Classes – Felting and Fiber Studio

SHAPESHIFT – making felt sculptures

July 13, 2026 Lindsay Wilkinson Artwork Comments 21 comments

I’ve been reviewing the future direction of my felt work. I’ve decided to stop having so many exhibitions and sales. I will still do some exhibitions but I’d like to focus less on what people might buy and more on the things I’d like to make, irrespective of whether or not they are saleable.

In particular, I’d like to do more complex 3D & sculptural work as I particularly enjoy it. So it was a happy coincidence that Gladys Paulus was offering an online felt sculpture course called SHAPESHIFT.

My very first blog on this site was about a 3D seed pods workshop I took with Gladys Paulus in November 2019. Herfe’s a link if you want to take a look.

https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2019/11/14/a-felting-adventure/

I really admire her work and found her an excellent tutor so it was a bit of a no-brainer: I signed up for SHAPESHIFT with a glad heart.

You can find a full description of SHAPESHIFT through the link below. Essentially it is about developing your eye and aptitude for sculptural felting rather than producing a specific ‘thing’. Working from a 25cm flat circular resist, Gladys takes you through play, intuition and discovery, building confidence and a developing a sculptor’s eye.

https://onlinetutorials.gladyspaulus.com/courses/shapeshift–458f1e58-42de-4b8f-af48-722cf56fd241/salespage

The course materials are clear and thorough with extensive text and video descriptions. Gladys also gave generous, thoughtful, insightful and encouraging personal feedback, which was invaluable.

So, let me introduce my 10 sculptures.

The materials list suggested working with light coloured wool batts. The only light batts I have in a large quantity are Corriedale (25-29 mic) and Merino (23 mic) both from World of Wool. I started with the Corriedale, which is quite a bright white colour. All the sculptures start off with the same flat circular resist.

1) SEEDHEAD

This was my first sculpture. It’s quite a complicated shape and took me a long time but I was happy with the result. I could do with de-hairing it (I tried a heat gun but didn’t really get on with it).

2) CONTORTION

I lost sight of the overall shape of this one and had to go back and felt it some more. Isn’t felt a wonderful material that it lets you do that! It’s my least favourite shape but I learned a lot from it, which really is the point.

3) WRAP

I called this ‘wrap’ as it feels a bit like a hug. It’s less complicated than the previous two. Although it’s not obvious from these photos, it also tips slightly which gives it a slightly fragile feel.

4) SLIPSTREAM

With ‘Slipstream’ I was specifically working on getting smooth transitions between different planes: some nice sharp edges.

5) RINGS

I may go back and re-work ‘Rings’ to exaggerate the fact that the rings aren’t parallel. At the moment it feels a bit ‘meh’, although I do like the way you can see the light though the hole.

I thought my sculptures so far were tending to look like vessels. I’ve made a lot of vessels in my time so I decided to try to move away from those shapes. At this point I also switched from using the Corriedale to the Merino batt. It’s a more cream colour, felts slightly more quickly and gives a lovely smooth finish.

6) LEAVES

With ‘Leaves’ I worked on making more concave shapes. I particularly like that it looks completely different from the top (picture 2) than from the sides.

7) PLANES

More work on refining planes and angles

8) LEAF OR SHELL?

Similar to ‘Leaves’ in that I used some of the same shapes and didn’t want the sculpture to look like a vessel. I also like this one as it looks very different from different angles

9) UPTIGHT

I think with ‘Uptight’ I pushed the limit of how many different ribs and planes I could get across the shape. It was a bit of a tussle to get it as I wanted it, though I’m happy with the result. For a long time it was a horizontal sculpture but near the end it became upright, which contributed to its name.

10) TILT

I knew ‘Tilt’ would be my last sculpture for the course and tried to go with something a little more relaxed. I like that it seems to be balancing. I thought I might make a shape like three pebbles balancing on top of each other but decided they would be too small – I may make something like this using a long oval resist.

It was good to see other participants’ sculptures – they were all so different. For me it really illustrated the enormous flexibility of the medium, and how much the shaping is entirely in our hands

I absolutely loved this course. I learned some new techniques, which I will continue to use, but most of all I reveled in taking time, letting things develop slowly, experimenting and learning as I went along. I have a bit of a felting gap now due to other commitments but I am already thinking about what sculptures to make next.

I’ve always enjoyed wet felting, but this course really re-awakened my excitement in making felt. I woke up in the morning thinking about felting and couldn’t wait to create my next sculpture. That was joyful and a great gift. Gladys is working on a more advanced sculpting course called RESIST! Will I be signing up? What do you think?!

