A New Departure - Craft Cruises

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Off to sea and craft teaching

A new departure for me – teaching craft on a cruise ship!

I see this as my dream job, I got to combine my love of travel and exploring with my second love of teaching and sharing my skills with enthusiastic people. I had never thought about cruising around the British Isles and north France before but I would highly recommend it as a way of gaining a flavour of the beautiful Islands that surround us!

Apart from that I enjoyed the Fabulous, varied entertainment in the evenings, the talks, quizzes, the spa and best of all being served delicious food and being waited on in the restaurants on board. So many opportunities to meet people and make new friends. I have been eating salads since returning as those extra pounds need to go!!

As you will know Teaching arts and crafts is nothing new to me. My regular courses were still taking bookings whilst I was away and marketing is a never ending job! My usual classes are either 2.5hrs or 6 hrs, so fitting activities into a 1 hour ish slot and with much larger classes was all go and organisation was key! I’m glad that I was super organised and had planned ahead.

Preparation Time

I really enjoyed making up the 300 kits in total, music on and I got into the zone!! It was fun to fill a huge suitcase full of crafts and not worry about the weight of volume lol but I did have to lug the cases to the terminal!! I usually travel light with just enough clothes for my journey so x 2 cases was a challenge to load and unload!

Anyway, I’m happy to say that the weeks of preparation paid off and my classes were successful with an average of 19 people in each one, but I had 44 on the sea day :-). A much deserved G & T was welcomed afterwards lol

I’m pleased to say the feedback has been excellent with people stopping me to ask when the next class was on!

What crafts did we do?

Creative Craft Variety

I taught a few of the crafts that I have an interest in, although I have many different activities planned besides these! This time I did: jewellery making, collage, concertina book making and of course needle felted pictures and animals, my business is called Feltworld so it wouldn’t be right to miss these out!

The beaded jewellery class was popular with bracelets and necklaces were made using the kits that I had put together, over many a long evening lol, so they were all different with beautiful beads.

Collage Art

Another fun craft was collage with an antique feel or a contemporary textile collaged mounted card.

Vintage Collage

Textile Collage

Feltmaking

Using merino fleece, alpaca and silks. My 50 kits were very popular and as you can see below, they look amazing. With limited time the finished pieces were smaller than you’d create in a full workshop but students were still able to have fun creating some beautiful designs. Other things we covered were scrap booking and memory books.

Feltmaking

Felt creations

Feltmaking

All work and no play is not good for a soul and happily I was able to go ashore when we stopped off at various ports, including Orkney, Stornoway, Belfast, Cork, Scilly Isles, and Le Harvre- Honfleur (France).

The weather was actually beautiful, we had left the rain behind at Tilbury UK and didn’t pick it up again until Guernsey.

Stornoway, Isle of Lewis

Belfast, Northern Ireland

Cork, Ireland

Scilly Isles

Honfleur, France

Back to dry land

After 10 days of cruising and teaching I’m back at home and planning more of my day and half day workshops. August is always a quiet month so if you would like to request a workshop with a minimum of two people then please message me to discuss. Otherwise I have September filling up.

Creative Talks for small groups

I am also taking booking for my two talks on:

1) Rug making in Konya Turkey and

2) Exploring Bali, Charity work, Batik Painting. See here

You can find out more about my workshops on the workshop page and on my Facebook and Instagram pages.

A Shop For Creative Gifts

Creative gifts from Feltworld

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I am constantly making beautiful creative things using the various techniques I teach. You can see some of them above and many more on my Shop pages. I’d be delighted to show you how to make them yourself if you come along to a workshop.

For those of you looking for a unique, hand-made item to give as a special gift there may not be time to make one yourself. So I’ve decided to offer many of the items I’ve made myself in my new shop.

Each item is of course unique and the prices shown on my shop pages include postage.

For those of you new to my work, I teach three different types of felt making. You’ll find various examples for sale in the shop.

