Felting in the UK

I am nearing the end of an exciting four and a half month adventure touring the UK, visiting family and friends and felting!

Dagmar Binder Master Class, Scotland

In August I traveled to Newburg, Scotland to study with Dagmar Binder (website: textillabor) at the creative space, Big Cat Textiles (website: textile centre).  Among the serious felters in attendance was Nicola Brown from Ireland (website: clasheen.wordpress.com) and Susan Dixon from California. The master class  was six days long (we felted until 11:00pm most nights!), and we learned how to add structure and 3-dimentional elements to our work.

Workshop with Andrea Hunter

I spent a lovely day with artist Andrea Hunter in her charming studio in Hardraw, in the heart of Wensleydale, England. Andrea paints and draws her environment with wool; her pieces are stunning and evocative (website: focus on felt). The techniques I learned will allow me to improve my designs on shawls, vessels and wall hangings.

Felting Retreat with Nicola Brown

What a fun time we had eco dyeing and felting at Nicola's beautifully restored farmhouse, Clasheen! We were joined by charming and talented Miséal Ni Dhochartaigh and Japanase master felter Leiko Uchiyama (website: leikofelt). My husband contributed as chief chef so we could felt all day! Nicola helped me felt a raw fleece bag that is composed of wool I collected on my walks, fleece from Scottish highland sheep, native Irish sheep and others. It is full of memories and makes me smile! I also made a nuno felt shawl based on rock wall imagery.

Fleece bag from Nicola's Felting Retreat.

All it needs is the leather handles:

Nicola's dog, Rex, and me with my rock wall inspired shawl: