Teri Berry has two online classes that start in a couple of weeks. Registration opens today so you can sign up now. Choose between learning how to make a felted concertina hat or a more complex felt bag.
The Felted Concertina Hat class teaches you the basic skills of making a concertina type felt hat. Then the course progresses into further variations of creating felt hats and Teri helps your ideas transform into hats that fit well and develop your own style. Read more about the class and register here.
Here are just a few of the hats created by students in Teri’s class. You can see more here.
Felted Bags online class will teach you how to use multiple resists, introduction of nuno felting into bag making, and learn how to make a closure entirely from wool. You will progress on to how to add internal pockets, a magnetic clasp, adjustable shoulder straps and take shaping the bag to the next level so the bag has a flat bottom and stands up on its own. Again, Teri will assist you in designing your own bag style and moving your skill level forward in felt making. Register now for the Felted Bags online class.
As always, our Wet Felting for Beginners online class is available. For more information about this class, click here. Learn the basics of wet felting, how to use embellishments, all about shrinkage and even how to blend wool by hand. So if you’re curious about wet felting, this is the course to get you started.
Whenever I post or talk to people about Gail Harker’s classes that I have taken, I get inquiries about whether or not her classes are available online. In the past, I have replied that most of the classes were not available entirely online. However, that has changed. Many of the classes I have taken are available to people who don’t live close enough to Washington state to attend in person classes. (I receive no remuneration for sharing information about Gail’s courses.)
Online Art and Design (previously known as Level 3) is now being offered in a four module format. Each module has 8 to 12 sessions. The sessions include online lessons as well as individual online tutorials with Gail. The first two modules are now available and classes will start in December. Click here for information about the first module. The second module is also being offered for students who have completed module one.
There is so much information in Gail’s art and design classes. Take a look at the course brochures (links at the end of this post) for a comprehensive explanation of the classes. I never took any art classes in school and was woefully short on art related knowledge when I first dipped my hands into the fiber art world. After taking Level 3 Art & Design, I was much more confident in my design skills and abilities to create my own compositions. I not only learned many techniques to express my creativity but also how to “see” as an artist does and to evaluate different compositions to understand what made the design more interesting, what needed to be edited and what additions a composition needed.
I can remember many times when if someone asked me if I could draw, I would say “No, I can’t draw, I’m not very creative.” Since taking Gail’s classes, I don’t hesitate to draw or paint or sketch or just try a new technique. I do something creative nearly every day and I am delighted to be taking Level 4 classes.
If you are interested in developing your own art and design skills, I would definitely recommend these classes. They are well worth the investment in yourself and in your growth as a creative person.
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.
I am excited to announce that the registration for Teri Berry’s Felted Bags online class opens today! This is a new course and the excitement has been building. 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. $82 US, $105 Canadian, €68, $109 AUD, $117 NZ) and the number of places will be limited to 30 students.
In September, I took Teri Berry’s first Concertina Hat Class online. Unfortunately, I didn’t finish on time due to taking another class and travel. But I’ve completed the first two hats.
Here is the Concertina hat with some silk embellishment:
I probably could have added a couple more folds, but I kind of like it the way it is. Of course, my favorite colors.
The next hat was the Snail Hat which was a bit more complicated, but fun to make.
Drying on the hat block:
Finally dry and shaved.
I haven’t started the third hat, but will show it here when I do.
Teri is offering the class again November 4. I highly recommend it. There was a lot of creativity, sharing of ideas and fun. For more information or to register:
We are excited to announce that we have a new online class available by Teri Berry. Here’s what Teri has to say about her class. This four-week, hat making course will initially guide you through the different options for hat blocks (from DIY to the extravagant!) and choosing one to fit. Although this module is technically week 1, I will send it out on receipt of payment so you have as much time as possible to make or buy a hat block if you don’t already have one.
Week 2 will focus on making a stylish or quirky concertina hat and will include guidance on how to create a resist for your head size, how to add a felted “pig tail”, creating a brim and forming sharp folds that remain in place. I will also describe how I blend colours and make the “silk stripes” used on some of my hats.
In week 3 we will make a super-cute snail hat. This tutorial is a must for anyone who hates rolling! I will provide my template for you to enlarge to your hat size (I will provide a useful technique that can be used to enlarge items of clothing that you would like to make in felt but need to allow for the shrinkage). I will then go on to explain how to make the eyes on stalks and securely attach them to the hat as well as well as how to create the shell and shape snail’s foot to form a brim for your hat.
Week 4 will be an opportunity to catch up or make another hat, I will provide examples of other hats and their template designs that used the concertina method which you are welcome to copy or, if you prefer, I am very happy to help you design your own hat using this method. The possibilities are almost endless!
If you share a link to this post on your Facebook, Twitter or blog and leave a comment here indicating where you shared it, you will be entered into a prize draw for a free place in this class. If you have already paid for a place and win, your payment will be refunded. The cut off date for entries into the drawing is July 28th. The winner will be announced here on August 1st. If all 30 class places have been filled by July 28th, the winner will be chosen from those who have already paid and shared the post on social media. Good luck!
For those of you that are beginning felt makers, remember that our introduction felting class is always available here.
This is a guest post by Teri Berry, a forum member, who is a wonder at making three-dimensional felt items including some fantastic hats. After my post about the First Quarter Challenge, we had a discussion on the forum about “book resists” and Teri offered to write a tutorial on how to use a “book” resist to make a more complex shaped felt item. Thanks Teri!