Registration Opens for Surface Design on Felt Online Classes

July 7, 2026 ruthlane Comments 0 Comment

Registration is now open for the four online classes Embellishing Felt with Surface Design Techniques – A Mixed Media Approach. These are all a fun, experimental approach to adding different types of surface design to felt. Any of these approaches will encourage you to create unique felt in your own style. I hope you will join me this summer in learning something new! This is the last time that this set of classes will be offered. If you have been on the fence about taking one of these classes, now is the time to sign up. After this session, these classes will be removed from our list of available online classes.

All classes are online and last a total of 6 weeks with 4 weeks of instruction and 2 more extra weeks of tutor/instructor support. All classes are taught with PDF’s and videos. PDF’s are available for download for future use and videos are available for the 6 week time period. Classes will begin July 17th and cost $45 US each.

Nuno Felted Paper Fabric Lamination, 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. Click on the link above to register, scroll down the page and fill out the contact form.

Screen Printed Felt Journals by Ruth Lane

Experimental Screen Printing on Felt

Screen printing has long been one of my favorite techniques and I love its quirky look on felt. This class shows you the basics of many different screen printing techniques and you will learn an experimental approach that will allow you to take these ideas and expand them into your own unique style. Click on the link above to register, scroll down the page and fill out the contact form.

Printing, Stenciling, and Playing with Thickened Dye on Felt

What you will learn:

How to make a print board
How to make thickened dye
How to transfer your designs
Choosing what designs are appropriate for stencils and stamps
Creating stencils from a variety of supplies
Cutting and burning stencils
Creating stamps from a variety of supplies
Cutting a linoleum type stamp
Burning a stamp from insulation foam
Looking at items around the house with a new eye for use in creating patterned felt
How to play with thickened dye
How to stamp and stencil with thickened dye on to felt

Click on the link above to register, scroll down the page and fill out the contact form.

Free Motion Machine Stitching on Felt

You will learn the basics of free motion stitching. I will show you the basic techniques and equipment needed as well as give you lots of practice ideas to improve your skills. Next you will learn about machine lace techniques and how to incorporate them into felt making. You will learn to use a hoop in the machine with water soluble fabric. Then learn about thread sketching. We’ll start out with easy designs and then progress to how to use water soluble fabric to transfer a design and free hand thread sketching. Lastly, you will learn about experimentation and moving forward with your newly found free motion machine skills. I will show you how to add stitch to a felt painting as well as other ideas in how to use your sewing machine to enhance felt. Click on the link above to register, scroll down the page and fill out the contact form.

Don’t miss your chance to take one of these online classes about surface design!

Wet Felting For Beginners

Are you a beginner and have just found this site? If so, learn how to wet felt and get started on your felting journey. Our Wet Felting for Beginners Course is always available. Click on the link above to register, scroll down the page and fill out the contact form.

Medieval Spinning

May 14, 2026 Shepherdessann Comments 12 comments

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.

Deeply Felt (and the stories carried within)

May 8, 2026 teriberry Comments 13 comments

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.

A Catch Up

April 23, 2026 Karen Lane Comments 18 comments

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!

Further revelations on Onion Skins and book review on Pigments (plus new course announcement!)

October 21, 2025 helenefeltzen Comments 13 comments

I’m hoping the featured image will make you curious!

Before I start into my post I want to mention my new course on wet felting which was recently launched with the Felting and Fiber Studio. It’s designed for felt makers who are new to using resists.

It’s fully supported by ‘how to’ videos and PDFs and we work with the simple circle. You will learn how to make a vessel and at the end I discuss with you the possibilities of how you can take it further.

So, you start by learning how to make something like this ….

Then I discuss a few variations that can be made with the circle and you could choose after the course, to make something like this ….

I discuss how to make this sculpture on the new course

This course is permanently open so if you fancy it you can register anytime. Curious? Then feel free to head over to https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/classes/online-course-wet-felting-a-vessel-using-a-simple-resist/ to find out more.

Promotion over! Thanks for your patience, Now let’s move on to my post.

Onion skins were at the centre of my last post – I talked about making pigment out of the dye. I mentioned that I would return and show you a little bit more of what I did with some of the dye. Here is the link to the post in case you missed it: https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2025/08/18/is-this-compost-or-dye-material-actually-its-both/

I had set aside around half of the onion skin dye pot to try out on some fabric (I used the rest to make the pigment). I decided to experiment with a little margilan silk and some woven wool fibre. I mordanted these fabrics first, using an alum solution. The alum attracts the dye particles and the colour is less likely to wash out.

Margilan Gauze dyed with yellow onion skins.

