When I read through my monthly indulgance of Craftseller magazine, I was excited to actually find a place that was fairly local that did craft courses. This was great news for me as I feel like a live in a place that is completely devoid of craftiness! I scoured the site with glee, and was seeing what various things I could try out! I was pleased to find that they had needle-felting course, it was something that I always wanted to try and I already owned a little starter kit, but hadnt been brave enough to actually start!
So my first and obvious choice was the needle-felting course. I was at a disadvantage not being able to drive as it is in a bit of a remote location, but I wasn't going to let that put me off, I got there by train and taxi.
It was set in
The Medicine Garden, which was a derelict victorian Walled garden, which has been restored.
In a beautiful setting, are now a haven of
workshops and studios, which include the Garden shop, The Hot house cafe and the
Make Me workshop, where I was heading.
The studio was a lovely, small, homely, cosy workroom. So jealous, what a lovely little workspace! Neatly laid out, showing various makes, representing all the different crafts they teach.
It was a nice intimate class, with all the materials provided. We were told we were going to make a flat landscape piece. Our tutor
Margaret demonstrated the basics, and gave us a book of inspiration, which incuded images of various felted pieces, and works by monet.
We were given a 6"x6" piece of part-felted material which was going to be our base to work on.
We had a large amount of various coloured merino wool, to choose from, to work with.
We pulled tufts of this wool off and laid them across our square, for the background of our landscape.
Then we could start stabbing the wool, with the specialist needles provided, which binds the fibres together.
Then it was time to add some layers and definition to our fabric pictures.
We had a bundle of yarn oddments that we could choose from to add texture.
Once our images were starting to form, we were then able to add 3D componants to finish off.
I had a huge glass jar of buttons that I could delve into and various beads which I sewed on for definition.
It was an extremely relaxing and tranquil few hours where I could indulge myself in pure crafting.
At the end of it, we were proud of our finished works of art!...
And were given a box frame to finish our work off completely.
I will definately be going back again. In fact i've already decided what my next craft course will be!
Decopatch
I'll have to wait till next year to indulge though, as I work in retail the month ahead will be very hectic and I won't have any chance to play!
