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Registration Open for Hanging Felted Spiral by Helene Dooley

Registration Open for Hanging Felted Spiral by Helene Dooley

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We are happy to announce that we are now offering an online class with Helene Dooley. The class is all about learning to felt a hanging spiral and will begin on October 29th. There are only 30 spaces available so register now to reserve a space. Register here by filling out the contact form at the bottom of the page. 

Helene has developed a method to create the felted spiral shown in the photo above. You will learn with Helene’s excellent videos and downloadable PDF’s. She will also be available on the class website for questions, sharing of your spirals and to encourage you to experiment with the knowledge gained in the class.

If you’d like to learn how to create a felt spiral, now’s your chance! To register for the class, fill out the form on the information page. 

Please note that Helene’s class is aimed at felt makers who have already developed their technical felting skills.  It is not suitable for felt makers who are at the start of their felting journey. A knowledge of book resists is preferable, though not essential.  Previous experience working in three dimensions is essential.  Also required is a basic knowledge of needle felting and sewing.

 

If you are a beginner, our online unlimited access Wet Felting for Beginners course, is always available. Please click on this link for further information and to register for the class. 

 

Olive Sparrow Giveaway Winners and Second quarter challenge, stitching all done

Olive Sparrow Giveaway Winners and Second quarter challenge, stitching all done

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First things first:

The winner of the 100 grams of premium washed Teeswater locks is Sttamburo

The winner of the 150 grams of Swiss mountain batt in your choice of colour(s) is Darrel

Congratulations! Monica will contact you via the email you provided.

Now my stuff

My heat erasable pens arrived. They come as a pack of refills and some empty pens. I got one that came with 4 colours, white, red, blue and black. That should cover all possibilities.

I picked the white. I think red would have worked too.

 

Onto the last part of the design. Diamonds were a popular repeating pattern. I better check to see if this will work the way I think it will. I did not do my usual quick sketch but using a ruler. Are you amazed?

Yes, that should work fine, real diamonds and not just squares on point. Now let’s see if those pens work. A straight line to work form. I may stitch that in too. I wasn’t sure it was going to work, even smooth felt is very textured.  The tendency when a pen doesn’t write is to press harder. That didn’t work. A light touch was much better.

 

 

A couple of weeks has passed since I did the lines. I decided to use yellow for the lines.

 

 

I really like how the yellow looks against the green but it didn’t look complete so I added some red and black french knots in the middle

 

Next was finishing the sides. I decided to use double-fold bias tape. I like double fold because it’s easy to sew on invisibly. the bias I like to use with felt is a fleece bias. It blends with felt so nicely but isn’t as bulky as using felt. I had black and green that would work. I chose the green as it was such a good match.

If I had easy access to my machine I would have stitched the first side with it. You can stitch in the ditch of the fold and it’s invisible. That is the way I do it when I put a bias tape on the brim of a hat. As it was, I just stitched both sides by hand.

 

I think it looks good.

 

Next is sewing the pockets and filling them up. I should have that done by next time. I have almost a whole month to get it done and still be on time.

 

 

Website Changes

Website Changes

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Life has gotten in the way of posting this week. I woke up this morning and realized I had forgotten to write my post for the week. If you are reading this on our website, perhaps you will notice that we have made some changes. Our theme that we were using was out of date and there were issues that kept developing here in the background that needed to be fixed. So Ann took on the challenging task of changing the theme.

 

We have tried to keep everything looking similar to what we have had in the past but we’ve done some editing and pruning in areas that we thought were not getting much use. Have you looked at all the information that is available here? I often notice online that beginners are asking questions about what different fibers look like, what the results of embellishment fibers in felt look like etc. We have tons of photos of different types of fiber. All you have to do is go to the menu at the top and look under Fiber or Other Fibers. There is a drop down menu and sub menus with galleries so you can see samples of a variety of fiber.

We also have free tutorials available under the heading Tutorials on the menu. Again, just look at the top for the menu and there is a drop down list with a variety of topics such as dyeing, fiber preparation, mixed media, needle felting, nuno felting and wet felting.

So I hope you’ll take a few minutes to explore what’s available here on our site. If you find any links that don’t work, we’d appreciate it if you’d let us know so we can fix them. Thank you Ann for taking on this huge task and revamping our site!

 

 

Embellishing Felt with Surface Design Techniques Registration Opens

Embellishing Felt with Surface Design Techniques Registration Opens

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Are you ready for a fun adventure in surface design on felt? You can now register for any of the four modules in the Embellishing Felt with Surface Design Techniques – A Mixed Media Approach online class. The classes will begin on February 21, 2020 and are only $45 US for 4 weeks of instruction and 2 extra weeks of instructor support.