Woven wool sample dyed with yellow onion skins

I love the vibrancy of the results. I would describe the wool sample as deep orange while the silk sample turned out more of a golden colour. It is quite the challenge to get the photo to reflect the true colour of the fabrics. I now need to work out what to do with these two fabrics. To be honest, there is not a lot of either and I don’t have a toning fibre to use behind the margilan – I think I will have to make up another batch of the onion skin dye.

Once I finished dyeing the few bits of fabric, I transferred the remainder into a 5 litre container. I basically forgot about it and only remembered it when I came to put together this post. So it has been sitting around for two months.

Now I need to digress a bit. Our lovely little pooch, Archie developed a lump on his elbow a number of months ago. We have been keeping an eye on it as his vet warned that it would become impossible to remove if it grows much bigger. (there would not be enough surrounding tissue to easily sew up the wound). As fate would have it, it grew and Archie went ‘under the knife’. He was discharged wearing his ‘cone of shame’ which we quickly swapped for an inflatable version – much more comfortable for Archie and for the humans too – less bruising on our lower limbs. The only downside was that the cushioning around his neck caused him to snore. He sleeps in the bedroom with us and this was cute for about five minutes….. The cone was tied with an elastic bandage. I was having fun playing with the weave and thought it might be fun to felt with.

Archie in his blow up collar and sore paws

I made a bangle. First I laid down the bandage and wrapped it around a resist which matched the length of the bandage. Then I laid down layers of merino fibre – 6 thin layers in total. I felted it to fit my wrist and shaped it. The whole purpose was to see how it would take the old onion skin leftover dye. I did a cold mordant – I soaked it in 10% of its weight in alum and left it overnight. I rinsed it out and popped it into the dye bath, slowly bringing it to the boil.

Here is the result. The colour is a lot lighter than its first run. That said I decided to speed up the process as the smell of the dye bath was pretty awful. In fact it was pretty disgusting. I endured it for around one hour and then my nostrils got the better of me. I poured off the majority of the dye bath and then left the bangle to cool in the rest. I also lit a scented candle (it really did take away the stink – good to know going forward!)

Bangle made with merino and elasticated bandage dyed with yellow onion skins

While I like the colour, I think I will use it as a base to play with stitches. So I may be back to you on that.

I mentioned in my last post that I had just ordered a book on pigment making and that I might review it, if readers would like that. I know I am stepping away slightly from textiles and felt here but it is possible to combine pigment and textiles (alcohol inks anyone?). I was feeling quite excited as I had ordered the book and it was on the cusp of delivery. I got a positive response so here it is.

The book is called ‘Natural Watercolor Paint Making’ and it is by the artist Joanne Green. Some of you may already follow Joanne on Instagram (#joanne_green_art). I love watching her magically transform plant matter into pigments and then reconstitute it into a paint which she uses in sketches of the plant which has formed the basis of the actual pigment. Very clever and a great pleasure to watch.

Joanne’s book is beautifully presented and very readable. It’s a bit like sitting with a knowledgeable friend having a chat over coffee. The materials and supplies list is very comprehensive and I found that there’s really nothing on the lists that could not be sourced. With regard to the topics covered, I think the easiest way to show this is by sharing the contents pages. As you can see, there’s a whole section devoted to step by step instructions on how to make the lake pigment from the moment you have produced your dye bath through to turning your powdered pigments into watercolours and how to store your new treasures. Joanne is living in Canada but I can easily access many of the plants she uses in her recipes in Ireland.

Source: Natural Watercolor Paint Making; Joanne Green

Photography (primarily by Canadian photographer Tegan McMartin) – is sumptuous and a pleasure to view. It’s interspersed with Joanne’s tiny watercolours that are a feast to the eyes.

I am so pleased that I made the leap and purchased this book. I found it easy to source too. If you are a fan of Joanne’s social media postings or are curious about producing pigments, then it is a worthy purchase.

Registration Open for Felt Hats and Felt Bags Online Classes

July 1, 2025 ruthlane Comments 0 Comment

Teri’s online classes are open for registration today. The classes will begin on July 17. Teri teaches two great classes, one on how to felt concertina style hats and the other one on how to create felt bags. Both of these classes will teach you methods of improving your felting techniques so if you have felted around a resist before such as to make a felt pod, you should consider taking the next step on your felting journey.

For more information and to register for the felt hat class, click here.

Have you taken a look at other student’s hats that have taken Teri’s class? There are some really fun hats and the variations are quite creative. Take a look at the student hat gallery here.

