Happy International Day of Felt

Isn't it fitting that the eve of the 11th Southern Hemisphere Felting Convergence has been officially declared as the 3rd International Day of Felt?  We couldn't have planned it better ourselves.

Pop over to www.feltunited.com to find out all about this wonderful felting event and how you can be part of it.

We'll be a bit busy today getting ready for our week of felting but here's a piece we made earlier -

Detail from Shawl by Lorraine McArthur

The Bizarre Bazaar - Suitcase Exhibition

At 7.00pm on Wednesday 5th October the Cafeteria at the Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School will be transformed into a busy eastern souk .

This is a great opportunity to sell your work. Bring your suitcase full of creations and open it up for sale. Even combine with others if you have only a few items.

Items do not need to be felt, they can be any medium.  If you have some special things in your stash that are excess to your needs consider bringing them along so that others get the chance of enjoying and using them.  You can then use the money you raise to buy more things for your stash!!  

There is no charge for participating – we want lots and lots of suitcases to create a fun enjoyable evening for all.

 Please remember to invite your friends and family to join us. Just direct them to this blog - the information regarding the event is all at the top of the right hand side bar.

See you there.

Unique Perspectives

Opening today at the BUNBURY REGIONAL ART GALLERIES , UNIQUE PERSPECTIVES: TWO SOLO EXHIBITIONS – Felted work by Helen O’Hare (Ireland), and Joomchi Paper Works by Jiyoung Chung (USA/Korea).

Brilliant, expressive, inspiring work representing the diversity of textile and fibre art across the world. This exhibition is brought to us by Bunbury Regional Art Galleries in partnership with Fibres West 2011.

Convergence attendees will be enjoying a trip to view it as we have organised a break from felting to visit.

Helen O'Hare Gallery Shot

Helen O'Hare Detail

Jiyoung Chung Information Courtesy TAFTA

UNIQUE PERSPECTIVES opens today and runs from 23 September – 13 November 2011. 

Please Dress Matilda

As we have mentioned, we really need your help to make the Convergence Fashion Parade a success.

We have the auditorium, photographer, models and music but only 49 attendees have so far  indicated that they will be providing garments for it! We need you to bring your creations to make this a fabulous night of fashion.

You don’t need a complete outfit to participate. Remember that accessories are the key to fabulous dressing so please bring your scarves, bags, hats and wraps. These will all create amazing looks for the catwalk.  There is no limit on the number of pieces you can enter into the Fashion Parade so pack plenty as the more pieces there are the bigger and better the event will be.   Don’t be shy, this is your fashion night so be part of it.
We really don't want to hear those dreaded words "my stuff's not good enough".  So be confident in your creations; you will be so pleased you participated when you see your things out out on the catwalk.
 You can model your own garment or have it paraded by the models that we will be providing. 

Matilda will be so pleased to have something to wear.

Meet Carole

Some of us recently did a workshop with Carole Redlich  a talented textile artist who now lives in Alvie, Victoria.  (Previously she lived here in WA and used to work at the Thread Studio).

Carole's "Shadow Lands"  workshop was all about creating sculpture from fishing lines and translucent plastics -

One of Carole's intricate translucent sculptures

Yes, it's the exact opposite of felt, but of course we immediately spotted Carole's stunning felt jacket -

Turns out Carole is a keen felter and loves to create in this soft dense opaque medium too.   

Jacket Detail



She's recently been exhibiting some of her felt wearable art creations and has kindly shared the following pictures with us -

Outback Tracks

Outback Tracks jacket detail

Red Rocks Reserve Dress

Felted Flowers Jacket

Felted Flowers Detail

Cut Back Shawl Detail

Wedding Vest

Looks like next time we will be booking a felting workshop with Carole.  She's an experienced machine embroiderer too and combines these techniques as you can see, to make some amazing garments.

Carole says "My work is always developmental. I grow with every new piece I make, I love the stimulation, and challenge of creating a new piece of work and the agony of resolution. I have exhibited widely and love teaching and sharing with others. My workshops are diverse and entertaining, covering a wide range of topics (experimental stitch, felting, wire jewellery, pattern stitching and laminating plastics to name a few!). There is always a new adventure around the corner and a new red herring to follow"!

We had great fun in her Shadow Lands workshop and have no reservations in recommending  her as a tutor.  Her website www.caroleredlich.com  is not operating at the moment but if you want to get in touch with Carole email her at  carole.redlich@aapt.net.au.

Have You Packed Your Suitcase for Bazaar Night?

On Wednesday 5th October at 7.00pm we will be opening up our suitcases for

The Bizarre Bazaar Suitcase Exhibition

The Cafeteria

Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School

5 Allen Road, Gelorup

We are asking all our participants to bring a suitcase full of creations and open it up for sale.  If you don't have enough pieces to fill a suitcase then bring them along and combine with your new convergence friends to run a combined suitcase.  Items do not need to be felt, they can be any medium so bring your handcrafted treasures and make this a really busy market place.

There is no charge for participating.

This event will be open to the public and we are busy promoting it - free entry and free parking.

If you have friends in the area make sure you let them know about it and encourage them to join us.

And most importantly - remember your suitcase.

Unique Perspectives Part III

The second textile artist on show at this exiting exhibition is Jiyoung Chung (USA/Korea) with her work titled Joomchi Paper Works.

