Felt-Making with Odd Balls - Gill Brooks Workshop (10am-3pm)

Creating exciting new patterns, designs and textures in your felt using all your favourite odd balls of yarn.

Join Gill for a fun and exciting day exploring the endless possibilities in texture, pattern and colour when you combine knitting and/or crochet with the wet felting technique.

Using both commercial and hand knitted panels/fabrics, Gill will guide you through the tips and tricks of applying them to wool surfaces prior to felting. We’ll discuss different fibre types, needle sizes and applications and their potential outcomes.

Experiment with some of your own hand knitted panels or knitted fabrics sourced from recycled clothes, or a mixture of both.

Once you have the basic knowhow you can choose to make a project of your choice, from a soft pot/vessel to a panel for a pouch or a variety of samplers for future reference.

Notes will be provided so you can continue to experiment with the endless possibilities and applications of this process.

What to bring: The tutor will provide all materials and equipment. However, scissors and an old towel would be useful - please bring from home. Also, an old plastic shopping bag to take home your damp felt pieces.

Optional: If you’d like to do some preparation knitting/crochet ahead of time, Gill recommends using natural fibre yarn, ie/ wool, mohair, alpaca etc and larger than usual needles, anything from 8mm up to 20mm. Small panels, no larger than 20-25cm initially with either the same or varying colours and types. It’s all experimental at this stage, so anything goes.

Time: 10am-3pm

Location: 211 Dowling Street, Dungog NSW

Parking: Dowling St or nearby side streets.

About Your Instructor: Gill Brooks, aka @feltwilde is a Fibre Artist who specialises in the ancient craft, with a modern twist of Felt-Making. Gill first leant the technique in 1996 and has been hooked ever since, running a full-time studio practice making one of a kind products for Artisan Markets and Galleries and teaching workshops both in her studio, and with local and regional community centres, councils and schools.

Over the years Gill has attended workshops with the who’s who of the feltmaking community including Jorie Johnson, Marjolein Dalinga, Alexander Pillin and Dagmar Binder.

Her work and projects have been featured in Felt Mag, 500 Felts, Better Homes and Gardens, Vogue Living, Textile Down Under and Home Beautiful.

Her twin passions for both Felt Making and recycling/upcycling combine beautifully to produce a work practice with minimal waste and she loves to share this passion with all those who show an interest.

Felt-Making with Odd Balls with Gill Brooks - Sat May 24 (10am)