Teri’s felt bag class is an excellent way to learn how to create a variety of shapes of bags, as well as features such as straps, multiple compartments and pockets. You can find more information and register here.

And the student gallery for felted bags is here.

So what are you waiting for? Jump in and learn some new felting techniques.

Or if you’re just starting out and want to learn the basics, try our Wet Felting for Beginners class. This class can be taken at any time with unlimited access. For more information and registration, click here.

Learning and Experimentation with Online Classes

May 2, 2025 ruthlane Comments 0 Comment

Have you wanted to be a little more experimental in your fiber art practice? Do you want to learn new techniques and add embellishments to felt or other fabric? Why not try an online class all about embellishing felt? Anyone from anywhere in the world can take these courses, no need to show up at a certain time (you can even wear your pajamas) and the classes are 6 weeks long so you have plenty of time to learn a new technique and try out an experimental approach. My online courses are 4 stand alone classes under the title Embellishing Felt with Surface Design Techniques – A Mixed Media Approach. You can take just one or work through all of them. The classes are only $45 US for 4 weeks of video and written PDF’s plus 2 weeks extra time on the class website with full instructor support. Registration is now open and the class begins on May 16, 2025.

The first module is called Nuno Felting with Paper Fabric Lamination. The bark I created above used this technique.

You will learn the technique of Paper Fabric Lamination and then how to use these pieces in nuno felting. As you can see from the examples above, there are many possibilities with this technique. Click here for more information and to register for the class.

The second module is Experimental Screen Printing on Felt.

You will also be able to use these techniques to screen print fabric such as silk to use in nuno felting. These same techniques can also be used on cotton fabric to use in fabric collage or quilting.

You will learn how to create thickened dye, make your own screens and many ways to use these screens in an experimental approach. Click here for more information about Screen Printing and to register for this class.

The third module in Embellishing Felt with Surface Design Techniques – A Mixed Media Approach is Printing, Stenciling, and Playing with Thickened Dye on Felt.

This one is really fun and experimental. Learn to make stamps, stencils and how to use a variety of objects from around the house to create your own unique surface design on felt. Develop your own style with designs you have created.

The techniques you learn in this class can be used for felt, other fabric types and even paper. The stamps and stencils can be re-used over and over and applied in different ways to create exciting patterns. Click here for more information about Print, Stencil, and Play with Thickened Dye on Felt and to register for the class.

The last module in the series is Free Motion Machine Stitching on Felt.

In this course, you will learn the basics of free motion machine stitching and how to use this specifically on felted projects. Does the thought of machine stitching seem a bit scary? If so, you should take this course to get a handle on how to use your sewing machine to create wonderful embellishments on felt paintings or other felted items.

We’ll start with how to set up the machine and some great practice techniques that will build your skill level until you feel comfortable with your machine. Then you’ll learn about machine lace, thread sketching and how to incorporate machine stitching into felt paintings. Click here for more about Free Motion Machine Stitching on Felt and to register for the class.

I hope you want to expand your fiber art skills. If so, click on any of the links above to read more about the classes, see the supply lists and to register. I look forward to “seeing” you in class!

And don’t forget, if you are a beginner, our online class Wet Felting for Beginners is always available.

This class teaches you all about wet felting. You’ll learn how to make a piece of felt, how shrinkage works and how to calculate it and the basics of felting, fulling and creating felt from wool fiber. Click here for more information and to sign up.

Wrestling with the horns of a dilemma – Art Yarn!

February 19, 2025 helenefeltzen Comments 22 comments

For a long time, I have been promising myself that I would take a workshop to get some sort of grip on how to use a spinning wheel. My friend Trish Kerr runs Irish Alpaca Yarns and she has for a long time been offering me a space on one of her spinning workshops – the stars never aligned as, invariably I was busy on the day. Then, in December, the offer was once again made and, I was actually free! The beautiful venue was not far away, Cornstown House (https://cornstownhouse.ie/) which was not far away from me. Happy days! Unfortunately there was a huge storm the night before but, despite fallen trees, we awoke to a clear bright day and I negotiated my way to the venue.

We were spinning using alpaca fibre. I hadn’t realised it until then but some people who have an allergy to wool fibre can wear alpaca. The irritant in wool apparently is the scales and alpaca does not have scales.

There were 5 students and some had previous experience. Luckily Trish is an amazing teacher. I had warned her that, given my hideous coordination when learning something new, that this could put a serious strain on our friendship. She laughed it off. Trish has great patience which she got to draw on in bucket loads when it came to teaching yours truly!

We were working off Louet wheels which she supplied. She is quite an expert on the older more traditional wheels too, and she was able to offer good advice on how to get an old wheel which a student had brought, back working again.

