Fiber College of Maine Touchstone Workshop: Sept 4-8

Are you new to creating a wet-felted vessel or have some experience but want to up your game to perfect your forms or use of color?  In this workshop you will learn the basics about how to choose and use colors for certain effects and how laying out the wool in certain patterns and thicknesses affects the shape of your piece. In addition you will learn how the direction you roll to full your piece and how long it is fulled affects the final shape of your vessel. We will explore using various fibers and materials in the surface design of your piece and will dip into adding embroidery embellishments once your piece is fully formed. The instructor will bring in a few samples of different kinds of wool for you to touch to learn about what kind of wools work better for larger or smaller pieces and the difference in surface texture and rigidity.

You will be exploring two different ways to make 3-D forms: one with a resist and one with differential shrinkage. You will come away from the workshop with two medium sized pieces- a vessel and a shallow bowl. (If time allows for faster felt makers an additional small piece can be made). You will also leave with instructions for home about how to add extra stiffness to your pieces if you desire to have a form that is more rigid (though the forms you make will be stiff enough to hold their shape on their own once they are completely fulled and dried). 

* There is a fair amount of physical labor involved in the felting process.

Class and Retreat Fee: $980.00

Materials fee: $50