Workshop number 3 and it is still only May! I have been very naughty and signed up for another too… with Rutsuko Sakata in early June, and that will be followed by Christina Pacciani in July. I really need to stop but they are so much fun! 🙂

Heidi Grebb’s workshop was probably the hardest I have worked on felt in a long while, we spent 3 incredibly long (9 am to 6 or 7 pm) days and carried on with homework in the evening, she is a teaching machine! Despite our herculean efforts only one of us (Janine) managed to finish her waistcoat before we had to leave. I finished mine at home last week.

The main focus of the workshop was to make a furry felt garment, using locks to add texture but we also spent a lot of time learning how to take a favourite piece of clothing and scaling it up to make a felt piece that will shrink to the right size. Heidi also had an interesting method for assembling your work from flat panels to make a seamless, 3 dimensional garment without using a resist.

This is my finished bolero jacket:

Although I love the colour and the texture I’m afraid it does not fit me very well 🙁 I guess I will just have to have another go!

This week I have been playing with snails again. What do you think, are the extra rings on his shell and the lip for the bottom of his shell an improvement or should I stick with the original design?

This is the original snail, all dry now so you can see his silk fibres better: