Needle felting workshop -Haslingden

Just ran a workshop with a carers group in Haslingden. My friend Chris was staying with me for a few days and therefore got roped in to be my apprentice technician.

I had 12 students, with some of them being fairly experienced crafters and some with no experience, all seemed to enjoy the session.

Some produced brooches, some cards and a few started boxes. I don't think 5 hours is enough time to complete a project, however they all took what they had produced, with materials to complete it at home.

Chris and I were fed meat and potato pie, cheese and onion pie, mushy peas and mince pies and tarts. A bit heavy on the pastry-bang went my diet!!!- but very welcome as it saved taking a lunch box.

A very enjoyable day with lovely people!!!

A few photos below-

Chris trying to look as if she is enjoying herself!!!

I also took samples of my encaustic jewellery as the group want me to run a further workshop next February.

Chapel Gallery craft fair

Hi its such a long time since I last posted, but my computer has been sick! Well I am off to another craft fair in Adlington today,but I really don't holdout any hopes as the weather is diabolical!!!

Last weekend's craft fair went fairly well, with Sunday being much better than Saturday. We had a bit more room in our corner as the  lovely  ladies on the next stall had already done Friday, and Saturday was their last day- so we had their table as well.

The stall looked great again, although slightly too full of items. Most of the Christmas stuff did not sell, but I did quite well and sold quite a bit, and actually sold a box that I made at least 4 years ago.

You can never tell what is going to sell. I also have a commission to make a pair of pulse warmers, which I must try to make & send before Christmas.

Here are some photos of the fair, and I will try to post details about today, good or bad.

Caroline busy 

putting up Christmas stockings

you can just see the blue box-and Caroline again!

she gets in everywhere

there she is again!!!

Weird Week!

Hi yes what a weird week!!! euphoria to smack in the face back to euphoria! The best laid plans & all that???

Well I can't say too much about the smack in the face, but it was not literal. I will only post about that problem when its been solved.

Back to nicer things---- I have put up exhibition 'Art & Soul' at Avant Garden Centre- please look at Natural Progression Textile Group blog attached for photos.

It looks great, so hopefully we may sell some items as near Christmas.

I have been sorting out stuff for Craft fair at Chapel Gallery, and will post some photos etc. It is running from today until Sunday- but we are only doing Saturday and Sunday. I am doing demos of needle felting on Sunday & giving the public a chance to have a go them selves.

The photos below show the state of my guest bedroom, which hopefully will look more like its self after the event. 'Oh no it won't' as I am also doing a solo craft fair in Adlington Saturday week, which is a new venture for the organisers, so may go pear shaped!!!

New Position

HI as usual I am taking on something new- I have recently been elected on then NorthWest Embroiderers Region committee, and have unofficially taken over the roll of Summer School organiser.

Due to recent problems with Alston Hall confirming they are closing down as an education centre, we have had to source an alternative venue. Luckily I had heard about Waddow Hall near Clitheroe, Lancashire which is a Girl Guiding Centre, but has a beautiful 17c House & provides full bed and board. It also has 3 lovely rooms that can be used as workrooms, so ideal.

I know have the problem of booking 2 tutors, but have already hit lucky hopefully with one- so onwards & upwards.

I am not sure how I get so involved, but I do like to keep busy and do my bit.

I will keep you all posted.


Here are some photos to wet your appetites- please ignore the very dull Lancashire weather, look past it and imagine how it will look in the Summer.

one of the lounges-check out the fire

a further lounge

view of the dining room to be redecorated after Christmas

beautiful fire surround

view of the River Ribble in full spate

front of the house

house & wood walk

picnic area

stormy view of Ribble

house

side elevation and two of the outbuildings

latest work

Hi its quite a time since I posted so I will try to make up for it now.

I have been very busy either at workshops, having weaving lessons(my latest obsession) and attending meetings for Embroiderers Guild.

