Summer school is getting closer and students are coming up with all sorts of questions with tutors
providing answers and advice to prepare for classes. Patricia Greaves (Creative
Feltmaking tutor) gave this interesting answer to the question about how much
material and what kind to bring to her class. She's agreed that I can
share the advice (which is widely applicable) on how to estimate what you need for a felt making course. Her message (edited to remove student-specific mentions) follows ...
[Note: To expand the images (drawn by Patricia on an iPad) click on the image below]
.
Amounts....This is very loose as really it will depend on a number of
factors: what you want to make, and how thickly/thinly you lay out your
woollen fibres. My students tend to be 'over active' and produce an
extensive amount of work... No pressure you decide how much you want or
wish to bring.
I will bring some merino fibres, Wensleydale fancies (!)
and some fabrics... for you to purchase if you wish, or if a sudden urge
overcomes you to make more than you anticipated. ...
Merino is fibre of choice... 64s or 100s. Wensleydale, blue faced
Leicester are other favourites; as is silk or bamboo in any form, but
bear in mind this has to be mixed with the likes of merino to felt. If
you are going to use fleece of any sort please ensure it is washed/
scoured carefully before you bring it along. If you want to make more
robust hanging pieces you may choose any wool, but Herdwick and Black
Welsh are hard going to say the least?
Any loosely plied knitting wools, or spinning experiments you have
will be useful for surface decoration ( and we may even needle felt
them)
Open weave, or loosely woven natural fabrics are most suitable for
laminating or nunofelting: a method we will explore... (If you're
confident you can use georgette too.) You could have new fabrics or you
may wish to go scavenging through your treasures/ reclaimed resources.
Silk, cotton.. You can use some man made fibres but these can prove more
challenging especially if they have a tight structure; nets on the
other hand can be a revelation! ... Patricia http://www.art-felt.com
Looking forward to seeing what sort of garments or hangings (or other items) come out of this class and all the other summer school courses. Some of these items will look lovely as items in the fashion show (we will post on that shortly). I hope that many summer school experiments will be on show on the
Open Day too.
