Having been
cut off for days in the Dales with snow drifts and ice, I was really looking to
forward to our March workshop.
This month
we had arranged for Sue Amphlett to visit Grassington Embroiderers' Guild to give a “Felting for Easter” session. Sue is
the owner of Cottontail Crafts Shop in Settle, www.cottontailcrafts.co.uk. The
shop is a paradise for crafters and stuffed with knitting wool, fabrics,
haberdashery, embroidery, card making, cross stitch, tapestry, crochet, felting
and craft books. A real Aladdin’s Cave and well worth a visit.
Sue makes
regular appearances as a demonstrator of a variety of crafting products on
Hochanda TV. She also gives demonstrations at exhibitions, shows and stores
such as John Lewis.
I think I
can safely say that today we have all enjoyed a wonderful, creative and
stimulating few hours under Sue’s expert tuition.
Sue arrived
with all the equipment needed for the workshop (felting needles, wool tops of
every colour and shade and flower embellishments), samples to inspire us and printed
instructions.
Our goal was to needle felt an Easter design
in raw carded wool around a polystyrene egg using special barbed needles. By
layering wool around the egg and jabbing hundreds of times, if not thousands,
the wool begins to felt a base layer to design on. The action of “stabbing” the
fibres with the needles causes the barbs to entangle the fibres, felting them
together. I used a multi needle to felt the base layer. This had a protective
cap which pressed in on each jab. Five needles were being used simultaneously
and made the job much quicker!
Others used
three needles but without a protective cap
 |
| Ladies hard at work |
Changing to
a single needle, wondrous fluffs of wool were slowly transformed into intricate
designs onto the base layer.
 |
| A selection of works in progress |
Contrasting
with the wonderful fluffs of wool that just kept on growing!
Each piece
of work started with the same white polystyrene egg, yet the completed pieces of work
were so different and individual.
Thank you
Sue for inspiring me to continue experimenting with felting and I am sure
others will too.