Module 1 of Embellishing Felt with Surface Design Techniques - A Mixed Media Approach, Online Course by Ruth Lane

Nuno Felting with Paper Fabric Lamination

Paper fabric lamination is a technique of essentially gluing paper to sheer fabric in a specific design. It is not a new technique and has been used by fiber artists for a long time. When  I first learned the technique, I wondered how I would use the result. Many artists use paper fabric lamination and layer the results together with stitching and other methods. When I looked at my samples, I saw sheer fabric with a design and thought “Why not try nuno felting with it?” I tried it, it worked, and I loved the results. It was a way to use my own designs and create a piece of nuno felt that was completely different and in my own style.

If you would like more information or to register for the class, click on the link above.

Experimental Screen Printing on Felt

Have you put off trying to screen print because you thought it was too complicated? This is the course for you then. This course will teach you about a variety of methods of screen printing that are fun and easy although sometimes a bit messy! The results on felt are always interesting and you can add your personal touch to your felt projects.

If you would like more information or to register for the class, click on the link above.

Printing, Stenciling and Playing with Thickened Dye on Felt

Learn to make thickened dye and then use it to make designs on felt or silk. Create your own unique designs with stamps, stencils and stuff found around your house. This course will teach you to experiment and play with thickened dye. Try out this fun course and learn to make your own designs to add to your felt.

If you would like more information or to register for the class, click on the link above.

Free Motion Machine Stitching on Felt

Machine stitching on felt adds wonderful details and is a simple process. It does take a bit of practice but I can show you ways that make it much simpler. Have you always wanted to add that extra touch of stitching to a felt picture or add lines to your composition? Free motion machine stitching could be your answer. This is one of my favorite ways to add texture, line and pops of color to my felt.

If you would like more information or to register for the class, click on the link above.

As always, our Wet Felting for Beginners online course is always available.

Learn the basics of wet felting including layout, adding embellishments, how to felt and full, shrinkage rates and more. Take the mystery out of how to wet felt by joining us in this online class with unlimited access. It’s only $20 US!

Learn something new in 2020!

25 Million Stitches

25 Million Stitches

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A couple of people have introduced me to the project 25 Million Stitches. After taking a look at the site and seeing the work being created and the vision behind it, I thought all of our readers might also be interested in the project. The site has a lot of information so make sure to look through all the pages. Take a look at the 25 Million Stitches website.

Here is what the project is about in the words of 25 Million Stitches administrators:

The world is in flight. 25 million people* across the globe have been forced to flee their homelands as a consequence of genocide, war, poverty, natural disasters, targeted violence, and other grave threats. They leave behind everything they’ve known and possessed in order to live; they face immense struggles, misfortunes, and perils on their journey; and, through it all, survival, much less successful resettlement, remains but the slimmest hope.

Please join this project to hand-stitch 25 million stitches: one stitch for each refugee. How does making 25 million stitches help refugees? We believe that this project is a way for us to engage with this global crisis instead of ignoring it. And even though no single stitch can fully represent an individual, the act of stitching and the resulting work will help bring attention to the scale of the crisis. Two objectives of the project are:

  1. To engage as many people as possible to raise awareness of the global refugee crisis and

  2. To amass 25 million stitches to visually represent the sheer volume of this astronomical figure of refugees.

This is a community art installation. We are asking volunteers to hand stitch on fabric panels. We now have over 1,400 participants from 44 states and many countries overseas. However, another 1,000 panels will be needed to be stitched to add up to 25 million stitches. This huge community art project will come together into a single striking fiber arts display. When the panels are returned to us, we will assemble them in a grand installation of everyone’s personal expression of solidarity and support for the refugees. Once woven together with other lovingly contributed panels, each contribution will be a part of a tapestry of profound community support ⁠— but we can’t do it without your participation!

Take a look at the panels that have been created so far here.

Here is a rendition of what the inaugural show might look like. The rendition is by Joe Weber. The first show is planned for June 2020

at the Verge Center for the Arts, 625 S Street, Sacramento, CA
June 5–August 15, 2020
Opening Reception: Friday, June 5, 5–7 pm

I also wanted to share with you the 25 Million Stitches pieces by people that I know. Josie Dakers-Brathwaite, one of our forum members, recently shared on Instagram that she got together with a group of stitchers to work on their pieces.

Here are Josie and some of the group. They look like they were having great fun. This photo was contributed by Lenny Van Eijk, thanks Lenny!

