Foundations in Felt

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Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Classes, classes, classes…

A felting class at the Harpeth Art Center

One of my favorite things about being a fiber artist is teaching. I LOVE to teach, and it's one thing I never want to stop doing. Introducing someone to a new fiber art, or watching the light bulb come on for a student who finally gets the thing they have been struggling with… such a thrill!! People love to learn that they can make a beautiful and amazing thing.

Of course, I also currently work a full time job as an environmental engineer, so I don't have as much time to teach as I would like. I am teaching a 2-hour workshop on nalbinding this week for our local chapter of the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA). Classes I teach for the SCA and for my local Handweavers Guild are part of the way I support these organizations.

For the more public teaching side, I have taught make-and-take felting mini-workshops for kids and adults at places like the Discovery Center,  Watkins College of Art, and the Art department at MTSU.
I have also enjoyed teaching longer workshops in felting, spinning, knitting, nalbinding, etc. at art and craft centers like Sarratt Studios, the Harpeth Art Center, and the John C. Campbell Folk School. In fact, I have another weekend workshop on the schedule to teach nalbinding at the Folk School next June. And I have also taught classes at yarn shops, fiber festivals, and even taught some classes at Joann's for a while.

Wow! I forget how many classes I have taught until I sit down and make a list! And there are still other places I'd still like to teach. My wish list includes the Black Sheep Gathering, Arrowmont, the Appalachian Center for Craft, Penland, the North House Folk School, Vesterheim, and Convergence. I look forward to making many new friends and meeting up with some old ones in the near future! and if you have a few friends and would like me to come teach a class, please let me know. I'll put a list of classes I teach on my website in the near future.  

We have so many amazing places to connect, learn, and create!

Sunday, August 13, 2017

Events and happenings

Greetings to all my felt and fiber lovers!
Felt News
August 2017
Nalbinding class at the Folk School, April 2016
Classes!
My next scheduled class will be Nalbinding, June 8-10, 2018 at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC. This class typically fills up, so don't wait to sign up! The catalog at the Folk School is amazing, so don't miss a chance to go to "summer camp for grownups". :-)

I have a number of weekends available this winter to teach, and I love teaching, so if you have an idea for a class, guild workshop, or whatever, feel free to contact me! I teach felting, nuno felting, knitting, nalbinding, spinning, fleece prep/carding/combing, and tablet weaving.

Current Work In Progress - toe-up socks together on one long circular
WIP
I have several things in the works:

My Etsy store (laurafelts) actually has everything listed that I have finished and available! WOW!! Now I'm in the process of improving my photos and listings, and adding new items for the fall. I also take custom orders, although I don't have any listed, but feel free to contact me with any questions or requests.

I have been knitting since I was 5 years old, and pretty much non-stop since some time in high school. I typically design my own sweaters these days, so I am working on writing up the designs, making youtube videos of techniques I use, and documenting my projects on Ravelry. My youtube channel is LauraFelts1, and my Ravelry profile is LauraFelts! (Are you sensing a theme here? LOL) My latest video (which got added to the wrong channel, because I am still YouTube challenged!) is Knitting Back Backwards. Because entrelac leg warmers…

I'll be looking for my friends on social media!!

Out and About
If you live in the Middle Tennessee area, please put these events on your calendar!

Weaving: Eastern Tennessee's Part in History
When: Saturday, August 19, 2017 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Where: Bellevue (Nashville Public Library)
The Handweavers Guild of Tennessee welcomes author and weaver Philis Alvic for a presentation on Arrowcraft Weaving in Gatlinburg, and other weaving centers of eastern Tennessee

Also Saturday, October 21 is Fiber in the Boro, our fall Fiber Festival extraordinaire! 

Thanks for reading and I look forward to seeing and hearing from you! 

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Sunday, April 23, 2017

April Showers… Etsy… and Socks!

Happy Spring to all my fiber fans. It has been a cold and wet weekend, but at least I have had a chance to work on my purple socks!! I am working on both socks at the same time, one from each end of a large skein of sock yarn. My plan is to keep knitting until I run out of yarn, and it's looking like I may have knee highs by the time they are done!
I have at least 4 more sock projects in my sock project bag, so I'm going to keep knitting! These are my travel project, so I typically only work on them in waiting rooms, on trips, or when I get stuck in traffic.

I am not currently doing craft fairs, since my schedule doesn't really permit it. I am posting a lot more of my work for sale on my Etsy page, however, so I invite you to head over there to see what I have been up to.  Would you believe, belly dance costumes and belts? I'm not doing much bellydancing these days, and neither is my bestie, Kim, who I made some gorgeous costumes for a few years back! So much beading!!!! (This is why I now own a large floor stand magnifier light. Ha ha ha!)


I have my latest newsletter - if you would like to be added to my newsletter email list please let me know through my contact page! I'll only send them out once a quarter (if I meet my goal) so don't worry. And I'm not savvy enough to sell my email list, plus I would never do that to my friends!

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Tuesday, January 24, 2017

SCA Hat Class Fun!

Hello felt fans!

I just wanted to share some of the hats my students made on Saturday at Menhir, a local 1-day medieval living history event in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. There were a number of classes and activities held over the course of the day, including drop-spinning, sprang, and of course, felt hat making! The Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) gets full credit for taking me from "I knit" to "I do ALL the fiber things!!!" so beware if you find yourself drawn to it! These hats and 3 more were made in 2 hours and not one person had any previous felting experience!




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Tuesday, February 21, 2012

I am working on a long post about my very ambitious jacket project, which will have lots of photos and nice touches.  But I also wanted to just gush a little bit about how excited I am about my newest commission!  I brought some new work over to Sugaree's clothing boutique on the square in Murfreesboro, and got a chance to talk to one of Staci's employees that I hadn't met before.  After looking at my work that incorporates the silk chiffon scarves into vests and collars, she envisioned a strapless gown for her prom dress!  So I am spending the week dyeing and designing - more updates to come!!