Felting Workshop

Life-transforming ideas have always come to me through books. --bell hooks

Learn the easy and transformative process of felting, one of the oldest textiles in the world.  With wool, warm water, and a little soap and energy, you can create all kinds of wonderful items.  We will focus on the process of making felt and then felt book covers that can be used as journals, sketchbooks, or photo albums.  Materials provided on the day, but space is limited so please book in advance.  All abilities welcome, but preferably age 14 and up. 087-9111793.

Time:         Wednesday, April 27^th 1-4pm, at An Díseart (next to St Mary’s Church)

Price:          €25, plus materials fee €5

Sharon Crandall is a textile artist based in West Kerry.  She enjoys making things with her hands and crochets, embroiders, quilts, and makes jewellery.  Four years ago she discovered felting and Zing! wool and natural fibres became a passion.

Sharon Crandall, Chiarraí Creations; chairperson, Craft in Kerry; member, Craft Council of Ireland; member, Feltmakers Ireland. http://www.etsy.com/shop/kerryfelter http://kerryfelter.blogspot.com/

http://craftinkerry.blogspot.com/

Where Did January Go...?

I usually find that January and February are the dullest months of the year, but that was before I decided to start a Scouts troupe and a craft guild simultaneously while working, cranking out new stuff from my studio, and cleaning (hah!) my house.  Some of those things are going well and some things are falling down the rabbit hole.  Scouts and the craft guild are going great!  House is okay, not bad, but studio is not going well at all....In desperation, I moved a load of stuff back over, to tempt myself into taking up camp and getting stuck in again, but it was freezing and so I unpacked the boxes and hightailed it out of there.  I will be heading back tomorrow, but it won't be for long periods of time until the weather warms up some.  It's just hard to stick -5 with no heat, especially when sewing requires sitting for lengths of time and felting is a wet process that would leave me with even colder hands.  My right arm has also been giving me some grief, something about tendonitis, so I've had to take it easy.  Never a dull moment.

Make a beautiful felted book cover?

We had our first meeting for the craft guild, changed the name to Craft in Kerry due to Google search engines, and are off to a flying start!  We have our first event, a craft fair, scheduled for Friday, April, 29th at An Díseart in Dingle from 10-4pm.  We will have craft demonstrations and try to give it a real family atmosphere, given that two festivals will be taking place at the same time.  We have our next meeting scheduled for Monday, February 21st in the Carlton Hotel in Tralee at 7:30p.m.  Lots to discuss!  Details for membership to finalize, publicity ideas, logo's hopefully will be ready to vote on, and we have an interview on Radio Kerry to get ready for!  Weeshie Fogarty rang me and said he would be delighted to give us an hour's interview on his "In Conversation with..." show on Wednesday nights from 6-7:00pm.  Our slot isn't until March 30th, but we need the time to get press packs ready, start a blog, decide which five members are doing the interview, and get him some background info on our coming events.  Meanwhile, Nationwide was in contact and they are coming to Dingle to film us for the craft fair, so it's time to get organized!  I did get a Facebook, page up and running, so you can look us up under http://www.facebook.com/KateOConor?ref=ts#!/pages/Craft-in-Kerry/172314459478834.

I'm also teaching a felting workshop during the Feile.  It took me awhile to decide on what to concentrate on since by the end of April it will be warmer and a new winter hat will be at the back of everyone's mind.  So, this is what I came up with...

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Life-transforming ideas have always come to me through books. --bell hooks

Learn the easy and transformative process of felting, one of the oldest textiles in the world. With wool, warm water, and a little soap and energy, you can create all kinds of wonderful items. We will focus on the process of making felt and then felt book covers that can be used as journals, sketchbooks, or photo albums. They make a wonderful gift, but you may want to keep it for yourself! Materials provided on the day, but please book in advance. All abilities welcome, but preferably age 14 and up. 087-9111793.

Time: Wednesday, April 27th 1-4pm
Price: €20, plus materials fee

Sharon Crandall is a textile artist based in West Kerry. She enjoys making things with her hands and crochets, embroiders, quilts, and makes jewellery. Four years ago she discovered felting and Zing! wool and natural fibres became a passion.

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I know the workshop fee is very small, but it's really hard to fill workshops right now.  In the good old times, I could easily have charged €50 for the three hours.  Any thoughts???

I am not Superstitious!

You can see the Angora and Gotland texture here.

