Working With Wool, Part 2

Back to the Creative Felt Gathering Workshop. One of the days we made mittens and the fascinators. These mitts are made with prefect as the main part and I added a silk chiffon ruffle and a silk hankie around the cuffs. 

They started out big enough to fit the Jolly Green Giant in winter but after working them for a bit, they shrunk down to fit my hands. I got to try them out last weekend at an outdoor fiber fest and they kept my hands pretty toasty.

Bev used the weaving technique for hers.

Other embellishments.

You can see how much things shrink by comparing these two cuffs.

Our final day was hat making. Hellivi Huse had brought dozens of samples to show us for us to get ideas. They are called changeable hats, meaning you can change up the styles, putting twists or turns on the side or top or back. To make them fit properly when dried, Hellivi worked it on Bev's head, shaping it as it was barely wet.

This hat, called the tea pot because of how it looks laid out...

turned into this!

This is another example.

A bright pink flower hat.

Paige is working away on her fascinator.

And the wash women, Zita and Grace...

rolling away on the pebbled concrete, a perfect felting surface.

Jone was our fearless leader, the one who organized this entire event. She has a large personality and is just a joy to be around.

Amira Mudfaery taught us to use our imagination to create an unusual piece. She was a free spirit and we spent many days together as she was able to take the other teachers'  classes with us. She and I bonded while dancing under the stars in the circle of the crosses.  

She wore faery type clothing every day, layers of felted and cut wool.

Some of the women in her class really pushed it with resists and form.

This is going to be a purse.

On one of the evenings, we all gathered around the pond to set our candles adrift. Jone had made these out of coffee filters dipped in hot wax. We put a tea candle in them and they floated just fine. We made a wish as we placed our candles on the water. The idea was for them to make their way across the pond, bobbing along. But the slight breeze brought them right back to the shoreline. 

We created lamps with Pam Macgregor. This looks more like an udder, but it really will be a lamp. 

  

We blew up a ballon, covered with long staple wool and bits of silk, leaves, sticks or whatever. The clothespins are for making creases and folds. The pool noodle is used for keeping the top formed and to hang it on the clothesline until it's dry.

We coated them with a watered down glue to stiffen them. Pam even gave us all a base for the felted lamp to sit on and the light works too. Mine still needs a bit of work so I don't have a finished piece yet.

Here are all our wonderful teachers. What a bundle of talent!

and here the seven of us from the Virginia/Maryland area in our finished hats. This was my first away felt workshop and I had the best time. To be with 30 creative women, pushing their craft to new limits, was so inspiring. Now I just need to find the time to felt, felt, felt.