A traditional wheel one of the students brought in for some advice
What a beauty, owned I think by our host Fionnuala
All she wanted were cuddles

Trish got us all set up and was very attentive throughout the morning. The first skill we worked on was treadling, as a first timer it took a lot of effort but after a while I had the wheel moving in a clockwise direction. She set us up with alpaca fibre and soon we were all spinning. Some (by this I mean most) much better than yours truly here. But I was having fun.

Trish started us all off drafting setting us up with Alpaca yarn

The morning flew and we stopped for a delicious lunch and tour of the farm, both supplied by our most gracious hosts, Fionnuala and Dominic. The tour was great fun, featuring lots of Alpacas, some rare breed sheep (including one that loved to be patted, a cow and donkeys. The farm offers Alpaca Trekking and workshops along with other events. When I explained that I primarily was a feltmaker and showed an interest in the Teeswater, Dominic disappeared for a few minutes and arrived back with some raw fleece for me to play with when I got home.

I had to include this photo. The pumpkin was still going strong!
She just wanted cuddles
Chatting up the girls!
The donkeys were very friendly, and happy out if you had a carrot in hand!
Just look at that pretty face!
What a beauty!
Those eyes!

When we returned from our tour, Trish gave us a presentation on alpaca fleeces which was very interesting.

So soft and of course no lanolin!
Trish showed us what to expect from a quality fleece

We plied our yarn in the afternoon. Now that I had ‘mastered’ the clockwise, introducing the ‘counter-clockwise’ was, let’s say, interesting. This is what I produced. It is, I believe, kindly referred to as ‘Art Yarn’. Now, I am in the horns of a dilemma. I want to spin more but I don’t want to ever spin a nice even ply. The general consensus in the room was that once you perfect the spin you can’t return to the Art Yarn. Now, while I appreciate that at my learning speed, perfection is a long way down the road. I don’t want to get there but I would like to spin more art yard and, if I’m honest, I would love a new toy in a spinning wheel. Any ideas?

I played with the Teeswater when I got home. Here is the result:

Scouring the teeswater
Final view
another view,lit by LED
A view of my experiment with Teeswater

Last year, I wrote up a number of posts about various dyeing workshops I had attended. In one I dyed a lot of fabric samples and wondered what I should do with them. I think it may have been Ruth who suggested that I could think about stitching into some. I have never embroidered by hand before but decided to give it a try over Christmas. Here is my first effort. I was inspired by a photo online. Once completed, I padded it with some cotton batting and backed it with linen. I might frame it at some stage but I will need to find a suitable frame.

Using the dyed fabric samples, I tried my hand at embroidery over Christmas

I totally enjoyed my day spinning, even though I was pretty dreadful at it. But I love the result and for once, I really don’t want to improve greatly at this. Long live Art Yarn!

Do you agree? Any hints and tips on how I can retain my current standard? All suggestions will be very gratefully taken on board. I’m just looking for an excuse to buy a wheel.

felting techniques class

January 24, 2025 Shepherdessann Comments 12 comments

Sorry For the late post, I thought today was tomorrow.

Last weekend I had four ladies for a techniques class. This is not an advanced class, but it is also not a beginner class. People had to already know how to make felt.

First, we did inclusions. They used a piece of thicker prefelt and elastics to enclose some large glass beads (the kind they are used in the bottom of vases for decoration) and a felt ball. Then laying out a base and top they enclosed some glass beads, a felt ball, a circular resist with a hole and a squashed tasimo pod with a resist over it. Sorry, I forgot to grab the camera until they were at the rubbing stage. Part way through they cut some holes on top of the beads and pod.

When they were laying out I had them cover a pebble with 2 layers in different colours. I had them put a resist on top of the first layer and wrap it with the second colour. They popped them into a piece of nylon stocking to contain it all and make it easier to felt. You can see the first sample on the table in the picture below. They mostly felted the pebbles during lunch while eating and chatting. Once it was mostly done they cut a hole in the top and after healing the cut edge removed the resist and cut a smaller hole to reveal the pebble. Similar to the one below that I made a few years ago.

Next was cracked mud. I had them layout two 10×10 pieces( top and bottom) they added painter’s tape in 2 widths and then added the top

Naturally, because it was a wet felting class, they had to do some rolling.

I had them cut the mud sections at different stages of felting, prefelt, mostly done and done. so they could see how that affects it. I think they could have used more felting before the fulling but we had limited time and had to move on to book resists. I had them make a four-page book resist using half circles. they managed to get it laid out and wet down but then we were out of time so they had to take them home to finish.