A Disney Production

Designer M Foss

Surprised?  Not what you expected?  You shouldn't be.  After all, this is the 11th Southern Hemisphere Felting Convergence 2011 Blog so fabulous felt is the theme.

Meet Disney -

Disney

Yes he's the most gorgeous prize winning alpaca and his fleece created the beautiful wrap at the beginning of this post.

Alpaca creates delightful soft felt.  It takes a little longer to work with but the luxurious result is worth the little extra effort.

Wrap Detail

Designer M Foss

Disney and his family live at Rock View Alpacas in Harvey, Western Australia.  It looks a fun place -

Disney, Ned and his mum Snowflake at home

What are they doing?  Looks like they are watching TV  - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs perhaps?  Bambi?  - no that's too sad.

Actually, we are told it was a really hot day and the door was open so they came in and stood in front of the air conditioner!

Felt on the Radio - update

If you missed the broadcast on ABC South West Radio then see here for Fun with Felt.

Felt on the Radio

Listen to South West Mornings with Genine Unsworth on ABC Radio South West to hear us on her show talking about felt, the Take a Seat Exhibition and the 11th Southern Hemisphere Felting Convergence.

We'll be broadcast around 11.35 am on Thursday 26th August Western Australian time - that's GMT plus 8 hours.

Tune in on the Internet by going to this ABC page or tune your radio in to 684 AM if you are local.

Felting Inspiration - The Garden

A garden is a wonderful place for inspiration.  Just walk outside and you are  sure to find something that will get your fingers itching to get round some wool roving.  It's a certain cure for felter's block.

Just look at this canna lily.

What colour!  They can be recreated with a little help from Kraftkolour's excellent Landscape Dyes.  We chose Citrus, Grevillea and Wattle.

Then a little felting-

Voila, the finished piece-

Or should we say canna!

And The Winner Is...

We put the names from the comments entered under our post of 28th July into a felt hat and with a drum roll drew out the name of Felted Kiwi.

Rather appropriate as the New Zealand Felter runs her own blog under the title The Frugal Kiwi - Live Well Spend Less.  Well you're definitely succeeding Ms Frugal as you are going to enjoy the latest issue of Felt Magazine without having to fork out for it at the newsagent. Just email  your postal address  to us at feltconvergence@gmail.com and it will be on its way to you.

For everyone else -  have a look at The Frugal Felt blog.  It has all sorts on it from felt to food so check it our here.

Creatures from the Deep

Continuing our look at things that live in the waters that surround Bunbury and appear in our felt creations; one of our favourites is the beautiful elegant sting rays that can sometimes be seen sunning themselves on hot afternoons in shallow water.

By Jean Braund

These felt fish were created by Davida Palmer from a Judit Poc workshop.

By D Palmer

D Palmer

This shoal of fish was made by Sue Seaman.  Each fish is about 80 cm long.  The felt was hand dyed to get the right colour  and then machine embroidered to give the effect of scales.  The fins and tails were made from organdy; again machine stitching was added.  Each fish had a metal wire inserted into the body and held by a block of wood.

"Will This Be All The Future Holds, Memories and Shoals of Fabric Fish"
by S Seaman

The finished piece was entered into the 1998 South West Survey.

Something Fishy Going On

Bunbury is a regional  port city of Western Australia situated 175 kilometres south of Perth.  It is protected from the Indian Ocean by the Leschenault Inlet, which opens to Koombana Bay a popular swimming and sailing spot.

Image Tourism Western Australia

Not surprisingly our watery surroundings often provide the inspiration for some of our felt creations.

Take this small sample for example, created many years ago by Gloria Truman -

More recently Lorraine McArthur made this sampler at a FeltWest workshop run by Catherine O'Leary

Good felt requires the fibres to meld right the way through the fabric and Lorraine passes this test with flying  fish colours!

Lorraine can do big fish as well as she shows with this chair -

Now for more underwater creatures - this jelly fish created by Val Hornibrook-

Look at the detail -

If you want to be inspired by water then there are plenty of things to do around the coast of Bunbury.  One of the most amazing local attractions are the dolphins of Koombana Bay.  Such a big dolphin population has resulted in the creation of our Dolphin Discovery Centre - Australia's first dedicated research centre.

Image Tourism Western Australia

Here you can organise to swim with the dolphins.  An amazing experience and definitely one to do when you finish felting at the 11th Southern Hemisphere Felting Convergence in October 2011.

Image Tourism Western Australia

Looking forward to seeing all your watery work there.

You are Invited to Take a Seat

There is a beautiful exhibition of felted chairs opening today at Cafe Fez, 18-20 Princep Street, Bunbury, Western Australia.

The exhibition is titled "Take a Seat" and is a quirky, fun and colourful collection of high quality textile art.  The exhibition is presented by the Bunbury Felters group and includes many items for sale.

If you are in the area please come and join us over coffee and cake to view this delightful vibrant display and enjoy Cafe Fez's excellent choices of food and drinks whilst you "Take a Seat".

The exhibition runs from Sunday 8th August to Friday 3rd September 2010.

Venue: Cafe Fez, 18-20 Princep Street, Bunbury, Western Australia.

Where Are They Now - Claire Woolhouse

After our post on the 18th of May we were delighted to receive an email from Claire Woolhouse who had identified herself on the group photo.

Attendees of 1st Bunbury Felting Convergence 1994

Claire tells us that she is the young girl with long red hair standing right of centre with a black jumper on. She was just 19 years old and at university studying Art. The process involved in felting is what first attracted her to felting.  She loved the challenge of working on large scale pieces and would then use shibori techniques with indigo dye to add pattern and depth.

Claire now lives in the South West and teaches art.  She still felts and teaches felting  to her students.  She says they really enjoy it, especially the messy parts!

We totally understand, there is something magical about making your own cloth out of nothing but wool fibres, water and soap.

Thank you so much for telling us your story Claire and we look forward to seeing you at the next Bunbury Felting Convergence in October 2011.

If you recognise yourself in the group photo of 1994 please email us at feltconvergence@gmail.com and let us know what you have been doing since then.

Felt Exhibition Opening Soon

There is a beautiful exhibition of felted chairs opening at 2.00pm 8th August 2010 at Cafe Fez, 18-20 Princep Street, Bunbury.

The exhibition is titled "Take a Seat" and is an all age appropriate collection of high quality textile art. The exhibition is presented by the Bunbury Felters group and includes many items for sale.

If you are in the area please come and view this colourful and vibrant display and enjoy Cafe Fez's excellent choices of food and drinks whilst you " Take a Seat ".

The exhibition runs from Sunday 8th August to Friday 3rd September 2010.

Venue: Cafe Fez, 18-20 Princep Street, Bunbury, Western Australia