Syrendell: wet felting

Showing posts with label wet felting. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Wetfelting Tapestries

In January, Jennifer had the privilege of leading a wet felted tapestry workshop for teachers at the Alliance for Public Waldorf Education Conference. Teachers from public charter Waldorf school attended from all over the United States.

The workshop was held at the magical campus of Rudolf Steiner College in Fair Oaks, California.

Participants tirelessly and patiently drafted bits of luca sheep wool to create a base for their tapestries. We sang good-bye to Winter and welcome to Spring!

Next, we drafted bits of plant-dyed wool from Mama Jude. She is a Waldorf handwork teacher in Georgia who dyes the most amazing vibrant colors naturally. Here is a link to her Etsy shop.

One of the participants joined Jennifer the following week for a Tunisian crochet class and she brought her finished (dried!) tapestry to share. Here it is! Beautiful.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Handwork Felting eCourse! - Starts May 9, 2011

Handwork ECourse from Little Acorn Learning
Felting - 5 Weeks - Only $80! Starts May 9, 2011
Instructor: Jennifer Tan, MA from Syrendell

Felting is one of the most primitive textile arts. Its origin is unknown, but swatches of felt were discovered in Europe and Asia dating as far back as the Bronze Age. Nomadic tribes had relied on felt's durabilty and versatility to make practical items such as blankets and tents. Created by the massaging of wool fibers in a liquid medium, felt can be shaped into many useful and decorative items. Legend has it that a Christian monk, who was trying to evade Roman soldiers, had found wool hanging from branches and put it into his sandals. After some time, his sweat and water from stream beds as he ran, created felted socks! In the 19th century, during the Industrial Revolution, felted bowler hats were very popular. A process that used mercuric nitrate to make the hats was employed, but the poisonous fumes that the workers were constantly exposed to caused neurological symptoms, which may have led to the expression "mad as a hatter."

Jennifer Tan, master fiber artist, in her five week felting course, guarantees you will neither have to become a fugitive of the Roman Empire nor a lunatic ala Mad Hatter to enjoy the art of felting! She will introduce the techniques of wet felting and needle felting where you will create beautiful projects with a wide array of applications. In her course, Jennifer will accompany her teaching with Waldorf-inspired verses and songs.

You will develop a love of this truly magnificent craft long after Jennifer's course is done. She does not guarantee that your family will not go insane from the many felted items you will undoubtedly begin to create!

Week 1: What is felting? (wet, needle, felting sweaters, felting crochet/knit/woven items) Types of fibers and supplies. Carding fibers.
Week 2: Wetfelting - scarf
Week 3: Wetfelting - sculptural (balls, eggs)
Week 4: Needlefelting - landscapes
Week 5: Needlefelting - sculptural (fairies, animals)

This ECourse is 'Work-As-You-Go' Each Week with New Tutorials and Inspiration Posted Weekly for a Duration of Five Weeks. You Check in When You Have Time. No Pressure, No Requirements - Just Suggestions. To register and see the list of recommended reading, click here.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Felted Slippers eBook

Our eBook on how to felt slippers is now available here on our blog (to the left) and in our Etsy shop! Learn how to make felted slippers that may be used as nighttime slippers, indoor shoes, or outdoor boots. A wonderful family project!

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Recreating the Human Vessel - Handcrafts...and a Baby!

Jennifer had the great fortune of attending a handcrafts conference at Steiner College in Fair Oaks, CA this past week called "Recreating the Human Vessel: Educating through Rhythm and Craft." The conference featured staff from Ruskin Mill Educational Trust in England (please take a moment to see what their amazing colleges offer). Woodworking, iron forging, soap making and felting all occured throughout the week, along with in-depth lectures by Dennis Klocek, William Bento and Aongus Gordon, and a vibrant Movement class!

The felting group started off the week by observing sheep on campus. We teased apart fresh (unclean!) wool and made felted balls.

A trek through Raphael Garden revealed lovely flowers for dyeing. Using weld, indigo, cochineal, chamomile from England and coreopsis, we dyed up a rainbow of colors with our wool.

Felting pictures was an experiment in color and design, layering bits of brown or white wool on the bottom, and continuing with layers of color to form an image.

Then, it was time to do feltwork in 3-D! Wool slippers were created by tracing feet for a template, cutting a piece of plastic, laying wool on both sides of the plastic, wet-felting, cutting open...then, voila! Slippers were turned right-side out, and the design that was created in the first layer was revealed.

Wet, soapy slippers were massaged onto feet. What a treat! Molding and shaping continued with hands, and then fine details were needlefelted.

Here are some pictures of woodworking, iron forging and soap making....

The felting group had a little extra time and wool left, so each person felted a handprint, and then felted the hands into a large vessel (thus the theme of the conference!), complete with a lid. The vessel was presented to the wonderful felting teacher, Marianne van der Tas, on the last day for her birthday.

The final plenum was filled with sharing projects and insight about reflection topics of the week: challenge, effort, rhythm, gift and gold nuggets...the words were profound and the projects absolutely beautiful!