I attended a Shelley Rhodes workshop which I had organised through Natural Progression Textile Group. It was called 'Fragmentation' and works beautifully with next years Parbold Embroiderers Guild Exhibition 'Fragments of the Past'.

I am not used to working with small random items and in fact working on a small scale. However as I still am attempting to make a book containing my late Dad's war history in Burma and his courting my late Mum, I decided to use that as my theme.

My dad was only 17 years old when he was enlisted, and ended up extremely ill in hospitals in Burma and India, after making Acting Corporal at the age of 18 as all his officers had been killed.

Luckily I had already photocopied many of the documents such as poems, letters and war records, and some photos. I also used some of my stash of naturally dyed fabrics etc.

We had to paint papers with emulsion, and randomly write buzz words applicable to our personal themes on some of the papers.

I have made a folding book, using some of the fabrics and papers, and incorporating lace, photos and words.

Dad peeping out and his young brother Barry's amusing cartoon drawings.

snippets of letters

embellished pages

Embellished front of book

I also attended an Embroiderers Guild workshop with Gillian Travers, which was to be based on 1950's flowers. I picked blue- green fabrics for the patchwork ground, and decided to use orange & yellow for the flowers, which are contemporary and not at all realistic!.

This with some lateral thought met the theme for the Capability Brown exhibition which is being held at Samlesbury Hall next year, Parbold, Blackpool and Lytham EG branches are joining together to exhibit there.

We will have to think laterally as Samlesbury Hall gardens are not  Capability Brown designed. However wild flowers must have encroached on his big sweeping landscapes???.

We have to mount the piece of work on a canvas, which should be neutrally painted. I had to add hand- made stenciling, which reflects the shapes of my weird leaves, to balance the canvas. Best to by the canvas first and then make the piece of work.

 My efforts are below-

View of the piece showing stenciling to balance the work

Close up showing patched background and appliqued flowers.

Close up of flowers and leaves along with machine embroidery.

I have appliqued cut out fabric, using bond-a-web to secure, machine embroidery and beading to embellish.

I will post more about my weaving etc when I actually find time to progress with it.

cancelled workshops

Hi not had a good month so far in respect of workshops- my workshop Magical Molding Paste which should have been held at Alston Hall has been cancelled due to lack of bookings. This does not surprise me as Alston Hall has been sold and will not continue on the same basis from the New Year- an era gone!

Also needlefelting workshop at Samlesbury Hall is looking doubtful, as again lack of bookings. I am either out of favour or people are counting their pennies. I am off to the hall today, really in the respect of the Capability Brown project that is being run through the Embroiderers Guild, but armed with some posters & flyers for my workshop.

I am meeting up with a couple of members from Blackpool EG and a member of Lytham St Annes group to view the hall and discuss the 2016 joint exhibition with Parbold Branch. More to follow on this.........

I will post some photos and an up date of my work for Parbold Embroiderers Guild 'Fragments from the Past' later.

Naturally Dyed Workshop achieved

At last I have managed to run the first Naturally Dyed Workshop. I had five students who were very keen to learn how to dye fabric and thread with natural dyes.

It was a work in progress for me and for them, as although I had set a timed plan, I did not factor in the very long time it would take to prepare the mordant and heat it for the required time. The little electric hob cookers I had sourced, although new, did not produce enough constant heat to boil the contents of the pots, especially when full of fabric.

That was also the problem bringing the dyes to boil quickly enough, for the ingredients  to produce sufficient dye colour.

However we did manage to produce some really nice dyed fabric, with silk, wool and calico achieving some beautiful deep shades. I think with sufficient time the cotton would have also worked well.

We used logwood chippings and madder roots, which I had already soaked in water overnight in an old pair of tights in separate pans (extremely difficult to transport to the venue-I had to drive very slowly & try to avoid the potholes-in the rush hour there were a few annoyed drivers behind me).

The brazil wood was in powder form and the weld was in dried flower form, & neither needed soaking- however I think the weld would benefit from being soaked before hand, as boiling point was hardly reached giving poor results.

