We've just spent a few days away in Gloucestershire and Somerset, catching up with family, seeing a few exhibitions and running a workshop. We managed to see the Second Impressions printmaking exhibition at
New Brewery Arts in Cirencester and catch the tour of the Sketchbook competition from Rabley Drawing School at
Black Swan Arts in Frome. Both offered a visual feast, the one showcasing the finished works of a talented group of printmakers using various mediums to make their mark and the other giving a privileged opportunity to handle the sketchbooks of artists and see how ideas progress. We finished yesterday with an afternoon of feltmaking!
Through a conversation with my cousin's wife Emma, I learned that their eldest, Sarah, is in a textiles club at school and was interested in making handmade felt. Well, one thing led to another as they do and Emma organised a workshop for Sarah and a few friends with me dragging out all of my old feltmaking equipment and revisiting something I've not done for quite a while. In fact, I'd passed most of it on to friends and had to 'borrow' it back to take to Somerset - and I needed it all because these girls were keen and really got into the process. It was fascinating watching children work after years of running workshops for adults. They were far more productive. Not for them, long periods of deciding what to put where. They had their ideas quick as a flash and got stuck into the work! Bolstered by copious amounts of sandwiches and chocolate cake thoughtfully provided by Emma and helped by another couple of Mums this is what they produced :
Making prefelts first, Lily then laid out a large amount of fibre, placed her pre-felts on top, added some mohair threads and felted a large rectangle which she may cut later and sew into a bag. We all agreed that it made a fabulous scarf but I think she has a plan and she's going to follow it through!
This is Sarah's abstract first piece and I really love the painterly way she has used the threads. She went on to make another 2 or 3 pieces. In fact, I couldn't keep up with her rate of production with the camera. Her friend Veronica, cunningly concealed behind her second piece of felt, opted to make large pieces which she will later turn into something else. She and I found common ground because she loves to make books! You can imagine how much I enjoyed hearing that.She also learned that when you trim the felt you can roll the trimmings and make braids and bracelets so she took a few bits of potential jewellery home with her too.
Sophie laid out two large pieces of felt and my photo does not do justice to the beautiful colour blends that came through once this piece was dry. Sophie has already tried needlefelting so has the means at home to embellish her felt pieces with more details, something that her 9 year old sister Megan did from the outset. She had a clear idea her mind for this lovely flower piece and she diligently made every piece of pre-felt needed to make it happen. I love the design and sheer joyous colour of it all.
Finally, I couldn't leave out the piece made by Lucy, our youngest participant. I'm not sure if she's 6 or 7. All I know is that she too had very clear ideas about what she wanted to make and went at it with gusto. Her pink pig grazing in the green fields is a triumph and a beautiful fine - hole free- piece of handmade felt. She tried to make some beads later and I hope they all sustain the enthusiasm for creating and making that I saw yesterday afternoon. It was infectious and I remembered why I used to love feltmaking so much...... until this morning when my old bones creaked and my shoulders ached. A fantastic day though and one I'd love to do again....... when I've recovered!
