We've been busy this past month with formal and informal learning activities.  Our workshop committee organized a number of  hands-on activities and in lieu of a business meeting we had a short tutorials to help us brush up on skills.  So what did we learn?

wet felting in progress

Darrel expanded our experience with wet felting by showing us how to "paint with wool".  Participants in this workshop started with some basic wet felting techniques to create a base.  Note the bamboo placemat in the photo is used in the felting process. 

A picture, a garden in this case, is created by the placing of coloured fleece to simulate a sky and ground then more fleece and texture yarns can be felted into the piece to represent individual plants.  Once the "painting" is completed the whole is carefully felted to avoid distrubing the scene.  After drying the picture can be embellished with embroidery.

Finished garden 

Easter Baskets

 Vera taught us how to make reed baskets and encouraged experimentation that resulted in some interesting handles and finishing touches.  The easter eggs just seemed to fit especially with the basket in the foreground that reminds one of a nest.

One workshop participants went a bit further and created a small container with a lid.

reed container with lid

  

Carol gave us an introduction to natural dyes including local plants that can be used and where to find them.  Her collection of samples demonstrates the array of colours you can achieve with the use of mordants.  

sample of natural dye colours

We also tried out hand at some simple braiding using thrums and old cardboard boxes cut into Kumihimo discs.  This is a great way to use up small amounts of left over yarns to make braids that can be turned into ties for fasteners, friendship bracelets, drawstring cords or trim.  It's also a great way to keep the kids entertained using repurposed materials.

Simple Cardboard Kumihimo Disk