The logwood, madder and brazil wood worked very well.

The onion skins also worked well and students had great results.

We also tried coffee & tea in which the fabric was just left to soak slowly, again I think the fabric should have been laid in sooner to give stronger results and perhaps even put to simmer in pans.

There are a few things I would definitely change if I ran this workshop again,

 I would wash & mordant the fabrics before hand, This would mean I would however have to give each student the same amount of my own thread & fabric to be divided out at the end, this would cut down the time issue and ensure there were no disagreements about students getting their own fabric back!!!! Although students marked their bits of fabric with marker pen, some of the marks could not be made out and if the logwood(purple) had created a very strong shade, the marks could not be seen at all.

Obviously I would have to factor the cost of the fabric and threads into the costings.

Anyway hopefully most of the ladies were happy, as they had handouts, inspiration and some samples- which I did suggest could go into a sample book with notes for future use.

here are some photos of the day, only one of me as i take a terrible photo & definitely need to go on a diet!!!

Erica 

Nicky and Lynda in deep discussion

hot plate table - some steaming!!!!!

dyeing equipment

Ladies at rest

Those dreaded hot plates!!!

First Needle Felting workshop Random Makes

Well I have just run the first of my needle felting workshops at Random Makes in Penwortham, near Preston.

I had four students who were very keen and enthusiastic to learn a new skill. I believe most of them were ladies who had attended other workshops there.

We only had 2 hours, so my plan was to discuss the technique, show some examples of my work and demonstrate in the first hour. This worked very well, and then the cakes and tea appeared. Wonderful!

The ladies then chose their colour schemes and decided on what to make. This led to quite a bit of discussion from Tooth Fairy Boxes to a small wall hanging.

All the students completed one ground each, with some managing to start a second.

The second session next week, will be an opportunity for the ladies to quickly complete any further grounds for later use at home, but more importantly to cut out required pieces from a ground and to start stitching and beading.

I will take loads of beads & threads with me, and hopefully they will be used to produce some lovely pieces, which they can then construct into a brooch, bracelet, hair slide, box, book cover or hanging etc.

Here are a couple of photos of the students hard at work.

They don't look smiley but of course they are fiercely concentrating after my dire warnings of being stabbed with a barbed needle if talking etc!!! Obviously I would not stab them if they chatted????

However I know they really enjoyed the workshop as they did not want to leave at 12.00. Roll on next week!!!

Yet again another Workshop on the horizon

Hi I have another workshop scheduled for Wednesday 11th November 'Embellished Needle Felting' 10.00am to 4.00pm.

This will be held at Samlesbury Hall, Preston New Road, Samlesbury, Preston Lancs PR5 0UP - the cost is £40.00 which includes, use of all the tools, some materials, a light lunch and refreshments during the day.

As I am taking the bookings please contact me on 01772 461714 or email suechisnall@btinternet.com.  to book and obtain a requirement list.

The aim of the workshop is to make unique and beautiful items, eg bracelet, box, brooch or hanging, and as Christmas is not too far away, this will be an opportunity to make a lovely Christmas gift.

bracelets

boxes

rescheduled workshop

Hi I have had to reschedule the workshop which should have run tomorrow 6th October. It will now run as below-

hanging using a mixture of naturally dyed fabrics bonded & free machine stitched

close up of hanging 

'Naturally Dyed' Tues 20th October 10.00 - 4.00 at Avant Garden Centre, Wigan Road. Leyland PR25 5XW.

Tel 01772 433777 to book obtain the requirement list. It will cost £40.00 which includes lunch and all refreshments.

The aim of the workshop is to experiment with natural dyes eg onion skins, leaves, tea, coffee as well as logwood, madder etc, using pure cotton. wool or silk fabrics which can then be used to make a wall hanging, bag, book etc. This method of dyeing produces lovely soft colours and sometimes quite unexpected tones.

The workshop will include the use of all the dyes/mordents on the day.

JUST COME WITH AN OPEN MIND AND PLAY!!!