Saturday 17 January 2015

Felt a Beret Workshop

Berets,,,,,,,yes!  

The thing about berets is that you can make so many different things from one humble process.

Of course you can make a discreet and elegant beret, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's warm, it's wearable and it's easy to make, especially if you are a first time felter. So much nicer, in fact if you make it yourself with subtle shades of wool and beautiful surface decorations.  




Or you can stretch yourself and make a veritable artist's beret extraordinaire- grand and sumptuous.  You can wear this one out to a gala, or just keep yourself warm in your artist's garret through the winter. 





Making berets is fun!  The pattern is so simple, you can really play with the shape and take it in unexpected directions.  A good workshop for beginners and for intermediate felters.  

Contact Cottenham Adult Learning  if you'd like to come along.  This is  a day school on Sat 24 January from 10.00am - 4.00pm.  It's only £30/£23 plus any materials you use.

And I can't think of a nicer way to spend a Saturday in January than being up to my elbows in suds, talking textiles with other like minded people!




Thursday 8 January 2015

2015 Adult Classes Ricki Outis

A new year, with lots of creative promise!


I thought I'd list any open adult classes that have been confirmed and dates so you can book ahead if you are interested:


Scrap and Chat
admin@care-network.org.uk 
Walnut Tree Cafe, Rectors Hall, Colne Road, Earith.

For over 55's who live in or near Earith, Bluntisham or Colne,  come and join our friendly group on a Tuesday morning for a free scrap booking and reminiscence session. We alternate working on a group project with working on your own personal scrap book. This is a very welcoming, fun and creative class. No previous artistic experience required!

Classes have started but we are always happy for new people to join. We will be running until 10 Feb 15.   There will be no class on the 27 Jan 15. 


Felt a Beret
Felt Beret info
Cottenham Village College
24 Jan 15  Saturday Day School   10am - 4pm

A fun day doing wet felting to create a unique beret. This handmade take on an old classic means that you can personalise both the shape and the surface design to make something elegant and stylish or crazy and eccentric (or a bit of both!). It’s a good workshop for both beginners and for those with some felting experience in felting to learn the basics of wet felting and the use of resist shapes.


Felting Studio
Felting Studio info 
 Cottenham Village College
25 Feb 15  Wednesdays for 5 weeks.   9.30am - 12.30pm    - mixed ability class.

This 5 week guided study to wet felting will be great for newcomers but also an opportunity for those with more experience to try out some new ideas and be inspired .

We will be revisiting the basics - richly textured panels, nuno felt, lattices, and scarves. More experienced learners will be shown ways to develop more complex surfaces and forms.




Screen Printing on Fabric
Cott V. C. 
Cottenham Village College
16 May 2015  Saturday day School    10am - 4pm


 Bring along your fabrics and leave with  great pile of unique printed cloth with your own designs. A screen and inks will be provided for the day. This is a good opportunity for textile artists to come along and create their own fabrics for stitch or display.
A studio session for all abilities.



Thermofax Printing
Design and Print your own Label.
Textiles in Focus workshops

Textiles in Focus, Cottenham village College
 Friday 20 Feb 2015 from 2.00 - 4.00pm  or Sunday 22 Feb 2015 from 2.00 - 4.00pm

Design and make an easy to print label for your textile work by making a miniature thermofax with your own personal signature. Develop some interesting backgrounds and by the end of the session you will have a batch of gorgeous labels you can sew into your next creation.


Screen Print Textiles Studio 
White House Arts info 
 White House Arts

20th and 21st June 10.00am-4.00pm  

A whole weekend of screen printing is really wonderful.  You can really develop your designs and build up layers of print.  It is a great opportunity to work in a studio atmosphere with individual support from the tutor. The emphasis as always is on the experimental and developing your own design style, using screen fillers, vylene and paper stencils with the silk screen to create patterned and painterly effects on fabric.


Sensational Screen Printing 
Summer School 

Cottenham Summer School 2015

27 July - 31 July 2015 
I can only give you the dates for this one as the brochure is not out yet.  Just to say that a weekend of screen printing is good, but  a whole week is even better.  Suffice to say that students always say they wish they had a second week as we get to the end of the first one. The brochure usually comes out at the end of February and I advise you to book early - this course fills up very quickly. Send your name and adress to the college so that they mail you a copy as soon as it comes out.


And there you have it - a whole blog post with no pictures!!!
I'll have to do something about that......

Monday 5 January 2015

New Felt Class for Beginners, Ely

Wishing you all a very happy and creative New Year!

And just a quick note about a new felt making  class for beginners that starts at Ely College on the 13th Jan 2015.  For more details see Ely College  

There will be a free taster session on the 6 Jan 15 at 7.00pm for an hour, so if you want to try it out and find out a bit more about the class, come along then.  No need to book, just turn up about 10 minutes before and go to the reception which is in the new building at the college.  Looking forward to seeing you there!