Some banner felting results:

Feltmaking

We had a busy day in LlanfairTH on Sunday, 9th. November:  as part of the preparations for our 30th Anniversary next year we have decided to make a new felt banner.  We don't have a definite design yet, but seem to have arrived at the idea of a "Tree of Life" as a basis (this may change!).  So, today we were busy making leaves in felt.  Some of us made traditional "wet" felt pieces while others had a go at needle-felting.  Jenni and Bryn had been on a short course, and passed on their experience to others.  A few needles were broken, and a few fingers were stabbed during the process of repeatedly and rapidly prodding fleece to make felt, but everyone had a very productive time.  Some bolder souls had a go at three-dimensional work and produced some impressive rodents and insects.  Let's hope there will be room on the banner for everything.

Several people took photographs, and I'm hoping they will post them.  In the meantime, here are my poor efforts which were badly affected by the red light from the heaters.

"Wet" felting, with water (yes, really) and soap.

Needle felting on a piece of foam rubber.

AC

A windy evening in October

Autumn has set in now and the evenings are dark, although it is still surprisingly warm for October.  The wind was roaring along when we met in Abergele on Monday.  Attendance was excellent despite the weather, and we also had three visitors who were intrigued to see what we were all doing.
Plans are afoot for our Friendship Day in April, which inaugurates our 30th anniversary.  We are also thinking about a new felt banner to replace the old one, which is showing signs of wear.  Jenny F. has kindly donated a felted fleece for the background, and Krithia and Helen have been asked to lend their experience in feltmaking to get things going.
Thanks to all who attended, and thanks to Val and Jenny for the cake!  Thanks also to Helen for taking the photographs.

Merino & silk (I think) and drop spindles.

AC

Loom Day, Sunday 19th. October

Peg looming for beginners and experts proved very entertaining.  We tried spun yarn of the chunky variety and unspun rovings. The aim was to produce small mats for stool seats. The soft rovings will need felting to make them serviceable.

The inkle loom did not get used that day, but provoked  interest: it needs a dedicated session another time. Other looms, table top and children's miniature rigid heddle,  were also abandoned in favour of the pegs.

Bryn T.

A brand new peg loom in action:  long threads are attached to the bottom of the pegs to act as a warp.  The weft is wound in and out by hand, and before the pegs get "full" they are taken out one by one and the warp is pushed down along the weft.  (The holes in the block are there to support the pegs.  The warp doesn't go through them.)

Inkle loom

Weaving removed from the peg loom.  The weft has been pushed down tightly and the warp threads have been tied to prevent it unravelling.

SUNDAY LOOMS - OCTOBER 19TH.

Llanfair Talhairarn Community Hall 19 October 10 - 4 Our theme for the 19th is weaving, with as many portable looms as we can manage present in the Hall. Please bring yours, to showwork on and and tell. Bring wheels, etc. if you want to vary your day and a packed lunch. Members £5

Natural Dyeing in Prion

We assembled at Krithia's house on a cold August Sunday for a day of experimentation with natural dyes, and had an enjoyable time despite the bitter north wind.  We all brought small samples of various fibres (mostly wool, of course, and a little bit of silk) pre-mordanted with alum. Krithia had worked hard to prepare a series of dye vats using unusual plants including "black" elder and berberis berries; other people provided their own contributions, from marigolds to fresh persicaria (Dyers knotweed) leaves.  Our dye kitchen was set up under the tree house - a glorious structure mounted on telegraph poles, with a large paved area underneath.

Despite some setbacks - the wind blew out the gas stove and we blew the fuses in the house when we overloaded the circuits (easily fixed in these days of modern fuseboxes)  - we achieved a goodly number of colourful simmering vats. The use of ammonia as a modifier produced some intensely bright colours, and the aforementioned black elder gave an amazingly vibrant green. Helen kindly demonstrated her cold persicaria vat, which yielded an exquisite turquoise on silk. 

In the foreground:  the cold persicaria vat sitting and incubating.

(demonstrating the differences between unmordanted fibre on the left, and fibre pre-treated with alum mordant on the right)

The list of dyestuffs:  Eucalyptus, Dahlia , Black elder leaves, marigold petals, Walnut, Persian berries and Persicaria tinctoria.
The list of colours, not in order: yellow, green, turquoise, brown......
And of course, we had plenty of  time for lunch, tea and cake.  With assistance from Hattie the Labrador.

A.C.