA, or about Feltmaking in general.
We had a steady footfall throughout the fortnight we were there and it was wonderful to get to meet and speak to so many interested visitors, the feedback received was fantastic!
Earlier this month I travelled over to Risley in Derbyshire to spend the day with Material Girls and the talented, and very entertaining, textile artist known as Mr Finch. Finch creates enormous 3D fabric sculptures of animals, birds, insects, fungi and other fantastical creatures such as this owl and an onion complete with arms, legs and clogs!
He also brought along this Badger and I have to say that the photos really don’t do justice to these fantastic sculptures. To touch them they are rock hard and incredibly weighty, it’s hard to believe that they are stuffed with polyester stuffing! It was fascinating to see close up how he’d made the joints and details such as the paws and fingers.
Finch provided lots of laughs and kept the ladies entertained throughout the day as we learnt his tips for designing templates and creating fabric sculptures. If I’m completely honest I was disappointed that we were hand stitching and not using machines during this class so I’m looking forward to creating another hare very soon using cotton fabric and my machine, putting in to practise some of the useful tips and ideas I picked up from Mr Finch. I think you can see from the photos how much fun we had!
On the last weekend in March, the European Wool Exchange (EWE) event travelled to Ireland for the first time. EWE acts as a bridge between wool breeders, processors and end users and have a particular focus on using European wool to improve wellbeing. They help establish and grow a circular economy for wool by connecting end users back to the sheep, the farmers and the origins of the products they enjoy. Here is a link to their website: https://ewe.network/
It was a real triumph for the event to be hosted in Ireland and this was all down to the dynamism of one Irish lady, Sharon Wells. https://www.sharonwellsart.com/ Sharon and her small team brought about an unforgettable weekend that brought so much joy to the locality and rural surrounds – this is before I even mention the wide variety of groups exhibiting, all of whom shared one commonality; being passionate about wool, sustainable processes and showcasing the variety of creative and practical uses currently ‘on the go’ for this home produced material.
9th April each year is set aside to celebrate and promote European Wool Day. Delegates, demonstrators and exhibitors from across Europe gathered in Tralee, Co Kerry for this event. The event was filmed and the video was launched on European Wool Day. Here is a link to the video if you would like to check it out.
My friend, Jane and I represented the International Feltmakers Association (IFA) https://www.feltmakers.com/ at the event. We were there to promote our Association – Jane is our Regional Coordinator for the island of Ireland and I am the Course Coordinator for the series of educational courses offered by the IFA. Here’s Jane and I, working hard at our stand:
I thought it might be fun to take you briefly through a small number of the stands that were at the show.
First of all, there was a joint exhibition held by Feltmakers Ireland and The Irish Guild of Spinners Weavers and Dyers. This was a lovely quiet space for people to relax and enjoy the exhibits as the other rooms were thronging with visitors. Here is a link to a video Feltmakers Ireland made during the event. You will find it embedded in this page on their website if you would like to see all the lovely pieces. They also had a stand at the event and were busy teaching workshops and promoting the guild (Jane and I are both members) throughout the day: https://feltmakersireland.com/2026/03/30/recap-feltmakers-ireland-at-the-european-wool-experience/
Thank you also to Liz in the Irish Guild of Spinners, Weavers and Dyers who provided a link to their video exhibition. Here it is, if you would like to take a peak:
Afterwards, we were chatting to the hotel staff who said that the day had been the busiest one on record so it is understandable that we did not get a chance to leave our stands for very long. Just before we closed the doors I got to take a quick run around the various stalls and checked out some really interesting projects.
First up is the Wool Storehttps://www.woolstore.ie/ the majority of Ireland’s fleeces are sent abroad for processing. This means that wool fibre needs to be imported to meet the country’ textile needs. Wool Store is a small wool processing facility which is working to reverse this trend. At the moment it is equipped to focus on the provision of high quality washing, picking and carding services for small farmers and textile enthusiasts and they are working hard on securing funding to take this further by settig up a full scale scouring plant and woollen mill. You will find more about this on Katarina’s website. Here she is photographed with her friend Emer who was helping her on the day:
Here is Katarina and Emer from the Wool Store currently crowdfunding so that Katarina can set up a mill.
