Finished Ottomans

The workshop has come to a close, I have 6 ottomans to ship to their various homes (1 is going as carry-on), but what a day pulling everything together today.  What do you think?

One Last day of OTTOMANS!

We are two days into our workshop, and boy what a great time we are having!  I am so pleased with each person's creative process, and am of course sharing constructive suggestions for design and color while working on laying out patterned felt techniques and yesterday's wet felting.

I like sharing many felting concepts with students as I feel there is more than one way to work the fiber.  I certainly learned, mostly self taught, by trail and error as well as simplifying production.  Part of my mantra is "economize".  I try to be smart about how I use my space, roll my wet felts around my table, etc.  The less extra motions and steps I take (in production felting and rug making) the better for my energy!  

I always share a variety of tools and ideas during my workshops, and suggest felters try as much as they can or want to (It is great in a workshop experience because a felter who is on a limited budget can try out a variety of things before making a financial commitment of an expensive purchase.)  For example, I love my Fabulous Feltomatic, and since I purchased mine 4 years ago to aid me in making a VERY LARGE rug, I have cherished it!

The studios awaits its students, studio stations are set up

Seven students hard at work

Four of seven of the sides, a couple of fabrics for tops and a long fabric for making felt tassels all out to dry

A few more tops

Our second felting day also included two other instructionals.  Each designer is just that during this workshop, they are conceptualizing a finished "decorated" piece of furniture.  And must decide if we want trims and other finishing accents, and of course make the felt fabrics or object for those on the second day.  For designers wanting decorative tassels for their ottomans, I gave the steps and techniques for making those.  For designers who wanted felted flowers on theirs I made one during the day and passed around the room through out the process to show my demonstration as they half concentrated on getting their felts rolled.

Today, the last day, is assembly day.  The studio is set up with 4 stations; a cutting station, sewing station, outdoor gluing station, and a carpentry station.  We rotate through the stations and the finish our beauties by the afternoon! 

More photos to post tomorrow!

AHHH, just about ready

Ottoman Workshop May 2010 promises to be very exciting, 7 gals coming from all over and the last of my dyepots are just about finished, studio tables are set up, supplies all ready for Sat. (well almost everything)

Each student's station is set with up with their mat, fiber colors of choice, the ottoman cores, feet and hardware, and the instructional.

Earlier in the day the studio looked like this!

The weather looks like it is going to be great this weekend so I plan on opening the front double doors and have set up my pop up tent, to expand our workspace!  More photos to come!

Flower Workshop at Keene State College

Also in May I taught a fun little mini course at our local College.  I was happy to be a part of the programs, as the college, as a thank you to all that work there, offers all its employees a full day of free workshops.  I know one of the organizers and offered one of my Flower classes.  We even came up with a new twist on what I normally do...can you see the difference?

Hint: we planted the flowers into little clay pots!!  Too CUTE!!

Storage Box In It's New Home!

Well, both I and my client are very happy to say that the latest Festive Fibers creation is now in its intended home.  I was very excited with how it turned out and Freya was totally satisfied. May is ending perfectly.

The Storage Box Continued

So here is the box almost finished, the feet are being painted, the seams need to get hand sewn, should be finished over the weekend.

1000 Artisan Textiles is Available Now!

1000 Artisan Textiles is now available on line through Amazon.com

My Festive Fibers objects are featured a few times in the book including my Circus Ottoman shown on the back cover!  Order your copy today - mine are on their way!

Storage Top Fabric drying on the line!

Ta Da! One down two more fabrics pieces to go, and boy does it look great!

Freya's Storage Box (Continued)

Well, things are moving along nicely.  I have three tables up, the fabric for this storage box is all matching, so I can shift the tables depending on which side match I am working on.  I am loving this in fiber and only know it will be awesome felted and then upholstered!  WOW!  The box awaits it's foam wraps, and then my sewing machine comes out from hiding.  Oh yes I still need to paint the checkered feet.  BUT! I am feeling that I will have once piece felted by the days' end, the other two tomorrow.   I am pretty good on our schedule for Mid-May, yes I know that's only a couple weeks away but a lot happens in a few long days of concentrated focus.