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Textile Courses
Hand Loom Weaving Nuno Felt Scarves Traditional Large Rag Rug Shibori Scarves
Felt Flowers& Corsages Wonderful Winter Scarf Weaving Make a Felt Hat
Rag Rug Cushions Felt Art Rag Rug Wall Hangings
Beginners ~ Intermediates
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Rag Rug Making Days with Heather Ritchie
Include lovely flowers in your rug design - especially suitable for wall hangings or cushion covers
Heather brings along lovely
ideas and fabric.
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Revisiting us again this year after 2 great days in 2011 - Heather's rugs are often decribed as
Paintings in Fabric. Iincredibly detailed, each depicts a scene from various corners of her life - from her Grandfather's allotment to her summer holidays from childhood.
When she moved into a house in North Yorkshire with cold flagstone floors, a neighbour showed her how to make a rug using hessian sacking and old lisle stockings .Immediately inspired by the idea and
over the last 25 years has developed and refined
Rag Rug making skills to the highest standard.
Wed 27th or Thu 28th June
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Heather is one of Britain's most experienced rug makers and teachers of rug-making.
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Woolfest
a celebration of 'All things Woollen and Crafty'
takes place at Cockermouth in the northern Lakes every June just before this course. People visit from all
corners of the globe.
What to bring
Some large sharp scissors and a couple of bags of material of the colour scheme you may want - though often the materials are pooled. Woollens wear best if hoping to make a floor rug (see below - Emma Tennant what to bring)
Round frames are available for use and purchase at the end from Heather. We have a few large square frames available for use - please let us know if you would like one.
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It was a warm August day when Heather came in 2011- She brought so many of her wonderful rugs to see that we had to lay them outside on the cobbles and so we found Heather's biggest fan . . . Wallace,who still dreams like he did that day.
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Heather travels widely running
workshops and is internationally recognised for her skills:
She often tutors in the States
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Rag Rug Making Days with Emma Tennant
Emma has written
'Rag Rugs of England
and America'
see below
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In October, November and March '12
the much acclaimed Emma Tennant
will be visiting Greystoke again.
Bring your own frame, or borrow or buy a small circuler one or a larger traditional type. Be ambitious and and get started on a large frame to make a proper floor rug (4ft x 3ft) and finish it off at home. Emma will show you how to plan and create these lovely distinctive rugs for which she is so well known. You may even wish to come back in March 2012 for a follow up class to celebrate finishing your piece
and meet up with Emma and others again.
Fri 12 Oct , Tue 6th Nov,
Tue 5th Mar next year
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Made to order by her favourite joiner, she brings
with her traditionally hand made large frames some 3ft 6" ft x 4ft 9". She prefers using a fairly close weave hessian that gives a denser ,longer wearing rug. You will follow the original methods of proddie rugging done by busy wives and mothers on dark winter evenings. Borrow a frame- and it can be bought £25 . . . You can borrow or buy a handmade proddie hook aswell - £14
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Emma Tennant lives in Roxburghshire, Scotland .She is widely held as an authority on the history of Rag Rug making. Emma spends her winters making and designing rag rugs which are made by a group of neighbours and marketed under the name Hermitage Rugs.
She spends the summer painting flowers in her studio at the foot of the Cheviots Hills and is a member of the Council of the National Trust.
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Once booked with Emma you could start looking out for materials to bring with you for your rug.
WHAT TO BRING?
Some large dressmaking scissors
and a few bags of material please.
For a floor rug woollens works best as they clean easiest,
wear well and don’t attract the dirt so much –
ie tweeds, coats,
jumpers, trousers, jackets, anything
from charity shops as long as clean and dry
– and if
you know of any old fashioned tailors, they always have trimmings from
wool garments they may be glad to give away.
(Continued see below left)
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Synthetic
materials and cottons are also fine – though synthetics
tend to attract dirt and are not so easily cleaned.
However if you re making a cushion or a wall hanging, then this perhpas won't matter.
Emma will bring her rugs for you to see and her own collection of materals to share
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Felt Scarf Making, Felt Fripperies & Make your Own Hat with Ewa Kuniczak
Sun 24th June Nuno felt Scarves £65~ ~ ~ Mon 25th June 'Felt Fripperies' £65 ~ ~ ~
Wed Thu 7th 8th Nov - Make your own a Felt Hat £130
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Material Charges
Approximate material charges will be
around £5 -£8 per scarf depending on what is used and are payable
directly to the tutor on the day
Felt Fripperies |
Ewa was born in Poland, and after the
Second World War, settled in Britain with her parents. Having graduated from Sussex University
with an Honours Degree in Art Education, she taught Art and Design in Schools and
Colleges for 10 years before becoming involved in the
exciting world of
Textiles.
By the time she had completed a Postgraduate Diploma Course in Textile Art, she had discovered Felt and her life changed yet further.
That was over 30 years ago. She became a
founder member of the International Feltmakers Association, and for 10 years its Secretary and Editor of 'Echoes'. Throughout this time she was also creating her own work and exhibiting in Group and
Solo exhibitions in the U.K. and overseas She became a Fellow of the
Society
of Designer Craftsmen
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Just after Woolfest 2011 Ewa came to Greystoke for a Nuno Scarf day -
the results, as seen here, were stunning |
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Two Day Felt Hat Making Workshop
Be Different or as Conventional as you like .
Join Ewa for 2 exciting days in November learning how to create patterns for, make the felt for and then cutting out and making/ moulding your very own hat!
