This 6-week course is for participants with some felting experience. The exploration of techniques will progress from simple to more complex; however, from the very beginning, you will need to know how to create a flat piece of lovely felt by hand, using the wet felting method.
There will be several different ways to create layouts, combine various wool and plant fibers within the layers to enhance the texture or flexibility of felted textiles, create flawless edges, surface design effects, and unique, innovative structural methods.
It is not a kit workshop but a very informative and enriching class created to bring your expertise in feltmaking to a more advanced level. You will obtain the knowledge necessary for the creative approach in felted garment making or felted fine art, the freedom of an expert, and a library of samples for your future projects.
Every week, the participants will receive a new online package of learning material: an introduction, the why's and how-to's, step-by-step instructions with excellent quality photographs, and video tutorials.
We will apply newly learned techniques to create a medium-sized fashion piece of simple shape, a shawl or wrap, or if you wish, just a gorgeous felted textile piece during the last two weeks of the course. The course will require about 4-6 hours, on average, of studio work every week, and the amount of information would fit into a 6-day in-class workshop.
How the online classes work (FAQ): https://www.feuer-und-wasser.com/online-classes
'Silk Scrap Bag' kit for this workshop is available here https://www.feuer-und-wasser.com/margilan-silk
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to get in touch with Katia at https://www.feuer-und-wasser.com/contact
List of supplies and materials
(Structural and Textural Methods for Fiber Artists)
Supplies and tools:
• Table ( an average kitchen table, or foldable table, or desk)
• Bubble wrap enough to cover your felting table, plus two additional pieces about 30'' X 30.''
( or 80 cm X 80 cm)
• Watering device (ball brauser), a squirt bottle of a choice
• Container for water/soap solution (small bucket)
• Natural liquid soap (clear, biodegradable, and eco-friendly dish soap is the best); your favorite soap bar as well, but we will mainly use water/soap solution
• Pool noodle about 2' long, or wood dowel
• Elastic ties for rolling (stockings or pantyhose)
• Window screen material (soft fiberglass mosquito screen material is ideal, a synthetic fabric shower curtain is okay); about 1 m X 1 m (2' X 2' or a little bigger)
• Two old bath towels
• Any favorite felting tools (Palm Wash Board, ceramic felting stone, etc.)
• Good sharp scissors
• Small bamboo sushi rolling mat
• Soft plastic shelf lining with a bumpy surface (Ikea or other) comes in rolls, optional.
• Small hand carder or metallic dog/cat brush
• Cheap grocery plastic bag
• Duct tape
• Measuring tape
• Permanent marker
• Pen and notebook
• Large and sharp needle with a big eye
Materials:
• Merino wool tops (or roving), 18 - 20 micron
400 g (10 oz) of the primary color of your chosen palette;
50 g (2 oz) each of black and white colors;
200 g (8 oz) total of three or more additional colors of your choice
• 50 g (2 oz) of coarser wool, Finn, Falkland, or Corriedale
• Plant fiber; this fiber is made from plants, processed into roving, and dyed.
50 g (2 .oz) of Ramie(fiber made from nettles) or Bamboo roving; 50 g (2 oz) of Flax or Hemp roving. Please choose the color suitable for your palette but contrasting to the primary wool color. It's easier to control the layout's thickness and quality if you can clearly see the fibers on the surface.
• Pencil roving, about 20 yards/ meters
• Bulky or chunky single ply yarn (wool blends with Baby-Alpaca, or Rayon, or with other fibers, but not Super-wash), about 10 yards/meters
• Silk fabric, dyed; 2 -3 momme, 5 meters (five and a half yards) if the width is about 1 meter;
I prefer and enjoy working with the thinned silk gauze (Margillon) from Uzbekistan. This silk is very soft, shiny, and lightweight, great for nuno-felting, and easily manipulated into gorgeous surface effects. You can substitute this fabric with other loose-weave and very thin silk gauze.
• Small pieces (from 3'' to 10'' in length and width) of colorful loose-weave fabrics like silk chiffon, silk gauze, cotton gauze, thin Sari silk, etc.
• Thin yarns (machine knitting, crocheting) for the hand top-stitched accents.
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to get in touch with Katia at https://www.feuer-und-wasser.com/contact