Felt from the Convergence - Happy Australia Day

For readers in other lands - the 26th of January is Australia Day  - our official national day recognising the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788 at Sydney Cove.  It's commemorated with a public holiday and we thought we would celebrate the day with pictures of Australia's national emblem  - the kangaroo.

We are sorry we haven't recorded the name of the felt artist who created these gorgeous guys.  Please send us an email if you know so that we can credit them correctly.

They are glove puppets and they soon escaped from their tables in the felt display and started to entertain us.

They  joined us at our super cool 60's final dinner and were lots of fun.  They soon developed a taste for bubbles.

By the end of the evening they were well out of things but then again so were many of us.

It was a great night and a great Convergence.

But now with our summer holidays ending the Bunbury Felting Group have to get back to work and we will be having our first meeting of the year on Friday 3rd of February at the Stirling Street Arts Centre in Bunbury.  New members are welcome so please come along if you can - 9.30am - 3.00pm.

Felt from the Convergence

Keeping vigil outside the dining room were the "Four Elements" an installation created especially for the Convergence -

"Fire" was created by Davida Palmer who loves colour and dyeing so she had some fun creating this dynamic piece with felt and muslin.

Dot Oliver was the artist who created the mermaid like "Water".

Jacqui Gibson created "Air" a froth of felt shibori work.

And mother "Earth" created by Jean Braund.  Love the way the skirt is hitched  - this is the wild west after all!

The dye pots were in use when creating this piece as you can see.

 

 The Elements surrounded  a boat on their voyage to circle the globe.

 

This boat was very kindly created for us by the amazing weaver Pamela Grima.

 Pamela makes you look at your compost heap in an entirely different way and get you wondered why you chucked all that good stuff in there.  An hour with her and you are looking at your garden with a completely new eye.

 

 Just look at the bow detailed here -

We like to think that the "Four Elements" captured the essence of the 11th Southern Hemisphere Felting Convergence.  We need Air for life, the Earth grows our sheep and wool, Water is essential in the making of our felt and Fire is in our creative hearts and we forge both our craft and more importantly our friendships.

Felt from the Convergence

These 3 felt sculptures are by Katrina Virgona  -

From the FeltWEST display.

Felt from the Convergence

The fun of felt -

Artist - Annie Foy

Artist - Annie Foy

Artist - Annie Foy

Artist - Annie Foy

Artist - Annie Foy

Artist - Annie Foy

Felt from the Convergence

Masks-

By the ladies at The Spirited Hands Studio

By the ladies at The Spirited Hands Studio

Felt from the Convergence

Cup of tea anyone?

Please let us know who is the artist

What a great example of what's possible in felt sculpture.  From the FeltWEST display.

Felt from the Convergence

Look at this amazing vessel in the FeltWEST display.

Please let us know the artist.

Felt from the Convergence

We plan to continue to show you pictures from the 11th Southern Hemisphere Felting Convergence during January so please look in on us regularly to see the best of felt.

We haven't always got the names of the artist recorded so please send us an email if you know who it is so that we can credit the pieces correctly.

The black and white spotted scarf at the bottom of this picture is Rachel Meek's if we remember correctly but not quite sure of the wrap above.

Fabulous.

Happy New Year

As we welcome in 2012 we wish felters everywhere happy New Year.   May the year ahead be a peaceful and creative one.

Of course you will need a lovely outfit today for first footing at  the homes of friends and family and this beautiful wrap and bag would be perfect.

Designer ??

If  you are wondering about the unusual background - the picture was taken at the Convergence felt display which was located in the science block of the Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School.  No doubt those pipes are part of strange experiments !!

We hope you will continue visiting us in 2012.  We love to hear from you so please  leave us a comment from time to time and if you  know who is the designer of these stunning felt items please send us an email.

Christmas Felt

It's New Years Eve so look glamorous as you celebrate with this exquisite wrap to keep off the chill of the night.

Designer ??

From the Convergence felt display so please let us know who the designer of this wrap is.

Christmas Felt

Brighten up your home with these fun vessels.

Artist ??

Artist ??



Unfortunately we don't know who created them, so if you do please let us know by emailing feltconvergence@gmail.com.



Christmas Felt

Another great piece of felt art from the Convergence.

Christmas Felt

A lovely nuno scarf from the Convergence.

Christmas Felt

Autumn Orient by ?

Another beautiful textile picture.  If you know who the artist is please let us know.

Christmas Felt

This exquisite picture makes us think of a Christmas decoration.  Unfortunately we don't know who created it so if you do please let us know.

Christmas Felt

Artist Sue Seaman

Wishing you all a wonderful happy and safe Christmas.

Christmas Felt

We loved this picture and thought it entirely appropriate for Christmas Eve as it makes us think of the Three Wise Men on their way to Bethlehem, but we'd love to know the real story behind the picture.

Unfortunately we don't have the artists name so if you know who created it please email us so we can correctly credit the piece.

With our Heart Felt Good Wishes for Christmas

Like everyone else we will be busy over Christmas, so we thought we would entertain you over the next few weeks with pictures from the amazing 11th Southern Hemisphere Felting Convergence.

To start things off here's a gorgeous felt heart.

Felt Banner by Val Hornibrook

Convergence - Drama in the Classroom - Life and Death with Alpacas

Were you in Maureen Foss' tutorial on "Successful Felting with Alpaca"?   

Maureen was in full flow explaining the intricacy of including alpaca in your work when her phone rang.  It was her family letting her know that there was an alpaca emergency back on her farm - one of her lovely alpacas had gone into labour prematurely and there were difficulties with the birth.

Maureen had to leave immediately (leaving Kerry to improvise and finish the tutorial) and drive home to take charge.  Unfortunately the baby did not survive.

Worse still, the mother's health declined after the birth and she lost weight dramatically.  A visit to the vet was arranged and mommy alpaca secured on the back of the trailer.  She seemed fine but between arriving at the vets and the trailer being parked she died.  The autopsy showed that the poor alpaca had a huge tumour in her abdominal cavity.

But there is a happy ending to this sad story.

Another of Maureen's alpacas has given birth.

Photo - Shane Foss

This is their new baby Carmen with her mum Chelsea. 

Carmen is Chelsea's second baby or we should say "cria" which is the correct term for a baby alpaca.

Maureen says "it's great to have another girl to add to our breeding herd, the second for this year, plus two boys so far.  We had a run of 12 boys in a row prior to this".

Photo - Shane Foss

If you want to include alpaca in your felting work you can purchase high quality product from Maureen's farm  - Rock View Alpacas. 

A Convergence is Announced

Big news!!

The Illawarra Feltmakers have announced the dates of the 12th Southern Hemisphere Felting Convergence in New South Wales. 

Click here to get to their blog and read all about it.

Image from http://12thsouthernhemispherefeltingconverge.blogspot.com/