Bermuda Fiber Festival - Nuno, Painting with Wool & Needle Felted Sculpture

Bermuda Fibre Festival held at Kaleidsocope Arts Foundation in November this year was a wonderful success yet again!

Attendance went from 303 spots filled last year to a whopping 442! Almost 400 of those spots were children learning about fiber!

Our program offered more than 60 toddlers "the wooley story' and allowed them to felt in a baggie. While local school groups totaling 162 felted birds, felted on soap, and wove ornaments.

Adults took part with great enthusiasm and Bermuda can now boast having some fiber enthusiasts among its residents thanks in great part to this annual event.

The best part of this event for me besides its resounding success? I got to take some classes for a change. How great is that! I am always the one who organizes these kinds of things and runs around like a chicken without a head making sure everything is running smoothly but rarely get the chance to participate. This year was different!


My very favorite workshop was with Fiber Artist Marianne Dubois making a nuno felted scarf in her class called "hip to be square". This is a basic nuno class with a twist! A square of silk is used to felt on and then strategically cut in a spiral to make a lovely shawl. I love it and the possibilities for design are endless since nuno allows for interesting rushing effect and other fun textural design depending on your fiber layout. I was able to create a Peony Rose design inspired by Sumi-e which I studied with Sumi-e Master Susan Frame. Sumi-e influences alot of my artwork and I am excited at the possibilities this brings for me! My photography stinks but you get the idea.

Additionally, I was lucky enough to take two workshops with Sharon Costello most known for her Doll creations in needle felt. This was fun and I have been playing with it since taking the class! Last but not least, I took Sharon's painting with wool class as well. This, a more intense study for me, took me out of the box and left me with a pleasing result. More to work on with that one!
So off I go to work on my Charman Exhibition piece that I must complete by the 22nd!

R&D - felting for Children's Fiber Art Classes

AHHHhhhhhh..... It's so nice to be creating again!

My time is my own, sort of, now that my events are complete for the year!

I did do some creating during the Bermuda Fibre Festival that I will share with you later but for now I wanted to share this fun hat!

The pattern comes from "Uniquely Felt" and though mine doesn't really look like the finsihed one in the book, I love it!

It's a great pattern in several ways. First it doesn't use much fiber. A mere two ounces of merino! And because it uses so little, it's a pretty quick project to felt. That's exactly what I need for my upcoming children's classes! They often don't have the patience or the stamina to do larger projects but this one will be a good one for them.

I'm also working on my entry for this year's Charman exhibit. It's a surprise for now and will share that with you when it's done as well. It is a collage of sculpture that is being needle felted. FUN!

I have a reprieve until the 11th of January when the winter term at Kaleidoscope begins where I teach. Between holiday travel and the usual admin that I accumulate I get to play and work on some things that I have been creating in my mind. So off I go!

See you again soon!

I'm Back!

Hard to believe that I love this blog for my lack of attention to it these last few months!

Ok so where did I leave off? Oh yes, just before the Fryeburg Fair.... WOW!

Fiber Artist Ellen Hedglin was our guest artist this year and brought us advocacy for women in her art. The figure in this photo has a skin of wool felted over it for a very interesting effect! Her other work reflected influences from her experience with teaching in Bermuda last year. Ellen is always experimenting with new and innovative ideas! She was missed at the fair this year. She has been participating in this educational fiber event for about 15 years! We look forward to her return in 2010!

Fryeburg Fair seems to be resession proof! My assessment is that it has such a large following that when one sector does not come one year another fills in the gap. Attendance was wonderful as was the weather most of the week. Our building as always, did not lack for spectators to see all of the incredible work that is represented here.

Our building was indeed lacking this year however. Our friend and compatriot Marc Chabe, was battling cancer during the fair this year and lost that battle a few short weeks after. He was a fun endearing man who supported his wife in her fiber business, learned to spin because of her and loved it, and created a beautiful spinning wheel to leave behind. His smile and easy going manner during a stressful event will be sorely missed and we will remember him as a unique fiber friend!

I left for home shortly after the fair and Bermuda Fiber Festival came quickly after my return! A report on that event will come soon! I promise :-)