Felting for beginners
It is believed that felting was discovered by Saint Christopher (the patron saint of travel), who packed his sandals full of wool to make them more comfortable whilst walking. During his travels he discovered that he had turned his wool into felt, by compressing the fibres together in the sole of his shoe.
Led by artist Clare Summons, you will discover the wonder of wet felting techniques to create your own piece inspired by the beautiful seasonal landscape of Bore Place.
We will start the day by making a piece of basic wet felt to explore the techniques needed to understand this ancient craft. Developing your own ideas from drawings/photographs of the natural landscape and farmland, you will create an inspired wet felted landscape using colour, pattern, form and texture. We will also talk about machine embroidery and needle felting to enhance and embellish your final creation. Your piece could simply be displayed as a wallhanging, or if you're feeling more creative it could perhaps be used as a felt cushion panel, or maybe a felt table runner...
Please arrive at 9:30am for tea/coffee, ready for a 10:00am start.
A delicious light lunch prepared using ingredients grown on site, and tea/coffee is included in the workshop fee.
Please wear suitable, comfortable clothing and footwear for indoors. Bring your wellies and coat for walking outside!
Clare Summons
Clare is a qualified teacher and artist and runs the Arts Award programme at Bore Place. Clare studied Three Dimensional Design at WSCAD before following her 30-year art teaching career in secondary schools across the South East. Clare left the classroom to follow her own creative dreams of a studio at the bottom of her garden and she works with a variety of materials from ceramics to textiles and glass. Clare says…“I see the world through colour and pattern, using drawing, textiles, collage and photography as the vehicles to help visualise my concepts and ideas.”