And here are some of the works in progress. The photo on the right was contributed by another of Josie’s friends, Sarah Fader, thanks Sarah! I hope that we’ll get to see the finished pieces as well!

This is a work in progress by Penny Peters. This is just a portion of the design, this is about a third to half of the full panel.

Sally Glutting, in my art group, also created a piece for the cause. The photo above is Sally’s stitched piece that she is contributing to 25 Million Stitches.

I’m not sure that I currently have time to create a piece for this but they are looking for more participants. If you’re interested, check out the information on their website. If you have created a piece for 25 Million Stitches, we would love to see it. Share it with us on the forum.

New Book, New Look

New Book, New Look

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It was an honor to hear that my publisher Quarto Creates was reworking The Complete Photo Guide to Felting into a new book called First Time Felting.

This book is for beginners and concentrates on needle felting techniques but also shows the basics of wet felting and nuno felting. The book is available now.

I am happy to announce that Quarto Creates is providing one free copy of the book as a give away prize here. All you need to do is comment below and you will be entered into a drawing for the book. So please spread the word and share this post to get the word out about this new book.

Drawing now closed

And the new look? Did you notice that we changed up the look of our website a little? Thanks to Ann and Jan for the new header photo and we’ve changed the background to create a cleaner look. What do you think?

Don’t forget that registration is open now for my online classes. Please check out the online classes in the menu and register today!

Drawing now closed

Registration Opens Today For ‘Felted Bags with Teri Berry’

Registration Opens Today For ‘Felted Bags with Teri Berry’

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Registration for Teri Berry’s Felted Bags online class opens today! This is a great course and was well received, so it’s exciting it’s being run again. There are limited spaces available so if you want to register, click on this link and fill out the registration form. 

During this 5 week course you will have the opportunity to make at least 3 bags / purses.

In week 1, you will make an animal themed spectacles/phone/pencil case, this could be in the image of your favourite pet or a friend’s pet (they make very thoughtful gifts) or a mythical beast of your own imagination! You will use multiple resists, introduce some nuno felting and make a closure entirely from wool.

In week 2 you will learn to make a small to medium shoulder / hand bag (purse to our US friends), this tutorial will demonstrate how to add internal pockets, a magnetic clasp, adjustable shoulder straps and take shaping the felt to the next level so  the bag has a flat bottom and stands up on its own.

The week 3 tutorial is a little more ambitious, you will learn to make a backpack with adjustable straps, multiple internal compartments and internal pockets.

Weeks 4 and 5 will be for catch up / further development, you might like to apply your own design to a bag, Teri will be on hand to answer any questions and talk through any challenges your design might create.

As with all the online courses there will be lots of opportunity to share your work with the rest of the group and share ideas.

The content of this workshop is suitable for felters with some experience, you do not need to have made a bag before but if you are confident making felt pods, bowls etc. over a resist you will be able to make these bags.

The class begins May 24, 2018. The price for this five-week course is £60 GBP (approx. $79 US, $105 Canadian, €70, $112 AUD, $119 NZ) and the number of places will be limited to 30 students.

Sign up here.

PechaKucha 20 x 20

PechaKucha 20 x 20

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I attended a local event yesterday called PechaKucha. I had never heard of it before and thought you might like to hear a little more about it. The idea began in Tokyo in 2003, when architects Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham devised a format to present creative ideas informally and in a more relaxed setting. The format for presentation is to show 20 images, each for 20 seconds with the images advancing automatically. This gives the presenter 20 seconds to talk about each image or to tell their story with photos.

Please go visit their site to learn more about the PechaKucha movement and see if there is an event near you. 

PechaKucha events have spread to over 1,000 cities throughout the world. The events provide a place for creative people to get together and share what they have been creating, their stories, thoughts or just their holiday/vacation photos. The great thing about these events is that anyone can present. There are no set rules on what can be presented but what works the best is sharing your passion or something you love. It allows people to tell others their story and what is presented is often unexpected, sometimes poignant or humorous, sometimes very personal but always different.

The local event that I attended had nine presenters including a potter, a mixed media artist, a graphic designer, a photographer, a web developer, a textile designer, an iron sculptor, a master boot maker and a travel photographer.

Here are a few photos from the Kalispell event. Sorry about the quality but it’s what I could get with my phone. The recording of the event will be uploaded to the main website in the next several days. The venue was quite small for the number of people who came but we still enjoyed the event. This session was focused on art and design, all of the presenters were from the valley and everyone’s story was very different. I think this would be a wonderful way to spread the word about felt making and fiber art. If I get up the nerve, I may try presenting at a future event.