Next up was the Wool Wise Project. https://curraghmorefarm.ie/wise-wool-project This project is community based in County Kerry and it aims to raise awareness about wool waste and promote the use of Irish sheep wool. Sheep farmers are constantly being told that their Irish wool is worthless. For decades it has been more expensive to shear a sheep than to sell its fleece. It is considered a ‘waste product’ in Ireland and this is very sad as most of the wool products we buy in our shops are made from imported fibre. The Wool Wise Project aims to highlight this and the benefits of the beautiful home grown raw material. Here is Kerry working away at her stand:
Kerry of Wise Wool needlefelting
I couldn’t resist taking this shot of beautiful produce made with Galway Wool, Ireland’s indigenous breed. Historically other breeds were wiped out but that is a story for another day.
Next, I had a quick chat with the two ladies on the Fibreshed stand https://fibreshedireland.ie/ The group was founded in 2022 and is an independent affiliate of the global Fibershed movement which I understand, started in the USA. I am sharing the Irish chart that I have sourced from their website which best describes their vision (and a photo of the two ladies of course!)
Yamila and her friend were working hard for Fibreshed.
I could not omit NewKD Craft Circlehttps://newkd.ie/craft-circle-a-warn-hug-from-the-community/ as it will be close to many of our hearts. They are a creative group which attracts anyone who is interested in the arts and crafts. It is an inclusive group where everyone learns from each other so it is a great social space. Most recently the group collaborated with other craft circles in their area to make 21 handmade knitted and crocheted blankets which were gifted to end-of-life patients in palliative care. Their generosity is humbling. Here are two of the ladies at their station:
Olann & Seol (Irish words meaning wool and loom) are a couple (Fern and Jork) who run a small family business in Co. Kerry. Fern is from Canada and is a weaver. Jork hand builds the looms. If you like you can check out their activities through this link: https://olannseol.ie/ Here is Jork with one of his beautiful looms:
Jork of Olann & Seol seen here with one of the looms he made
This is one for the knitters among us! I was really attracted to this stand, first by the name Stolen Stitches, then by the beautiful work. Carol Feller, who owns the brand, was very busy dealing with customers so I just managed to take a quick photo of part of the stand. But I have just had a quick look through her patterns and I had to share her link https://stolenstitches.com/pages/about-us Be sure to check out her patterns (there’s a lot of them so perhaps have a cup of tea or coffee to hand while browsing!)
Some gorgeous goodies from Stolen Stitches, the website is worth investigating
Dooleys Wool took my fancy, initially because we share a surname and then because they hailed from the same area as my husband’s people. They use locally sourced wool fibre in their bedding, Duvets, pillows, mattress toppers and, through collaboration with Magee 1866 Weaving, stunning blankets. I have a wool duvet and it is very cosy. Here is a link to their business, if you would like to discover more about this company. https://dooleyswool.ie/
The Dooleys Bedding company
Liz from the Irish Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers https://weavespindye.ie/about/ was our neighbour at the show. We were so busy during the event that we only got to chat afterwards at the final dinner.
Liz hard at work spinning and chatting (yours truly and hubby in the background!)
There was also a very interesting project which focussed on wool fibre from sheep in the Rathlin Islands. The micron of the fibre is very high and it has not been feasible to use it for textiles. The fibre has been found to be very suited to rope making. There is a short supply chain as the manufacturing process is completed within the UK. The company’s name is Sustainable Rope and here is a link to their company: https://sustainablerope.com/pages/about-us
Kate demonstrating the wool rope (recipient of the ‘shell’)
I like to set myself a challenge when I am felting at events so I asked Kate for a small sample of rope to see if I could use it in a piece. I wanted it to represent its origins on Rathlin Island so I made a small shell. I dismantled the thick rope and hid the sections inside the shell. It felted in beautifully. I thought it would be nice to give it to the two representatives (they agreed custody for 6 months of the year together with visiting rights!) but I took a few quick photos before I did this:
Different views of the shell
The inside of the shell revealing its secret (rope from the project included in the background!
Different views of the shell
The inside of the shell revealing its secret (rope from the project included in the background!
Finally, I got to chat to a beautiful lady named Sabina. Sabina originated from Romania and she settled in Ireland with her husband a number of years ago. To quote her:
“one day, I saw the most beautiful Romanian blouse – the kind worn for generations by women in my homeland. Just looking at it, I felt like I was home again.
Two years later, over 3,000 metres of thread, and countless hours of hand embroidery – sometimes until my fingdrs bled – I finally finished my own Romanian peony blouse, with Saint Andrew’s Cross and the shepherd’s hook motifs stitched into every piece of the blouse.
In Romanian culture, the peony symbolizes sacrifice and the shepherd’s hook means ‘the lost sheep returns home’”
What better way to finish the visit to the event than to share Sabina’s stunning work with you.
