IRISH WORKSHOPS with Nicola Brown and invited international artists at Clasheen, Ballybrack, Borris, Co. Carlow.
SIMPLE, STYLISH and COLOURFUL FLAT FELT – the basics of wet felting for beginners and improvers with Nicola Brown
Dates by arrangement
During this workshop beginners and improving felters will have fun learning and experimenting with the fascinating technique of wet felting. Working with a selection of colourful wool and adding silk, linen and other vegetable fibres each participant will have the opportunity to felt a beautiful piece of flat felt suitable to be framed, used as a place mat or stitched into a clutch bag or book cover. Improvers will have the opportunity to learn new techniques such as including found objects and resists into their work during the layout stage of the felting process. The emphasis during the day will be to have fun in a creative and supportive environment, participants may expect to leave with the knowledge and confidence to replicate the techniques learnt successfully at home!
The fee for this workshop is E75 including all materials and ongoing tea/coffee. Participants are asked to bring their own packed lunch and wear comfortable clothing, the workshop will run from 10am sharp until 4.30 – 5.00pm. Everyone is asked to arrive about 20 minutes before the kick off time in order to meet the other participants, relax and have a welcoming hot or cold drink! Please contact Nicola to discuss dates and reserve your place.
FANTASTIC FELT HATS with U.S. felter Dawn Edwards took place on Saturday 21st April and Sunday 22nd April 2012
and in addition to some blog posts a selection of photos are on both Nicola and Dawn’s facebook pages.
INTERNATIONAL FELTING WORKSHOPS with Nicola Brown during 2012
Lexington, KY at the Beaumont Presbyterian Church, 1070 Lane Allen Road – Friday 11th and Saturday 12th May from 10am – 5pm
‘Fantastic Felt Inspired by the Natural and Build Environment’ – full workshop description at the bottom of this page
This workshop is organised for the second time by the wonderful Jan Durham, master of the dye pot! Provisions have been made to add an additional date if numbers dictate, one day costs $165 including amazing food, both days $300. Please email Jan and she will answer questions and take your reservations.
18th, 19th and 20th May – Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival, a first time experience – full details are available on the workshop page of the festival’s website.
Plainwell, MI – Friday 25th and Saturday 26th May from 10am – 5pm
‘Fantastic Felt Inspired by the Natural and Build Environment’ – full workshop description at the bottom of this page
This workshop is organised for the third time by international traveller and felter extraordinaire Dawn Edwards! One day costs $150 and both days cost $270, bring your own sack lunch. Please email Dawn and she will answer questions and take your reservations.
29th and 30th September – I’ll be returning for the third time to join the wonderful mother and daughter team Sharon and Emma from The Tin Thimble in Loomis, CA. Please email Emma if you would like to jump on the bandwagon early!
October – TBA
‘Fantastic Felt Inspired by the Natural and Built Environment’
Skill Level: Basic felting skills an advantage but total beginners are very welcome too!
Class Description: Let the shapes, forms, colours, patterns, textures and structures of the natural and built environment fire your imagination! During this two-day workshop participants will design and create their own unique and beautiful wearable, functional or decorative pieces of felt using nature and the man-made landscape for inspiration. Some participants may choose to create a purely decorative art piece such as a complex vessel, sculpture or wall hanging while others may decide to design and felt some wearable art or interior accent, possibly a bag, some jewellery, some nuno felt or maybe a framed landscape or table runner.
There will be time to experiment and discover techniques or materials over the two days that you may have never considered using in your felting before. Nicola will be bringing some of her favourite mohair off cuts for everyone to try out and will share with participants how she is currently using free machine embroidery selectively to accentuate design elements in some of her new bags and framed landscapes. She’ll also demonstrate the use of an electric sander during some stages of the felting process and speak about the possibilities of fulling nuno felt using the tumble dryer, Nicola doesn’t use a sander all the time herself but sometimes it can really help with certain tasks and it is definitely useful to know when this might apply. The tumble dryer technique is wonderful for difficult to felt fabrics and to eliminate all the traditional rubbing and rolling, it’s not for everyone but it is fantastic to speed up the process especially if you have a bad back or other health issues so again, another technique it can be handy to know about!
Participants are encouraged to bring along treasured bits and bobs from their stash, buttons, beads, scraps of vintage fabric, shells, stones, glass nuggets etc., these all make wonderful inclusions in felt and help to personalize and create a truly unique work of art! We will have access to a sewing machine during the workshop but if you have your own machine with a free machine embroidery foot please bring it along and some threads too if you have space in your car. We won’t have access to a tumble dryer at the venue but if participants would like to try this technique during the workshop they are free to lay out a large nuno wrap during day one and get it to the stage where they can bring it home with them and finish it using their own dryer that evening. Nicola will clearly explain the steps to take and it should be possible to full the pieces and have them finished to show off on day two!
NB Although participants will get the most from this workshop in either Kentucky or Plainwell if they are able to participate on both Friday and Saturday there may be a few places available for those unable to attend both days, please just contact Jan or Dawn asap to check.
FELTING EXTRAVAGANZA IN PORTUGAL
I’m very excited to be facilitating a week long residential workshop in the beautiful Dominio Vale do Mondego, Portugal from 9th – 15th June. I love the thought of spending time in a rural area of outstanding beauty, the big difference from where I live in Ireland is obviously going to be the hotter weather and the delicious fresh Mediterranean food, I’m very excited that we will be working with the wool from the rare Bordeleira sheep so all in all it will be a great experience! Please click on the link below to bring you through to the flyer, places are booking already so if you want to attend please email Karin asap!
Pictures of felt in progress and completed work from students during various workshops may be viewed at Nicola’s Flickr account.