• Nuno felting can be used to create beautiful scarves
• Wet felting can be used to create pictures as well as 3D objects such as bags, slippers, and bowls
• Needle felting is used to create cute little animals, for example

I also teach alcohol ink painting. This is a very fluid form of painting that uses alcohol based inks on a special type of paper. You can create beautiful abstract pictures as well as more figurative ones. Several of my alcohol ink pieces are for sale.

Batik painting is another popular workshop that you can book on the Workshops page. I’ve been very impressed with the quality of work produced in just one day using Batik.

Still can’t decide what to give as a gift? Gift vouchers are available in the shop and can be used for any of my workshops.

It's That Time

It’s that time of year again (almost!)

As I write this there are very few windows left on the advent calendar and pretty soon Christmas will be upon us. Another week after that and we’re in to the new year, which is traditionally the time for setting new year resolutions. Any ideas what yours will be? 

Some of the traditional choices include:

• Lose weight
• Stop smoking
• Exercise more

They are all good goals to aim for, even if they don’t always make it into the start of February.  But as they say, Rome wasn’t built in a day.

The trick is to be ambitious enough to motivate yourself but not so ambitious you give up and feel bad about it. If you want to climb Everest then a good place to start might be Snowdon in Wales. Build up to it at a pace that suits you, just don’t give up at the first hurdle.

What about some other new year resolutions? Maybe ones that seem a lot more like fun and less like an endurance test?

A fun day out learning Batik – Find out more Here

Some options…

How about:

• Take more time for yourself, you know, relaxing with no ‘To Do’ list nagging at you?

or

• Do something new that you haven’t tried before?

or

• Learn a new skill?

Here are Feltworld – Creative Arts you can do all three at the same time – take time out for yourself to do something different, and at the same time learn a new skill. Did you know that art is also great at reducing stress?

Apart from being an enjoyable day out students often find they can forget about the worries of all the things they need to do at home or at work. At the same time they realise they can make beautiful items when they have someone to guide them through.

So if you are looking for something different for the new year why not take a look at the workshops on offer at Feltworld? Go on, surprise yourself!

You can book a workshop here: Workshops

Workshops are available in Batik, Alcohol Inks, Wet Felting, Needle Felting, and Nuno Felting

Video of a Batik workshop – click to view

(opens in the Feltworld-Creative Arts Facebook page https://fb.watch/a31pjIb0qh/ )

Learning Art Is Like Learning To Ride A Bike

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Can you remember the first time you tried to ride a bike? you wobbled and fell off, wobbled and fell off ….and how uncertain you were about riding near others?

Remember how good it felt when you were able to defy gravity and stay upright? You do remember? Good! Because learning art is much like that, and just as rewarding once you have mastered the basics, you just have to keep trying.

Unfortunately many people don’t see art as anything like riding a bike and because of that they miss out!

Comments such as “I can’t draw to save my life”, or “I haven’t got an artistic bone in my body” are equivalent to saying “I’m no good at riding a bike” – when you haven’t tried to master the basics.

Art has many benefits

So what are the benefits of being creative and doing something artistic? How about greater self-esteem, reduced stress, improved mental health and it can be fun – are they worth giving art a try?

What’s the best way to start?

Start with the help of a good tutor.

I was one of the lucky ones where my family loved nothing better than cutting and sticking, collaging old magazines and making things out of recycled bits and bobs. That was longer than I care to remember lol.

But I went on to do art at degree level and then onto teaching in many areas of well-being. Soo I can see the benefits and hear all of the excuses as mentioned but the analogy of ‘easy as learning to ride a bike’ is true. everyone can find a nique in a creative way! sewing, knitting, painting etc…..

I saw batik painting on my travels and was intriqued to find out how it was done, so there a seed of intrique was planted and I learnt the techniques …as easy as riding a bike :-).

