Felting program resumes at Clay on Main
Clay on Main will resume it’s felting program this fall. Felting is a fun and easy way to create everything from clothing to artwork. A Needle Felting Workshop will be held on Saturday Oct. 14 from 10 a.m. to noon. Artist Sandra Britland will teach students to create artful pumpkins and acorns using both wet felting and needle felting techniques. Some felting or sculpture experience would be helpful but not necessary All skill levels are welcome. Material fee includes tools and materials for this project.
Beginning Oct. 24, Britland will teach Painting With Felt on the third Tuesday of each month. Each session of this four-week series builds on the work from the previous week. Students will create a wall hanging or picture using a variety of felting techniques. You will create a background, add needle felted details, add wet felted details, plus learn finishing techniques to make your project ready for display. You will have the opportunity to take your project home to add to it between classes. Let your creativity loose while learning to paint with wool. Appropriate for beginners as well as experienced felters.
The drop-in Wool Club will resume on the third Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon of each month beginning in October. Like an old-fashioned sewing circle, bring the fiber project that you are working on to the club meeting. Talk with other fiber artists about your projects and interests. Learn and get feedback from other members.
As with all art forms, Britland discovered felting through a journey that started with knitting and crocheting. “I have loved working with fibers my entire life having learned to sew at five years old. When my aunt taught me how to crochet, that introduced me to the world of yarn. It was soon after that that my mother gave me a wooden knitting box my father had made for his mother. It wasn’t long until I was teaching myself to knit. I still have that box stuffed full of knitting needles and tools. Knitting continues to be a passion, but now I intersperse my knitting projects with spinning and needle felting.” She has felted pumpkins, bunnies, gnomes, angels, snowmen, Santas and other 3 D figures, but her passion is birds. “I wish I could explain my affinity for birds but I can’t,” Britland explains. “All I know is that once I start felting a bird, I seem to find it’s personality in the tangled wool fibers.”
The workshop fee is $40 with an additional $10 material fee. The class series is $150. Workshop and class size is limited so pre-registration is requested. The Wool Club is a $5 donation. Clay on Main is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit artists’ cooperative, located at 313 Main St. in the historic village of Oley. The studio offers, classes, workshops, and gallery space for local artists. Clay on Main houses a complete clay studio, fused and stained glass studio, an encaustic studio, and a photographic darkroom. The Gallery hours are 1 to 4 p.m. Sundays, or by appointment. The studio can be contacted at 610987-0273 or clayonmain@ gmail.com . A detailed schedule of studio events can be found at www. clayonmain.org or Facebook.