Hand made blouse made by Sabina there are 3,000 meters of thread used in this piece (Source: Sabina’s leaflet)
It wasn’t all hard work (if I can call talking about wool and felting hard work!). Enda (hubby) brought us off for a bit of sightseeing around Kerry on our free afternoon. It was a glorious day and I thought you might like to see a little glimpse of our beautiful island:
A gravestone in Castlegregory, Co. Kerry, Ireland
The Magharees, Co. Kerry, Ireland
View from the top of the Conor Pass, Co. Kerry, Ireland
The view in the opposite direction at Conor Pass, Co, Kerry, Ireland
More Conor Pass, Co. Kerry, Ireland
A view of Slea Head, Co. Kerry Ireland
Another view of Slea Head, Co. Kerry, Ireland
Slea Head, Co. Kerry, Ireland
We met this lovely couple on the way home while stopping off at the Barack Obama Plaza for refueling. So all I can say is goodbye from us all!
Some time after the Panto to be performed in February 2026 had been chosen and before rehearsals started in 2025 I was approached by the director of what is to be our 2027 Panto to give some thought to making headdresses for the villain and her cohorts.
That Panto is to be Goldilocks and the 3 Bears. Apparently the “baddie” in this version is a Queen bee, and the director is thinking well ahead – which makes a nice change from the usual last minute panic. Anyway, I set about thinking how best and how cheaply to do this.
But before I got very far I was asked by our wardrobe mistress to make crowns for the King and Queen of Gooseland, for the 2026 Panto, which was to be Mother Goose. By this time we were well into rehearsal and so I had to stop thinking about bees and start thinking about geese. The wardrobe mistress wanted crowns that fit around the head rather than “tiara” type that sit on top. They should be white and should incorporate goose feathers.
We had some white feathers in stock, but none long enough to look like goose feathers, so first of all I would have to make some. We had, in our initial discussion, thought about how many would be needed. I was anxious that a fully feathered crown should not make the king look as if he was aping a native American Indian chief wearing a War Bonnet. We decided that I would make 5 feathers for each crown, taller ones for the king and slightly shorter for the queen.
I used one of my white nonwoven cotton cloths and some black (all I had) plastic rods. I used an old and well washed cloth, which when ironed stretched and ironed again became paper thin but remained flexible. I cut 10 strips about 2” wide and 8 or 9 inches long. Using “washable PVA glue … (yes, I’d never heard of it before either, it was a gift from our odd job man/friend. According to the lable on the bottle it was a mixture of water, PVA, glycerine, stearic acid and sodium hydroxide) … as I was saying, using washable PVA glue I stuck 2 lengths of the cloth together, sandwiching a plastic rod part way up the middle – short of the top and protruding from the bottom, so that it represented the quill. In this way I made 10 basic shapes which I trimmed into feather shapes, and carved 2 or 3 “notches’” randomly in the sides to add to the feather-like appearance. I painted the black quills white and, to give them extra strength, painted each side of the feathers with more of the PVA.
Making the feathers. That funny bottle shape at the bottom right is one of my eyedrop dispensers but handy for spreading glue!
Then I could consider the design of each crown; the king’s would need to be “manly” and the queen’s elegant. Having gone through my design source images I chose 2 crowns from the film version of Lord of the Rings on which to base my ideas – Elron’s crown for the Gooseland queen (No he’s not a bloke, he’s an elegant Elf – can’t you see his pointy ears?) and Aragorn’s for the king.
Elrond and his crown
Aragorn wearing his crown
I went through my stash of beads, stones and jewels and picked out items which could adorn either crown – the idea being that although they weren’t identical they would be a pair. I found a strip of muslin which had pearls and clear beads already attached to it and also some large round green cabochons mounted in “silver” frames. I painted the stones with several coats of pearl coloured nail varnish and I brightened the frames with a coat of silver nail varnish, and both with a top coat of clear.
[I find nail varnish very useful in making costumes and props, so whenever I see any reduced in price, especially odd colours, or colourless, I snap them up.]
Having obtained approval for my ideas from the director and the wardrobe mistress, I then had to wait some weeks before I received details of the king and queen’s head sizes. We had a cast of 35 in this Panto, some of whom played more than one character, and there were at least 2 costumes for most of the characters, not to mention 5 or 6 for Mother Goose, the dame. It is not surprising therefore that our poor wardrobe mistress, who does most of the work herself with the help of a couple of members, took some time to get round to sorting the wigs for the king and queen and measuring their resulting head sizes. Once I had these I was able to get a gallop on!
I started with the queen’s crown. I made a drawing based on the Elrond crown and then blew it up to the size needed. I transferred 2 copies of the pattern to the card stock I was going to use, cut them out and, after auditioning the feathers and jewellery as to placement, proceed to decorate one of them.