Ewa will bring everything you need- the mannekins and the felt -just bring some ideas and Ewa will
show you how to put them into practice
Tuesday Wednesday 7th and 8th November
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FELT ART with Debra Esterhuizen
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FELT ART
Join Debra for the day and create your very own felt masterpiece
She will bring all the materials,
necessary for the day,
comprising a fabulous choice of of vibrant colours in various fleeces and silks.
FELT ART DAY
at Greystoke on
Saturday 23rd June
This is the WOOLFEST weekend
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Convinced that the alchemy of
felt making is extremely therapeutic
and somehow rekindles the child within us, she loves its familiarity of warm,
tactile experience, the result is escape and calm followed by the joy
of a new skill resulting in a beautiful piece of art/craft.
There will be a material charge
payable to the tutor directly on the day of £6
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Debra is a
self taught felt artist living in the
Eden Valley, Cumbria.
Her
passion for art arose in her childhood
growing up in the Peak District.
Here a love for the wild and the beautiful was
instilled and has
remained integral to her being.
She appeared recently in the
Cumbria Culture section of Cumbria Life magazine.
Click here to see the article |
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It was while she was travelling in Nepal that Debra discovered the ancient art of felt
making.
Soaking up the rich jewels of colour and
form in all
the beauty she observed and,
overjoyed by the delights of these new
cultures.
On her return to the UK Debra
began to create beautiful felt pieces, first objects but latterly
“paintings “ as she calls them.
Her artwork radiates energy using
rich vibrant
colours and exudes excitement witnessed in her travels. Her
colours hold a dissonance which fills the image with energy and light.
She attempts to portray the natural beauty of light shows observed in
person and hopes to convey the experience through her chosen medium,
perhaps reminding the observer of the beauty once visited.
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Wonderful Weaving .....each on your own Hand Loom making a 'Bespoke Scarf' with Jan Beadle
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Bubble Up Scarves
these are
made using a technique called 'deflect weaving' where
squares of cotton
colour are created and defined /edged by the
(as seen here) darker
strands of wool yarn.
When the scarf is washed the wool shrinks
differentially
to the cotton and so tightens and causes the
cotton to
bubble up , creating this exciting effect. |
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Arriving wonderfully equipped with
8 portable hand looms all ready to be used and the
materials and expertise to share with you to make
sure you have a
Wonderful Weaving Day
with Jan Beadle
who designs and makes contemporary woven
textiles for fashion, interiors and accessories.
Jan recently left the University of Cumbria
where she was their Weaving Guru.
Although specialising in weaving she also enjoys
incorporating felting, knitting and many
off loom techniques into her work.
With over 25 years experience in the textile field
working in Higher Education she is well accustomed to getting
the very
best out of her student ,
working with BA and MA students along side
exhibiting her own work. |
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One of the scarves made during the last workshop
in Autumn 2011
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Jan graduated with a BA Hons in]
Carpet Design and Related Textiles
in the mid 80’s.
She has worked as a Senior Resource Area Manager until recently at
University of Cumbria formerly
Cumbria Institute of the Arts,
specialising in Constructed Textiles
for the passed 25 years
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Jan exhibits locally and nationally,
producing contemporary woven
and felted fashion/interior accessories,
and creating one off commissioned
pieces for galleries.
Material Charges
Approximate material charges will be around £5 -£8 per scarf depending on what is used and are payable directly to the tutor on the day. |
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Much of her work involves experimenting with different
weave structures to see how they distort when
manipulated and felted to create
individual handcrafted pieces.
Make your own Shibori Scarf
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'Be Fabulous with Felt' . . . . . with Linda Anne Chapman
Learning how to make
felt flowers and foibles
first creating the subtle blend of
colours in felt and
then transforming into a
wonderful flower or brooch etc
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Linda came to Cumbria some
five years ago
and created her very own
felt making studio overlooking
Blencathra in the Lake District.
A talented all round artist, she has
a fine art degree, with an original background in painting.
With Linda we have held some excellent
Hen Parties
for groups of up to around
18 people here at the Cycle Cafe
making corsages and
felt foibles - please enquire |
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Travelling extensively in earlier years she
then settled back in the UK with employment in the textile industry and it was through this she first
discovered her love of felt.
Those who are familiar with feltmaking will agree,
creating felt is a very calming and
tactile process,
creating forms from wool and moulding fibres together to create
many different felted accessories,
building and combining new colours, textures
and shapes is part of the fascination -
felt making seems to be an ever moving innovative process always pushing the
boundaries of new ideas..
Linda's work is already sold in galleries
throughout Cumbria and online
from her web site
www.moorendfelts.co.uk.
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Material Charges
Approximate material charges will be around
£5 -£8 per scarf and £4 to 6 per corsage depending
on what is used and are payable directly to the
tutor on the day.
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Nuno Felt Scarf workshop
will be exploring the delicate felting of fine wool
into muslin and chiffon,
creating those beautiful
lightweight textured scarves that have become so very popular over recent years.
The day will include basic feltmaking techniques and samples to
understand the process of feltmaking and developing on to creating your own beautiful nuno felted scarf.
Corsage with Class workshop
during this day we will be using wet
felt making technique's and
needle felting to create
beautiful corsages and brooches.
We will be hand
stitching and creating flower forms from hand made and machine knitted felt to
incorporate in to your
own Corsage with Class.
A wonderfully creative day where you will be
learning many
felt making techniques.
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