How do I start? Well you could splash out on all the tools and a teach-yourself book, but from my experience a better way is to find a class. There you can borrow the tools you need, get guidance, learn the techniques and be inspired and encouraged to grow your skills. In other words, you can learn the hard way on your own, or the stress free way along with an expert teacher.

Follow this kind of introduction to art and you get to make something beautiful. At the very least it will be a fun day out. Actively doing art will also bring the health benefits, we touched on earlier.

Barbara Meek – Feltworld -CreativeArts.co.uk

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To see the courses that are available in a variety of creative art techniques please look here.

Barbara 🙂

Wool In Many Colours

How sweet is this young lamb!

Have you ever looked at the variety of different breeds of sheep in the fields as you drive or walk by? But more to the point the colour of them? what colour comes to mind? The chances are you will picture a white woolly creature gambolling about in the sunshine like the one above. You may also remember seeing the odd black lamb as well, but in England we see mainly shades of white sheep with the occassional brown or black

As a feltmaker I use mostly dyed fleece in my work because this is what makes me buzz, see my bowls below. But some artists prefer the natural look and wouldn’t touch colour.

Dyes add to the range of colours

So how do you get from that natural palette to the colours you find in a many felted pieces of art or clothing? No prizes for guessing dyes of course.

Dyes can be natural or synthetic. Natural dyes derived from various plant material can give a range of rich colours. Add to that the great variety of colours from synthetic dyes and the colour palette available to the modern felt maker becomes quite extensive.

Colourful bowls made using merino fibres and silk fibres

Felt making is an absorbing and creative art, and like a traditional artist who mixes his paint colour palette you can also mix and blend fleece to create any number of colours. Incorporating a variety of breeds and other fibre within the work is very exciting. 

Mixing the colours

To mix different wool colours you need to card the fibres. Carding aligns the wool fibres ready for applying to the piece you are making. Carding is done with paddles covered with lots of small pins – a bit like the brush you might use to groom a dog. As seen here, dog brushes work well for carding.  

Carding wool to add to the colour range

By repeatedly pulling the wool between two carding paddles, the wool fibres become aligned. And if you start with three different colours, carding will blend the coloured fibres to give a beautiful blend of colours. For example, white and blue carded together will give a paler blue. This is an ideal way to represent skies if you are making a wet felted picture but I would also add other colour within this. I take inspiration from nature but also from looking at artists who inspire me.

If you would like to try your hand at feltmaking. You do not need a huge amount of colours to start feltmaking, just two blues, two yellows, two reds and black and white are good bases to start with. From these you can achieve a good range with the blending technique you will create many variations of colours. This is ideal if you are starting with felt making, as it avoids spending a fortune when you start. 

Colourful bags, scarf, needle felted robin and a bowl

To see what you can make from fluffy woolly felted fibres. Browse the Feltworld Gallery page, for inspiration to get started and consider a felt making kit and online tuition all available in my Feltworld Shop.  Felt making is a creative art and creativity is good for the soul. Felted items can be wearable or to adorn the home and I love creating both.

If you would like to know more about the beginners level of Feltmaking do take a look at the above links.

Happy felting 

Barbara

Needle felting a hare using lamb's wool fibres

Needle Felted Hare – Harry

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Needle felting is fun. Here is a hare, made from fluffy lamb’s wool fibres.

Needle felting is finally getting more publicity and instead of being called a craft, it is classed as a valid art form. Needle felting is gaining a reputation as a fun activity for ages over 10 years, who would have guessed that sculpting wool fibres into an animal with a sharp needle would have been possible!

Needle felting is fun, for-instance, It is easy to learn. Whether on a course or by purchasing a kit, these are accessible to buy on the high street or from sites like mine. You learn how to sculpt wool fibres to create animals or even pictures. Be aware that the sharp needle are not for little hands or paws, the specialist needle is called a barbed needle for a reason.

I have a variety of Kits available to view via the link or I can create a custom built kit to your specification, on request.