I’m not keen on using just glue for holding things together, whether on costumes, on props or on actors (I once lost my Polly parrot beak mid performance!) It’s belt and braces for me, so I sewed the strip of muslin with the pearl and clear beads along one of the sections of the crown, front to back on either side of the centre “V”. I also sewed the feathers to the inside of the crown and I added a shield shape to the back of the centre front to add a bit of strength. It was as well that I had cut out a second pattern, the stitching of the muslin to the narrow sections of the crown in fact weakened the card. So I attached the second pattern to the inside of the crown and then added a cut out shape of non-slip mat to the inside front of the crown. I was concerned that the weight of the stones on the front might cause the crown to slide down the actor’s forehead. (In the end however I needn’t have bothered as the actor’s coarse and curly wig had a large fringe, on which the crown sat, but again belt and braces I suppose.) Finally I joined the two ends of the crown with a large hook and eye (the sort covered in fabric and normally used by furriers) painted white.
Half a Crown design with initial choice of decoration
My design for 1/2 a crown(!) Sorry about the black Fleur de Lis on the back of the paper.
Rehearsal of design, feathers and decorations
Bead decoration stitched to crown ready for cabochons and feathers to be attached
Attaching the feathers and support for the cabochons
Attaching the strengthening lining to the crown after attaching the cabochons
The Queen’s Crown
Adding the final non-slip fabric to the inside of the crown
Then on to the King’s crown. I had found somewhere on the internet a pattern page of the pieces used to make a version of Aragorn’s crown.
Pattern for Aragorn’s Crown
I liked the basic idea of some form of emblem at the front which could hold up the feathers but I didn’t want to use the actual design from Aragorn’s crown – it was too “serious” and the Gooseland King was a comic part – so after trying out various shapes, which would also hold 3 of the cabochon stones, I decided to use a shield shape, with a smaller version at the back and smaller versions still at the two sides. I decided that I would not use the remainder of the muslin with the pearl and clear beads for the King’s crown (too feminine) so I decided to add a border of yarn around the edges of everything to add a sort of metallic rim as if the metalsmith had added a border of twisted metal, as indicated on the page of pattern pieces. So here I deviated from my glue+ method and just soaked some white yarn in PVA and ran it around the edges of the shields and the bands of the crown. I did stitch the cabochons to the front shield and also the feathers. I covered this on the inside with another shield shaped piece of card. I wasn’t sure how to decorate the two side and the back shields and I wondered if I could find a suitable monogram for Gooseland. In the end I found, somewhere on line, a drawing of a winged shield, I added a capital G to the centre of that and printed off three copies which I attached to the centre of the 3 blank shields.
Rehearsing placement of decorations 1
Rehearsing placement of decorations 2
Rehearsing placement of decorations 3
Rehearsing placement of decorations 4
Attaching the front shield and joining the side pieces
The edging cord is in there somewhere
Glueing the cord edging to the Shields
Glueing the front shield to the back shield to sandwich the feathers after sewing on the cabochons
Glueing the side and back monogrammed shields
Once all the glue was dry I packed them up and delivered the Crowns a couple of days before the first dress rehearsal.
The Queen’s Crown
The King’s Crown
King & Queen of Gooseland
King and Queen with daughter, Princess Priscilla, (who laid the golden eggs) and Dame, Mother Goose
Here’s a close-up of twirling and short suspension. You can let it drop a bit on the last twerl before winding on. Usually, you need to keep it in-hand so you can twirl it again.
1.1) We arrived before opening, but a lot of other people had had the same idea, and there was already a line up. (There were at least 15 people in front of us) Glenn brought a book, so he was happy.
1.2) As in previous years, there was an hourly door prize draw. We will come back later and check out the prizes, but first, let’s look at the booths and find Lendrum wheels.
1.3) There was one row of booths around the perimeter of the huge gym and a double row in the centre.
1.51–1.53) Shopping Fibre
1.6) I could not put anything more on my walker, so it was time for Glenn to take a trip to the car. He had found a chair and had been reading beside the demos.
1.71) A brief shopping break while I fill out the door prize.
1.72) Winner of door prize draw for noon, Jan Scott. Well, that was a surprise.
1.73) There were 4 baskets left, and I chose the one that had more of one of the fibres I had just purchased.
1.8 The Lendrum Booth
1.91- 1.92-) Weaving on a Triangular loom, she finished it before we left!
1.93)Demo of Spinners, Basketry and Tapestry weaving
1.94) There was even room left in the car!