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what a good idea to invite men also in the Turkish workshop! Wish you a lot of succes by organising this all.
Nicola,
It was wonderful talking to you, and I am so excited about attending Sheila’s two workshops on April 25th and 26th.
You have really organized some wonderful workshops….Congratulations !
Thanks so much again for reserving my spot! I look forward to meeting you.
All the best,
Micki
In Dunfanaghy, Ireland
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[...] Workshops [...]
Hi Nicola,
I met Holly today in Blanchardstown for our monthly drop-in. She was mentioning the rug making workshop in January and I just wanted to make sure that I am signed up for the same one as Holly so we can come down together. What’s the story and when do you want money?
Maureen
Hi Maureen, I have you both down for Friday 16th to Sunday 18th and a bed waiting for you here!
Nicola, in the body text of the Pick Up Your Needles workshop you write February 21st, it is indeed March 21st.
Can’t wait though!
Hi Nicola,
I met you at Tinahely. I was doing knitting. You may remember I enquired about Nuno felting.
When would you be doing your next class in Nuno ?
I have some experience at ordinary felting flat pieces.
Thanks
Helena
Hi Helena,
Totally tied up for the local election campaign but would love to have a chat re nuno workshsops any time after Sunday 7th, my number is 087-2789740.
Cheers,
Nicola
[...] morning I have my first Winter workshop here at Clasheen and participants are travelling from as far as Limerick and Dublin. I do find it [...]
I love your blog and look forward to your updates. Someday I hope to come to Ireland and take a workshop.
[...] is fully booked but if you are interested in attending on Saturday 28th please check out the workshop page for full details. I am flexible with what we make so if you prefer any of the other titles [...]
[...] 4, 2010 by Nicola Now that my heat is operational again I find out that for some reason my workshop page here on the blog was on the blink, it never rains but it pours! Anyway, I have just spent [...]
[...] anyone is interested in joining us to attendany day of Lyda’s felting workshops please email me as soon as possible, they will be [...]
[...] but until I get time to finish shaping and fulling the piece after Lyda Rumps’s vist and workshops this week the next stage of documenting the process will have to go on hold! For the Mullingar [...]
I am visiting County Clare at the beginning of march and would be grateful if you had any information of textile related interest in the area. I think you are in the wrong area for me but I just wondered if you knew of any exhibitions, workshops or galleries to Visit in the west. I am staying in Ballyvaughan and hope to get to Galway, and Connemara.
Hi Jackie, The best place for you to search for up to date information re textiles on that side of Ireland would be The Wooly Way of Ireland website! I am not actually familar with what is available in Co Clare but Orla who writes The Wooly Way has a wealth of experience and another site to search for all types of craft related studios and events is the Crafts Council of Ireland. I hope that you have a great trip and if you do get a little bit nearer to counties Kilkenny, Carlow or Wexford I would be delighted to meet you for a coffee and a chat!
do you ever have workshops in new york usa?
Hi Jane, I will be teaching in Michigan this fall and if you were interested in putting something together for New York you could persuade at a drop of your hat!
[...] bronzed, relaxed and raring to organise those last minute items prior to my departure for my American felting adventures! Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Happy Holidays from Jolly [...]
[...] something that I can’t stress enough for anyone considering joining me at one of the exciting workshops that are planned for Loomis, Berkeley, San Fransisco and Kalamazoo over the next 4 weeks. [...]
[...] mind about some of the techniques learnt and shared there, I can only hope that participants in my workshops in US will have half the fun that I had and also learn something new to boot. It is absolutely [...]
[...] It’s official, Kentucky has now been added as the final stop for my American felting workshops in May!!! I am so thrilled to be visiting this beautiful state and am really looking forward to meeting Jan Durham for the first time and renewing acquaintance with Lindy Huber again, as soon as we have ironed out all the details I will post here and update the workshop page. [...]
Hi NIcola,
I never wroye to you, but I love your work. I was wondering if you would come to New York at all? That would be great!
regards
Iona
ionaloyola@aol.com
[...] finally I have managed to upload new information, class descriptions etc. on the workshop page about the felting on offer in Kentucky this May but after almost two hours of trying I am [...]
[...] place, I am just going to have another go uploading the full details and descriptions to the workshop page (having problems yet again today!) so in case of further technical issues the Friday [...]
[...] participant will design and felt a small or medium sized bag of their own! Please check out the workshop page for further details and email me asap if you would like to attend this workshop, I have only 3 [...]
[...] to upload details about the two 1 day workshops I will be facilitating in Michigan this May to the workshop page and amazingly this time they have not caused everything else to hop all over the place or [...]
[...] experimenting with Horst this June, he is really a master dyer and I am so looking forward to his workshop (a couple of places available if anyone is interested!) and watching the magic as large white felt [...]
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[...] wonderful ladies who came to Clasheen for a ‘Not so Simple, Not so Complex’ felt bag workshop. I just love the way how given the same information and shown the same samples workshop [...]
[...] of some recent felt accessories but I still need to assemble my materials for this month’s US workshops, get my hair cut, buy my suitcase, sort out the house, check my diary (ha, ha) to confirm which [...]
[...] I had been going to write a post about felt accessories and nuno mosaic in advance of my workshops at The Tin Thimble CA, Plainwell MI and Lexington KY but you are just going to have to forgive me, [...]
[...] This 3 day workshop will take place from Friday 17th- Sunday 19th June and participants will have the opportunity to design, felt and dye their own coat under Horst’s supervision with the assistance of Nicola and good friend and fellow Felter Cristina Garcia. Check Nicola’s Workshop dates. [...]