Category Archives: workshop

Dagmar Binder Workshop and Hawk Conservancy

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I have just returned from a wonderful weekend of felting with Dagmar Binder in North Devon. The group of ladies attending this workshop were amazing, so helpful, friendly and great inspiration for bouncing ideas off each other. Here are a selection of the samples we made using Dagmar’s technique that relies quite heavily on prefelt and a lot of consideration given to the arrangement of fibres during layout.

We were very fortunate with the weather too, we had sunny days and beautiful sunsets, these pictures were taken near Georgeham, one of many picture-postcard style villages in the area.

We made a stop at the Hawk Conservancy near Andover (just down the road from Stone Henge) on the way home, we weren’t really expecting too much (I have an aversion to seeing animals in cages, even when it is in the name of conservation) but we were blown away by the experience. There are lots of opportunities to get up close with the birds and during the displays you can expect your hair to be ruffled by their wing tips as they fly so close. I took hundreds of photos, these are just a few of my favourites.

Mr TB with Delta the Barn Owl
Duck! No, it’s a vulture….

Black Kites

We will definitely be going back for another visit… 🙂

Carding Fleeces in the Sunshine

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The UK weather is about to take a turn for the worse with the remnants of hurricane Bertha heading our way tomorrow so I have been making the most of the sunshine over the last couple of days and carding my White-faced Woodland (WFW) and Jacob fleeces outside.

I have been making a few rolags to try on my new drop spindle too:

And I made a felt sample from the WFW:

This is quite a coarse, hairy wool, definitely not a good choice for scarves but has lots of potential for slippers and handbags. Its shrinkage rate was 40%.

Those of you on the Felting and Fibre Studio Forum may recall I was looking to join a felt-making or other textile group a few months back and I think I may have found one through the International Feltmakers Association. It’s not particularly close (they meet in a village hall an hour’s drive away) but I am hopeful it will be worth the effort and they only meet once per month. Their next meeting is tomorrow – wish me luck!

With my City and Guilds course nearing an end I have also taken the plunge and signed up to a couple of workshops in addition to a 1-week contemporary weaving course I signed up to in May. Fiona Duthie’s Surface Design workshop starts at the start of September and runs for 6 weeks, then I have Karoliina Arvilommi‘s workshop in the middle of September and Tim Johnson’s weaving workshop at the end of the month. I am hoping that I can use Tim’s techniques to incorporate felt and textiles into some contemporary basket weaving. September is already shaping up to be a busy month! Exciting times 🙂