My personal favourites are the hares, then dogs and cats. foxes, owls and birds lol, all of them really! Many people on my courses create a woolly replica of their dog and achievable once you have learnt the basics. The technique looks quite vicious but with tuition you will find it to be great fun as the fibres form into a sculptured shape before your eyes. Using this needle to stab the wool fibres it will knit and interlock them together to create the 3-dimensional sculpted animals. People will not believe that you made it from a mass of fluffy fibres.

Needle felting a hare is fun. The technique is much easier than you may think, beginners welcome.

Firstly, the only way to really learn a skill is by actually having a stab at it, pardon the pun! I prefer to attend a course to learn the basic’s. Secondly, there are, however, people who prefer to learn from a kit and remotely.

You will find more examples of these animals and needle felted pictures plus my courses via this needle felting link: course

I have written previously about needle felting here: needle felt animals

Gift vouchers and kits also make fabulous presents.

New Courses Dates: July – September

Courses resume on the 10th of July. Following strictly to the government guidelines. Starting-10th July – Numbers will be limited to 4 people maximum. I will wear a mask, but will mainly be demonstrating from a 3 metre distance. How will it work? social distancing at 2 meters apart (although the government have relaxed the distance to 1 metre). Teaching semi outside in; a large a marquee for the first 6 – 8 weeks. Maximum 4 people Downstairs toilet – Sanitised after use. Self-service refreshments – Sanitised areas. Face masks are compulsory.

All of the dates are subject to getting a minimum of 2 – 4 people on any date.

1. Friday 10th July – Batik
2. Saturday 11th July – Needle Felting – (Only 1 place left)
3. Sunday 12th July – Wet Felting: Pictures, bags, scarves etc
4. Friday 17th July – Feltmaking ALL
5. Saturday 18th July – Needle Felting
6. Wednesday 22nd July –  Any Felting – (2 places left)
7. Saturday 25th July any Feltmaking
8. Sunday  26th July – Batik 
9. Saturday 1st August – Anything feltmaking and more….www.feltworld.co.uk

Poppy is the goofy hare!

Click on the hares below to see my Needle Felt course page.

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Creativity Is Therapy

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Creativity is a therapy to me during these very strange times!

Unless you spent March hiding in a cave somewhere, you will be living through the COVID-19 epidemic like the rest of us. Chances are you’ll also be one of the millions of people worldwide who are keeping calm and carrying on life under these important lock down conditions. Let’s get this over with!

I find that Creativity is a big therapy and this works for me.

The image is called: Hanging around until C-19 has passed!

Painting with wool

So what do you do when you can’t go out for a coffee, restaurant, pub or for anything that is non-essential? Why not use the opportunity to be creative at home? Jump in a try a new craft while you have time?

Keep calm and craft

Keep calm and craft is my moto in my artisan business. Whist staying positive and busy works wonders for my mental health.

Anyway, I have so many projects to choose from to complete and start on that my mind boggles, which activity do I start first! Forging ahead I have worked on completing half finished projects since the beginning of March.

I know have a more extensive online SHOP on my website which is growing. Also a range of felt making kits suitable for adults and children. Having completed pieces I am selling them in my SHOP.

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  Student’s doggie

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  Student’s lovable pooch

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Felt Creations – Pictures, bags, slippers, scarves and needle felted animals.
Adults and children’s parties and workshops

Tie dyeing workshops -July/August 2020

Creative Kits

The kits can be purchased from my online shop either by going to the Shop section of the navigation or by clicking the link I’ve added to the home page. You’ll also notice that gift vouchers have been extended from 6 months to 12 months to allow time for the epidemic to subside and life to return to normal. Hopefully, it won’t take anywhere near that long – but let’s not tempt fate!

I have also started work on making online training courses for those of you who would like to see a demonstration of how to use a particular kit. Youtube

Gift Vouchers

This past month has not all been fun and games for Feltworld. Understandably, course bookings are down due to the restrictions, but at least if you can’t get out to the shops to buy something special for a friend or relative, see gift vouchers which will give a special person something to look forward to when things calm down.