Following on from the Q1 Challenge, there was some discussion on the forum about what a “book resist” is, I’m sure these resists go by a variety of names but I think”book resist” is a pretty apt description as the “pages” of the resist do look a lot like a strangely shaped book. This post is a description of how I like to work with this style of resist but if you have any tips or alternative ways of working please leave a comment below, I’d love to hear from you.
Getting Started
You will need some flexible plastic sheeting, stiff enough that it will stand up on its own if you hold it by the edge but flexible enough that it will fold in half without breaking.
I like the plastic that carpets come wrapped in but this isn’t very easy to come by, an alternative are the plasticised (wipe clean) table cloths. As much as I love foam underlay for resists, I find it a little bit thick for this technique, especially if you want to use more than 2 layers, but it will do if you have nothing else.
Take a sheet of plastic and draw a line down the middle (this is where you will join your layers) then let your imagination go wild and draw out the template on one side of your line. I have added some photos of the resists and corresponding felt structures at the end of the post if you need some ideas to get you started.
Tip – make sure any pointy tips are rounded, if you don’t, they will poke through the felt and create a hole.
Tip – try to avoid putting wide sections on the end of narrow stalks, it’s not impossible, but it will make it harder to get your resist out.
Tip – remember the felt around the middle of your resist will open out to form a space. This can be needle-felted together at the firm prefelt stage if desired.
If you want a radial sculpture where all the arms are the same, fold your plastic in half along the straight line and trace your design onto the other side.
Stack additional sheets of plastic under your design, if you want your sculpture to have 7 or 8 arms you will need 4 sheets of plastic, if you want 9 or 10 arms you will need 5 sheets. Pin them altogether then sew along the line down the middle. You can use a sewing machine if you wish, but set your straight stitch to long so as not to perforate the plastic too much, as this could make it easy to tear when you come to remove the resist.
Tip – if you find it hard to push the needle through the plastic, gripping the needle with a pair of pliers might help.
Tip – if you want an odd number of arms in your sculpture keep two of the felt leaves together while you felt over them. Similarly, if you think you would like to use the same resist shape for making several sculptures but with different numbers of arms, use enough sheets for the largest sculpture and then reuse the same resist but encase 2 or more pages of the resist in wool to reduce the number of arms in your final sculpture.
Cut around your design, through all the layers of plastic.
Getting Wet and Woolly!
Start laying out your wool, at least 2 fine layers will be needed, more if you want don’t want your structure to shrink very much or if you want it to be sturdy / functional. I typically use 2 layers for lampshades and 4 layers for more structural sculptures. I like Blue Faced Leicester wool for this type of work but wrote a post on how several different wool behaves for small sculptural pieces here if you are interested.
Once you have laid out at least 2 layers (in opposite directions) wet it out.
Then lay a piece of painters plastic (or a strip of plastic bin liner) over at least half the wool then flip over one of your pages.
Fold the wool over the edges as you would when working with any resist being careful to smooth out any folds of wool where you are working on the outside of a curve.
If you need to cut the wool to fold it around an indentation in the resist, avoid cutting the last 1 cm/0.5″, to avoid creating a hole in your wool.
Then continue laying out your wool over the next 2 “pages” open in front of you (one page will be partially covered by the wool folded over from the previous page). Cover with some decorator’s plastic but before you flip to the next page, go back a page and fold the wool ends over so it is all nice and neat.
Continue laying out wool and flipping pages as you work your way around the resist.
Note: where you have folded the wool over from the previous page of the resist, if the wool is already quite thick, there is no need to add more on the reverse of the page, this usually happens where you have a narrow projection, as on the top of this resist.
Tip – if you are finding your resist is becoming a little lop-sided with a big pile of wool covered pages on one side, flip the first 2 or 3 pages (on the bottom of the pile) over to the other side from underneath. That should even it up and make it easier to lay wool on the remaining pages.
Tip: laying a few strands of wool across the top and bottom joints (where the pages are stitched together) will help prevent holes like this one from opening up when the resist is removed:
You are now ready to start felting…
Use a piece of painters plastic to gently rub the surface of each page in small circles, paying particular attention to the edges of the resist. I find going over the entire surface of each page 50 times is enough. The plastic should glide easily over the surface, if it doesn’t add some more soapy water.
Tip – If you are working with lots of pages you might find it helpful to remove the painter’s plastic as you complete each page so you know when you have reached where you started.
Tip – don’t forget to felt the pages at the back, the ones lying face down on the table.
Tip – work your circular motions from the edge of the resist towards the centre, this will help prevent wings / ridges of felt forming on the edge of the template (unless of course that is what you are trying to do!).
Do the “pinch test”, your fibres should be holding together well by now but if not, go through another cycle of rubbing (it may help to add some hot water too).
Removing the Resist
Now we have to decide where to make a hole to remove the resist. For most templates, a hole near the line of stitching makes it easiest to remove the template but anything is possible! I make my hole just big enough for 2 fingers, the hole will stretch some more as you pull the resist out so don’t make it too big.
Depending on the shape of your template, ones with long, spidery arms are the most fiddly, you may need to gently gather and work the felt over the resist in order to get it out without stretching or tearing the felt.
Once the resist has been removed hold the felt up to a light and look inside, through the hole where the resist came out, for any thin spots. Any holes should be repaired now , before fulling begins. Now you are ready to knead and throw it, stopping every 30 seconds to check the arms aren’t felting together. This is also the time to start rubbing it in any directions where you want it to shrink and to start shaping it.
Once you are happy with the shape, folds etc. it can be stuffed while it dries.
Variations:
Try adding wings by laying wool off the edge of the resist.
What would happen if you stitch different shaped resists together or stitched them at different positions (not just down the middle)?
How can you fold / shape / manipulate felt pods made from the same resist so that the final sculptures look very different?
