Felt Out of Context

Workshop Dates:Sun Aug 16, 2009

Workshop Fees:$80 + $25 Materials Fee

Workshop #:WS0908-18

Felt rug by Deb DumkaWorkshop Times:9:30 to 3:30

Workshop Description:

Felt has an ancient history and a long tradition of service, function and adornment. As a textile, felt is used in our daily lives for footwear, clothing, dwellings, carpets, blankets and personal accessories.

This workshop will explore how other textile techniques such as embroidery, appliqué, flat weaving, crochet, basket weaving, can be expressed or resolved with felting materials.

Working with wool in its many forms, fleece, roving and yarn, students will begin by looking at the structure of wool and the characteristics that contribute to felting. Flat prefelts will be made in order to explore surface texture and design with stitching and combining prefelts as appliqué. Weaving strips will be made by forming rope from roving or woolen yarns or by slicing flat prefelt to create a woven sample. Using a form, you will work with a 3-D shape focusing on either surface design or weaving elements. You will produce small textile treasures that will contain the inspiration for future projects.

Materials Provided by Instructor

  • Wool fibre, threads and prefelts
  • Soap
  • Felting mat and mesh

Students should bring

  • A couple of towels (for mopping up water)
  • Work apron
  • Plastic basin
  • Scissors, X-acto knife, measuring tape
  • Rubber gloves
  • Paper and pencil (for design work)
  • Some kind of form, e.g. small bowl, 2L milk carton, biggish smooth rock
  • Large cellulose sponge

Students will be working in in hot soapy water, so bring an apron.

Location:Denman Island Arts Centre

Deborah Dumka

Fabric artist Debra DumkaDeborah Dumka is a craftsperson living and working in the spectacular natural setting of Texada Island, BC.

Her distant background in electrical engineering and more current Textile Studies at the Anna Templeton Centre (St. John's, NL) shapes her textile work, grown from a life long love of things fabric.

She is interested in landscape and creating an emotional response through colour and pattern. Inspiration for her functional felt work is taken from the stones of the shingle beach outside her front door and the colours of the west coast viewpoint containing ocean, forest, mountain and sky.