I took this picture in France
Another disappointment was having to postpone the felt making teaching retreat in France that I was due to lead this summer.
Oh well, there’s always next year! If interested, please enquire.

On-line tutoring. I have started making online training courses for those of you who would like to see a demonstration of how to start a particular kit.

My workshops are held around the Stafford area ST19, as wellthroughout the Midlands and worldwide on enquiry. If you have any enquires please ask via www.feltworld.co.uk

Links: www.Instagram.com/Barbara_Feltworld

https://www.facebook.com/www.feltworld.co.uk/

www.Pinterest.com/Barbara-Feltworld

Feltmaking & Batik Painting Workshops

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My summer so far:

Well this week’s heat wave has been a challenge, although a beautiful start to the summer holidays and time to spend in the garden or prepare for the holidays. But I have been working away throughout with doors and windows wide open. I did have to stop at one point as my brain had had enough of trying to concentrate for too long on my designs. That and promoting feltmaking & batik painting creative workshops etc., but I am in no means complaining… long may the summer last.

At this point I want to just say, I am an artist and not a writer and am quite new to the world of Blogging. I am constantly told that it is sooo important to blog but a fog comes over me every time so I asked myself the question below that I hear from people in conversation, so I am briefly touching on, ”What do you want to achieve when attending a creative work”? Please bear with me and suggest things that you would like to see from Feltworld. Some tips and comments would help but please no business marketing!

Questions to ask

The most common questions to people are:

What do you want to achieve when attending a creative workshop in feltmaking & batik painting?

The person who participates in a creative activity usually joins me as they have an interest in the arts and crafts, have always wanted to learn but never had the time or opportunity to have some time out just for themselves. It often takes someone else to do the nudging who buys them a gift voucher to attend one of my days …then they are on the road to wanting to be more creative. Here are a few examples of what can be made and I have videos on my website …more coming very soon.

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  Student’s lovable pooch

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  Student’s doggie

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  Sad hare day

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  Student’s batik painting

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  Me Batiking

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  Batik for Granddaughter

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  Landscapes-Half Day

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  Children’s Parties

Fancy having a relaxing experience & create something for yourself?

The common thing that takes place with people I find is they get great pleasure in the whole making process, it is great to watch peoples faces as they concentrate and go silent in the making process. The chatter is vibrant and upbeat for at least the first hour but then the serious design work and emersion in to the process begins. This is when I quietly step back, watch and guide ..make a cup of tea and take a few photographs/videos.

I provide a whole day experience so as people can just turn up and enjoy the experience without worrying about making a packed lunch and all materials, cake and a light lunch are provided so you just have to bring yourself and a few design ideas, just be open minded and have a fun day, the bonus is that you’ll learn something new, be with like minded people and leave with a fabulous unique piece of artwork.

My students often comment on how they can put aside everyday worries and enjoy a relaxing day creating something unique – many describe their time with me as therapeutic as well as a bit of escapism from everyday life, time to indulge in a bit of me time!

My Creative Experiences

On a personal note, being creative has a strong effect on my life and basically makes me feel good, oh how I can lose myself when I am designing alone and allow myself that rare creative day. I also attend workshops to keep my skills updated with new techniques, and to have fun of course! It simply has to be done doesn’t it :-).

But I love to help create memories for people and be involved in their creative journey, I really enjoy sharing my skills, meeting people and hearing their stories along the way. What is there not to love when teaching subjects that make people happy.

My most popular Feltmaking class is felt pictures where students create a beautiful landscape picture using either the wet felt or needle felt technique. They can even combine the two! 

I run half day and full day experiences, give talks to groups on my International creative travel experiences -see here for more information: https://www.feltworld.co.uk/rug-making-in-turkey as well as running children’s parties and creative hen parties….oh these are fun!

My workshop gift vouchers can be found here but please contact me if you have any questions: https://www.feltworld.co.uk/gift-vouchers

A few dates for yourdiary or please do follow me on social media to see more information.