Looking at the global map on the PechaKucha site, it looks like most people will be able to find an event near where they live. If not, you can visit the site and take a look at some presentations given in the past. 

Or, if you really want to be brave, you could start a PechaKucha event in your town (as long as there isn’t already another one going). You need to hold an event four times a year to qualify and you can get more information here.

 

 

 

Level 3 Art and Design Exhibition

Level 3 Art and Design Exhibition

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After more than two years, I am finally completing my Level 3 Art and Design course at the Gail Harker Creative Studies Center. We are having an exhibition to show our class work, sketch books and finished pieces of art work. The exhibition will be on Saturday, March 23 and Sunday, March 24 from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm at the new center at 503 Morris Street in La Conner, Washington USA. You are cordially invited! I know that many of you that read this blog aren’t even in the US, but if you are in the La Conner area, I would love for you to stop by, check out my efforts from the last two years and say hello.

I haven’t shown all of my work for this class here as it isn’t felt or fiber related but I thought I would show you a bit of what I have created in this class.

I have tried various techniques and what will come as no surprise to regular readers, I have emphasized trees and the woodlands as my inspiration.

 

It’s been a lot of work but I have really enjoyed the journey.

If you have the chance to further your education in the arts, I would  highly recommend it. I love learning!

If you would like to know more about each of these pieces, you can read my posts over on my personal art blog Permutations in Fiber. You will just need to scroll back through the last two years 🙂

The exhibition will also feature the art and class work of my three fellow class mates and their work is so different than mine. I will see if I can take a video of the work on display and show it to you after the exhibition.

I have many sketch books and boxes of work, it’s really hard to show the scope of everything in one post.

This is the biggest piece I created. Framed, it is 30″ x 30″. All the paper started as white rice paper which I painted and cut out individual leaves. This one took a “bit” of time.

But I hope you have enjoyed a few examples of the work I have created for this class. So please, spread the word if you would, about our exhibition. I would love for you to come if you’re in the area.

Sweet Nothings Retreat

Sweet Nothings Retreat

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Sweet Nothings Retreat

I am thrilled to announce that I will be offering two wet felting workshops in France this coming July. The workshops will be held at Sweet Nothings Art and Crafts Retreat in the beautiful Charent region. The retreat is owned and run by husband and wife team Natalie and Lawrence, originally from the UK, and you can read how they came to be running a business in rural France by clicking here.

During each six day retreat there will be three workshop days and, with a maximum number of six students per class, there will be lots of opportunity for one to one time. A small class also allows for lots of flexibility so we can tailor each project to suit the individuals specific wishes/needs rather than all having to work on the same design or template. This also means we can accommodate absolute beginners alongside those of you who may have experience of Wet Felting but want to experiment or develop your technique further. 

15th – 20th July Nuno Scarf /Collar – In this workshop we will be working with Superfine Merino and silk fabrics, learning the basics of Nuno Felting, to create a beautiful, soft scarf/collar. Each student will work at their own pace and, once finished, you have the option of relaxing or putting your new found skills to practise on another item such as a Necklet or Bracelet. Being both practical and decorative, the beautifully soft, extremely lightweight Necklets bridge the gap between a scarf and a necklace and are ideal for wearing under a jacket on cool evenings. The bracelets introduce another technique, differential shrinkage, which allows us to create interesting, undulating surfaces on a flat plane. Once again, each of the additional projects will be totally unique and these can be further embellished with hand embroidery and beads. It’s your retreat…you decide!

Nuno Scarf/Collar
Nuno Necklets
Nuno Bracelets

22nd – 27th July Wet Felted Wallhanging – In this workshop we will be covering a variety of techniques including wet felting, needle felting, free motion stitch and hand embroidery to create our own unique wall hanging. It is suitable for any ability from absolute beginner to the more experienced felt maker as well as being a great introduction to free machine embroidery for those who haven’t yet tried it. 

Wet Felted Wallhanging

Using photographs or sketches as our source of inspiration we will begin by designing our layout and colour scheme. There will be examples to look at as we explore the different techniques we might use to create our pictures. The main body of our work will be wet felted, using loose fibres to “paint” our pictures. We will also explore the use of our own hand made pre felts, needle felting, hand and machine stitching to add areas of detail. Students can work to any size they wish, working on a large scale and concentrating on the one project, or working to a smaller scale and having the choice of an add-on felting project or simply enjoying more “free” time! 

Wet Felted Wallhanging

If you would like more information about the workshops I will be offering please use the contact form on my website to get in touch www.lincsinstitches.com  If you have any queries regarding the accommodation or would like to make a booking please do that via the Sweet Nothings Website.

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