Exploring Feltmaking

Open to all adults – beginners and those with some feltmaking experience.

Felt making is probably the oldest known textile craft in the world – with the earliest written records suggesting that it was practised in Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq) between 3000 & 2000 BC and physical archaeological evidence of felted textiles from 600BC.

This 5 week course will take beginners and those with some experience on a structured, progressive exploration of both 2D and 3D wet feltmaking, with students completing at least 3 handmade felt items.

Weeks 1 & 2 will cover using and blending wool fibres, incorporating other materials such as knitting yarns and creating pre-felts to produce a finished pictorial or abstract design artwork.
Week 3 will focus on Nuno felt, using wool fibres and fabric pieces to create a wholly unique type of cloth that could be used to make a book cover or small items such as lavender bags.
Weeks 4 & 5 will explore 3D seamless feltmaking, a technique that is used to create functional or sculptural pieces. Students will make both a small bag in week 4 and a bowl in week 5.

• How to blend and lay out wool fibres
• How to incorporate other fibres for surface decoration
• How to use a resist for creating seamless felt work
• How to manipulate handmade felt to create shape and detail
• Choosing and using fabrics to make Nuno felt
• Techniques for fulling and finishing to create good quality handmade felt

Materials & Costs (provided to the students)
The tutor will provide all the wool fibres needed for each part of the course. At least 2 different types of breed will be used in order to give students experience of how different qualities of wool fibre should be used for different projects.

The tutor will provide the resist material needed for weeks 4 and 5 and all the feltmaking equipment needed except for the items listed below in the section “Materials (provided by the students)”.

Materials (required by the students)

• Old towel; a large hand towel or small bath towel is ideal.
• Plastic jug or bowl (big enough to hold two pints of water in & to put your work in)
• Bar of olive oil or glycerine soap or handwash soap flakes.
Note: Any type of soap that is very creamy (e.g Dove) is not suitable as it will produce too much lather. Olive oil soap can be bought at most health food shops.
• Small selection of threads & yarns e.g chunky knitting yarns in a range of thicknesses and colours.*
• For week 3 : Selection of fabric scraps – muslin, loose weave cottons, silk.*
• Plastic bag to take wet work home.
• Apron – optional
• Notebook & pen or pencil to make notes – optional

*The tutor will bring some packs of yarns and fabrics for students to buy on the day if they prefer (cost £3-£5 per pack).

Tutor
Lesley Bossine