Feltmaking-pictures or animals: 9^th,18^th,, 29^th  August and more

Batik painting- 28^th August 4^th August 10^th August  17^th August,8^th September

 www.feltworld.co.uk 

Instagram: Barbara–Feltworld

Pinterest- Barbara_Feltworld

FB: Feltworld –Creative Art Courses

Please do leave a short message. It is always good to see who is following me.

Batik painting

Barbara x

Creativity is Having Fun

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In the words of Albert Einstein “Creativity is Intelligence having fun“. And Sir Ken Robinson said “Creativity is putting your imagination to work, and it’s produced the most extraordinary results in human culture”. These are my two favourite quotes.

Creativity – it’s good for you

Finding time to do something new and creative in a relaxed environment has many benefits besides the satisfaction of making a unique piece of artwork. Participating in creative activities is well recorded to relieve stress, and I must agree that this is the case when I have been under pressure; I get my sketchbook and paints out and focus on the creative process for a while. There is a lot of information on the web if you care to take a look.

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  I had great fun using charcoal and pencil

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  I loved painting this little fellow in watercolours

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  Finger painting haha

Our priorities change over time

As interests have changed throughout life; family have flown the nest, two grandchildren arrive, and with several different career paths, now I ask myself, is the creative career path I am following the right one? I ponder this question regularly after leaving a job to become a self-employed artist/educator rather than teaching in mainstream education. The answer is varied, but most often it’s a Yes, I made the right decision! Still loving to educate people but without the restrictions and red tape! And developing my own work, though that sometimes takes a back seat to my business.

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  Bali- Not quite a holiday.
  Teaching May 2019-Charity Event.

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  Sunny side houses Inspired by my visit to Portmeirion Village, nrth Wales on a cloudy day.

Being creative has a strong effect on my life and is a great happiness booster, I love to help create memories for people, being involved in their creative journey, if only for a short while. My students often comment on how they can put aside everyday worries whilst creating something unique in my classes – many describe their time with me as therapeutic as well as a bit of escapism from everyday life. A chance to indulge in a bit of me time!

Giving a creative experience

Workshop gift vouchers sell like never before as so many people are now buying creative experiences as gifts opposed more things for the home! My most popular Feltmaking class is the beginners Felt Picture making where students create a beautiful landscape picture using either the wet felt or needle felt technique, often combining the two! The beautiful colours of the wool fibres are mixed together like an artist mixes paints, it is an amazing technique that really must be experienced to appreciate it. Students leave more relaxed and take home a lovely piece of artwork to frame or often they over a book or diary, give as a gift. But you can also make slippers, bag, scarf, footstool etc on a full day too. https://www.feltworld.co.uk/gift-vouchers

Dividing my time

Life is quite a juggling act for me, and as I work from home I find that the distractions are immense. Do I redecorate that room, rearrange my wardrobe, spend the day gardening, shopping, having a coffee with a friend… turns in to 3/4 hours! family etc you understand where I’m coming from lol! I have to try very hard to remain focused in dividing my time between the business side i.e. marketing, promoting, writing articles and then the fun side comes later of running creative classes.

Far and wide

Family and friends who live at opposite ends of the country often meet halfway and do feltmaking or batik for the day before having a meal together and going in opposite directions again. I have had visitors from Australia, Jordan, Canada, Australia and the US attend my classes when they have been visiting family or on their travels. I enjoy listening to people’s stories and sharing stories too and often we have a laugh as well as deep concentrated moments during the design process. What is there not to love when teaching subjects that make people happy…I love my job!

Creative parties for children

Children’s parties or small groups are good fun too.

I will send you information on request: email – Barbara@feltworld.co.uk

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  Children’s private classes in painting, multi media or feltmaking

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  Birthday parties and group bookings available

Book a creative day with Barbara

My courses run throughout the year and cover wet felt making, needle felt making, Nuno scarf making (these are really lovely and wearable too), as well as Batik painting using quite an addictive very old technique of designing with hot wax and then painting your material. See the link below.