Jiyoung Chung is a tutor at TAFTA's 2011 Geelong Forum and Janet de Boer of TAFTA has very kindly allowed us to reproduce this article from Textile Fibre Forum Issue 2, No 102, 2011 -

For more pictures of Jiyoung Chung's work click here.

UNIQUE PERSPECTIVES: TWO SOLO EXHIBITIONS – Felted work by Helen O’Hare (Ireland), and Joomchi Paper Works by Jiyoung Chung (USA/Korea) is presented by BUNBURY REGIONAL ART GALLERIES 23 September – 13 November2011, in partnership with Fibres West 2011.

Unique Perspectives Part II

If your head is still spinning from the size of Helen O'Hare's work in yesterdays post we have some more pictures for you but first - let's meet Helen-

Helen's Workshop

Clearly Helen needs a big space to work in when you consider the size of some of her exhibition pieces.  She's based in Northern Ireland and you can read more about her work by clicking here.

We have some more pictures of her work; these kindly sent to us by Janet de Boer of TAFTA (Australian Forum For Textiles Arts Ltd) -

Section of large piece.

Grey pink detail

Detail colour

1999 Felt work.

Helen's beautiful installation work will be on view at BUNBURY REGIONAL ART GALLERIES 23 September – 13 November 2011.  

Don't miss it!

Unique Perspectives Part I

Convergence participants may like to take a break from all the felting and have a trip out.

Bunbury Regional Art Galleries Photo By strasser©paul - Panoramio

We have therefore organised a trip to  BUNBURY REGIONAL ART GALLERIES , for you to enjoy  UNIQUE PERSPECTIVES: TWO SOLO EXHIBITIONS – Felted work by Helen O’Hare (Ireland), and Joomchi Paper Works by Jiyoung Chung (USA/Korea). Brilliant, expressive, inspiring work representing the diversity of textile and fibre art across the world.  This exhibition is brought to us by Bunbury Regional Art Galleries in partnership with Fibres West 2011, and runs from 23 September – 13 November 2011.

First lets look at Helen O'Hare who is a talented artist doing some amazing felt work as you can see from these photos which she very kindly sent us -

Gallery Shot

Detail

Detail

Detail

Gallery Shot

Gallery Shot

Look in tomorrow to see more of Helen's work.

Take a Break from Felting and Take a Trip of Bunbury

Photo - Tourism Western Australia

When you are at the Convergence you may like to take a break from all that felting and have a look around at some of the local attractions.

Photo - Tourism Western Australia

Local firm Royal Gala Tours operate a Bunbury Afternoon Tour every Wednesday afternoon.

Here's an excert from their brochure -

Join us at Royal Gala Tours and discover the history of Bunbury! 

Bunbury’s resident population of bottlenose dolphins are eager to make your acquaintance at the Dolphin Discovery Centre in Koombana Bay, Australia’s most ecologically aware dolphin experience.

Take in some local history at St Marks Picton Church, the second oldest church in Western Australia. Travel back in time when we visit the Dardanup Heritage Park, hosting one of Australia’s finest collections of heritage items, tractors and automobiles from our pioneering past.

We return to Bunbury via the panoramic views of the city from Boulters Heights.

The tour costs $55.00 and departs from Bunbury Visitor Centre 1.00pm and returns approximately 5.30pm

Photo - Tourism Western Australia

We'll be putting their brochure in your Convergence Registration Packet so if you want to play hooky you know where to go!

How to Make a Felt Koala Bear

Are you a Martha Stewart fan? 

Her website is full of amazing crafts including some felting ones.  We just found these  instructions for creating a needle felted koala bear. 

Image Martha Stewart

Click here for the instructions and do watch the video for all the details.

South West Fashion - Art to Wear Organic Fashion

The show is over.

Photo Toni C

We hope you enjoyed our fashion show. We certainly had fun and loved creating all the felt that you have seen on the beautiful models. 

A big thank you to all the gorgeous girls, to the hair and makeup artists, to our wonderful photographers - Toni C and Lyn Pix, to the Bunbury Felters for creating the garments, to Kerry Gelmi for organising us and to the fabulous team at Southwest Fashion Festival .  We couldn't have done it without you.

South West Fashion - Art to Wear Organic Fashion

Every good fashion show ends with a finale of bridal or evening wear and ours was no exception. 

This beautiful evening dress by Genevieve Snare who designs under the label Ingenue, is enhanced by a sculptural neck piece created by Kerry Gelmi.

And on these cold winter evenings a warm out layer is required.  Another dress by Genevieve Snare under the label Ingenue covered with this glamorous cloak by Val Hornibrook. 

All photos Lyn Pix

South West Fashion - Art to Wear Organic Fashion

This gorgeous nuno scarf is by Val Hornibrook

As you can see this piece is large enough to truly transform the classic black dress which is what the power of good accessories is really all about.

The precise lines illustrate Val's skill.  They are not easy to achieve as we felters know all too well.

All photos Toni C

South West Fashion - Art to Wear Organic Fashion

The winter season is now upon us and the mornings and evenings are definitely cold so this dramatic coat is just what we need.

Photo Lyn Pix

It's by designer Lorraine McArthur who is a very talented felter and produces lovely smooth even felt. 

Photo Toni C

Photo Toni C

Lorraine is also extremely good at working with colour as you can see.

Photo Toni C