Well, here we are on 10/10/10 and the world has not gone BANG once again.  I actually forgot about it until I looked at the date on the computer dashboard.  Having a head cold for a full week has a way of doing that to you.  Small Boy got a stomach bug and came home from school Monday and was ill on Tuesday.  The cold I thought was gone over last weekend came back, retreated, and came back again.  I think the strong winds that are blowing have got us all on the run, immune systems up and down.  It wasn't cold, but it has been wet and windy and, really, is there anything more annoying than a sinus headache?  I had one for four days this week and I have to admit that I was cranky.  Yes, I was cranky.  Why is that hard to admit?  I think it seems a bit childish for an adult to act irrational, but in this case I had a good reason: banging headache with nowhere to hide from it.



Can you help this beret?



I got two hats made this week in spite of all that.  The first is a beret felted with a resist.  It didn't turn out the way I wanted it to for two reasons: 1. I used gray Angora for the first layer so it would be nice and soft next to the skin and it migrated through the purple Merino and made it look dirty.  2.  I cut the head opening a bit too big.  I made the beret circumference a bit larger than the average beret on purpose, but you get a what-the-heck kind of attitude with a head cold and don't make the smartest decisions, so I just snipped a hole without thinking.  I am hoping to take it in a bit or perhaps sew a band of felt around the brim.  I'm not looking for a traditional beret look anyway.  I fixed the dirty colour problem by over-dyeing the hat with acid dyes after fulling.  I don't think I can felt directly onto the piece after finishing, can I??  Anyone know the answer to that?

The second hat had the same dirty Angora migration problem because my head was too locked to see the problem before I did it a SECOND time....sigh.  I over dyed it after fulling at is came out gorgeous.  Here it is on the right.  It was originally a bit more autumnal with oranges and reds and yellows mixed, but didn't have a great deal of choice when I had to cover the Angora.  The Alpaca also has long, fuzzy fibres and so it seems to be shedding a bit, which you can see on the closeup of the beret.  Will people have to keep it in the freezer???!  I am happy enough with the felting and style, but I might fuss with the folds a bit more.  I am going to stay with the hats this week and see if I can't add some spikes or something interesting like that....

I am finding Lizzie Houghton's book Felting Fashion: Creative and Inspirational Techniques for Feltmakers very, very good.  I am finally wrapping my head around resist felting and making progress on much neater finished products.  The beret would have been felted perfectly if I hadn't made a mess of the head opening and my Leaning Tower of Pisa hat looks good and feels better.  The book has clear illustrations and excellent photos for inspiration.  While the designs might look complicated, they are easy enough to follow and experiment with in your own time.  Felt Fashion: Couture Projects from Garments to Accessories  by Jenne Giles is the new book that I am hoping to get ahold of and peruse a bit.  I have a few on the slide show on the blog.  I really want Art Cloth: A Guide to Surface Design for Fabric by Jane Dunnewold as I hear she is amazing.  The problem with a lot of these techniques is that you really need a demo to get them as they are often complicated and it is the rare book that guides you through the process thoroughly.  Gorgeous colour pics of finished products are all well and good, but if you can't breakdown the process then the book is no good to you.

Meanwhile, my house is a mess and I need to bomb my body with fruit and veg today to make sure this cold is gone, gone, gone!  Time to prepare for the week! 

Rush Week

Merino with silk threads and cotton
crocheted snowflake

This week is passing in a blur.  I am working my PR skills like crazy, trying to get the word out on the workshop in (yikes!) three days!  The first one is always the hardest, but once the word is out then things fall into place.  I suppose that is providing that people will enjoy themselves!!  I think they will....

We have three outstanding instructors, a lovely setting, and great food--what more could you ask for?  Food shopping and prep tomorrow after work and then Friday afternoon will be spent getting the room ready and baking desserts.  All things going well, we should have a great time on Saturday!  I will take lots of  pictures....

So, plan to arrive at 1030am to register and have tea/coffee and homemade scones.  You will have time to get acquainted with other participants and check out the pop-up shop we will have there.  There will be quilting supplies, yarns for crochet, and some felting fibres.  I had planned to have lots of hand-dyed fibre goodie bags for felting, but my large order was apparently not received online, so we will be rather limited.  I will bring ordering catalogs so people can see what is out there to order and get an idea of pricing.  Check out our Facebook page 'Lámhdhéanta' for more information about the workshop and instructors.

I have started felting Christmas stockings!  Two down, a zillion to go. The weekend's activities will stop production for awhile, but then full steam ahead next week!   And once my order comes in, it will be hats, hats, hats!  And perhaps a few pairs of slippers....

Resist-felted, hand-dyed Merino
stocking with hand-dyed tussah silk