For more details, course dates, and secure online booking follow the links below. I look forward to meeting you.

• Wet felt making
• Needle felt making
• Nuno scarf making
• Batik painting

If you have any questions, please do ask.

Barbara

Artist is back from Bali

Artist is back from Bali    

Wow, what an experience I had in Bali, I have been back for 4 weeks now and thought that I would share a little snippet of it with you below.

Bali is a country I fell in love with three years ago, as an artist I have been longing to return. My friends have heard nothing else for 3 whole years…Bali Bali Bali lol.

After a big birthday which was quite an anticlimax, I decided that my year was going to be a year of change and an adventure was needed. So when the opportunity arose and an opening to teach feltmaking and to develop my batik painting business, I was so excited and couldn’t wait to book my flights out there.

What do I love about Bali?

What do I love about Bali? Well, lots of things and I will briefly explain a few things that just jumped out at me! Firstly Bali is a beautiful Island surrounded by warm turquoise seas with a backdrop of mountains and Jungles. Ubud is a favourite of mine, away from the coastline it is known as the centre for traditional arts, crafts and dance as well as yoga retreats.

A bustling town, vibrant markets, busy shops, rice paddies, Hindu temples, a palace, beautiful gardens discreetly hidden amongst it all, this place is both crazy but peaceful as well. Enter a restaurant and you are in a little oasis overlooking rice fields. The taste of the delicious fresh food gets the taste buds tingling and an added bonus is it’s so inexpensive to eat there.

Accommodation

The enchanting homestay accommodation, hotels are varied, the Balinese people are so friendly, positive and spiritual, they are very welcoming and can not do enough to make sure you have everything you need.

Wouldn’t you just want to return as I did! Frankly – for me, it is a creative heaven and retreat to keep my creative mojo alive and I loved every bit of my 6 weeks experience!

Feltmaking in Bali for Charity.

I really miss my new friends in Bali- But Facebook is a wonderful thing!

I joined a group of talented artists who live in Bali, we participated in a collaborative charity event. Teaching our subjects to the public we raised 3 million IDR which paid to support a family in great need of food and medicine in a small village 3 hours north of Ubud.

See video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWQsyP-0b3U&fbclid=IwAR0qbPFCSc7YtnXZyLeU2Q1-F0e-yXE2lqx2ulL-HhbqqCb8n-UySynz2yI

The Onion Collective raise money every month for a family in need. I can’t wait to go back next year to support them again. Feel free to donate via their page.

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My Batik Bali Experience.

Being surrounded by artists in a creative country is so inspiring, I teach Batik but I was particularly excited to develop my skills and learn from the Batik masters, attending 6 different course venues I quickly decided on my favourite and attended a further 4 day days with a particular one.

Batik, for those of you not familiar with the technique, it involves making marks on cloth using hot wax with a tool called a tjanting, it collects wax and slowly releases hot wax when drawn onto the cloth. Dyes are then used to add colour to your design. The wax is removed, leaving incredible, unique artwork that can be used as wall art.

My beginner’s classes

My beginner’s classes are very popular and people are always surprised at what they create, leaving with artworks to frame.

Developing my practice

It is important for me to develop new skills and practice; I am currently experimenting with incorporating felt with batik and discovering how the two natural fibres react when incorporated.

The six weeks of indulgent creativity were fantastic and an inspiring, transformative, and truly a wonderful experience. I will be taking a group of people there on a creative retreat next Spring.

If you are interested in finding more information, please contact mail@feltworld.co.uk
www.feltworld.co.uk
Facebook: Feltworld – Creative Art Courses
Instagram: Barbara_feltworld

Gift Vouchers are available, please click here: www.feltworld.co.uk/courses

My July Workshops. I will be donating 10% of your fee to the Onion Collective Charity.

Barbara Simmons Meek