The morning
explained
1. Introduce
myself and explain the purpose of the day.
Hand out a form for people to complete on what they would like to
achieve during the day as a learning outcome. Your pieces, when finished, will
be exhibited at this museum as a display of an ancient craft, all of which have
been inspired by pieces currently in the museum.
2. Ashort tour round the museum
for inspiration for their felt piece. Try and find a favourite piece with which
to inspire your piece. Explain how felmaking is an old craft to link in with
the museum. Felt is the oldest textile known to man. Stories suggest that felt
was first discovered when a man was walking through a desert a long time ago.
His shoes were starting to rub so he grabbed a handful of fleece from his sheep
he was carrying and stuffed it under his foot to give him padding. Due to the
constant friction the fleece was under coupled with the heat and the sweat, the
fleece became a solid piece of fabric known as felt. Felt is now used in all
walks of life, particularly in Central Asia ,
where is it used for everything from hats to carpets. Caps of thick, solid felt
from the early bronze age, are preserved at the National Museum of Copenhagen,
and date back some three and a half thousand years.
3. Purpose of the day is to make
a piece of wet felt in the morning, which will take approx. 2 hours including
setting up. Then to use barbed needles
to needlefelt into the piece made in the afternoon to produce a piece of
art/picture. Show a piece of art and a
wall hanging made from wet felt. At this stage give a break down of how the
morning will be done. Summary of each
part is in brackets.
a. Explain what happens to make wet felt
b. Sketch design for piece. (Sketch piece)
c. Choose colours of fleece to
be used in 3 layers. Middle layer will
be white, then bottom and top will end up being different colours. This gives
the option of using whichever side you like the best when it turns out (it is
not an exact science). If you don’t want two different sides, use the same in
the first and third layer. (Choose
colours)
d. Demonstrate how the fleece is
inter layered in different directions for each layer, to maximise bonding. (Maximise bonding)
e. Then demonstrate how the wet
felt is made. (Demonstration)
f.
Finally
get going making the background piece. (Making session)
4. Explain the process of
feltmaking in principle, in that fibres are wet and rubbed together whereby
they bond and make a fabric. As wool is
mostly air, when they bond, the air is pushed out, so that the overall piece of
felt is much smaller than the original fleece used.
5. I will produce some books for
people to look at for possible ideas for what to make, and they spend 15
minutes sketching what they would like to achieve. Whilst people are doing this, prepare the hot
soap solution.
6. Demonstration of how wet felt
is made.
7. 7- Students
prepare their fleece for wetting, then get started.
8. 8- After
the wet felt is made it is rinsed well to remove all soap, and dried on a
towel, as thoroughly as possible.
The Afternoon explained
1. Explain
the afternoon. Using the sketch that was
created earlier in the day, choose fleece colours to use the morning piece of
fabric, to needle felt into.
2. Demonstrate how this is
done. Explain how fragile the needles
are, and that the barbing at the end of the needle is pushing and pulling
fibres through back and forth, to “embellish” and the top layer of dry felt into the under
layer. The needles are extremely sharp,
and must be treated with care. Explain
how each person must not use any one elses, and they will take home the
needle. This is health and safety.
3. Again show the picture to
show the different things that can be done.
How small bits of fleece are better added at a time rather than a huge
amount, which is more difficult to barb together. However, it is more precise than wet felting,
because you can place the fleece exactly where you want.
4. Show
how, if a mistake is made, the fleece can be removed. Then allow people to start needle felting
their pictures. During this period,
continue demonstrating techniques for others to take a break and look at, and
walking round helping people achieve what they wanted to at the start of the
course. Talk about colour blending and
how different colours react to being put together. At this stage, it is about one to one help in
ensuring students are using the needles properly and are progressing with their
piece of work. Talk about how these
techniques can be used to produce other types of work.
To
finish, ask people to complete the last part of the form, as to whether their
expectations have been met, and how they would have like things done
differently if applicable. Collect all
forms together.
My budget for my arts project is £60, this must cover all the fleece I need, needle felting needles, olive soap and sponges. I have also made and equipment list so I know exactly what to take on the day.
Sponges
Needles
Natural fleece
Colour fleece
Blend fleece
Towels
Olive soap
Jug
Shetland locks
Feedback forms
How to wet felt sheet
My plan
Dishes for fleece
Grater
Pens
Camera
Wall hanging
Needle felted picture
Paper
Pencils
Small carders
Quite a lengthy post today folks.
Speak soon
Meghan
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