Happy New Year...

The lull between the Christmas holiday and the New Year is a good time

 to reflect and look back over the past year. 

We've been enjoying some wonderful wintery sunshine here and I took some felt 

down to the Bay to photograph in this amazing light... 

It's just a couple of minutes from the house 

and on days like this it's hard to believe 

that we do actually live in such a perfect place...

KC bought me a tablet for Christmas with the plan that a portable 

archive could be created for ALL my photographs... 

This has spurred me into sorting through thousands and thousands of photos 

which certainly have mounted up over the last few years...

BUT it's been a great opportunity to look back over this past year

so here's a snapshot of 2014...

Workshops at Spring Farm Alpacas in Sussex

with my Alpaca Hat winning 2nd prize in the National Show...

  

Lots of very colourful scarves and wraps...

New developments with hand stitching & beading...

Open Studios 2014 at Shalfleet & Quarr Abbey...

Outdoor experiments with natural dyes...

and scarf workshops at Quarr.

It's been another busy year and 2015 promises to be just as exciting

with lots more workshops planned here on the island and 

further afield in Sussex & London. 

Dates will be posted as soon as they are confirmed.

A very happy New Year to you all !!!

WINTER SOLSTICE...

Today marks the Winter Solstice and the shortest day of the year!

I'd like to share my Winter Tree with you - not a felt robin in sight -

just some wonderful decorations made by friends... 

 ... with the three wise mice sitting underneath!

It has been another very busy year 

and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you all for taking such 

an interest in all the felt making going on in the Isle of Wight...   

THANKS for coming along to all the shows we've held throughout the year, 

especially the Christmas Fairs which have been really special!  

THANKS for taking part in the workshops! 

Demand seems to grow from year to year and there are plans for more

 two-day weekend workshops at Shalfleet Village Hall in the spring,

 as well as single days at Quarr Abbey. 

Dates will be posted here in the New Year as soon as they are finalised.

THANKS to all my blog followers, where ever you are! 

I hope you all have a well-deserved peaceful Christmas holiday 

and I hope your 2015 will be happy, busy and very creative. 

SCARVES on ETSY!

 Just updated my ETSY shop with some new scarf designs...

I've called this one Red Parrot - felted from 100% pure Merino in 

brilliant reds, lime greens and turquoise blues. 

It really is unique, with small slashed holes along the length 

and feather shaped fringes at both ends... 

All these lattice scarves are felted with wonderful

 rich blends of hand-dyed wools.

They have lovely soft fringes which give a real organic feel ...

and they can be twisted & tied in many different ways

making them so easy to wear!

These nuno scarves have been felted using 

hand-dyed 100% pure Merino in subtle autumn shades!

You can find more details about all the scarves at

https://www.etsy.com/shop/gillianchapmanfelts

AND they are all available at very special introductory prices! 

SCARF WORKSHOP at QUARR...

On Saturday I held my first Scarf Workshop at Quarr Abbey in the Old Bookshop.
What a great day! I was so excited to be invited here - it's such a 
perfect location for a workshop...   

I had a lovely group too, some new and some familiar
 faces, full of enthusiasm for the day ahead.

Joanne (a brilliant fibre artist from Shunklies Fibre Studio in Sheffield) 

hand-dyed these hanks of merino specially for this workshop...

Working with such fantastic fibres makes the 
whole felting process a real pleasure. 

  

The Old Bookshop at Quarr makes a great workshop space.
Good light and plenty of room...

Lots of smiling faces at the end of a very enjoyable day...

and lots of wonderful scarves to take home!

And I even had time to enjoy the sunshine in the Abbey gardens.

I hope I am invited back for some more workshops.

 In the meantime there are still places available on the 

Scarf Workshop at The Seaview Hotel, I o W

on Saturday 11th October.

This workshop is being organised by the hotel

for more details please contact them direct...

 http://www.seaviewhotel.co.uk/events.asp#.VAS8_fldV8G

OPEN STUDIOS 2014...

...start this week on the island! 

I’ll be exhibiting at Shalfleet Village Hall during week one

 then at Quarr Abbey for week two and there’s more details here… 

Lots of new work on show so here’s a quick preview! 

 Recently I’ve been working more texture into my felt with threads, 

stitching & beading and trying out new vessel shapes…

 

and for the first time I'll have some felt pieces in frames.

 It will be interesting to get reactions to these!

 Scarves and wraps in all colours & styles. 

The large wraps in muted colours are perfect for any summer occasion, 

simply fastened with a matching felt flower. 

Light-weight, elegant, easy to wear
 and extremely practical to take away on holiday….

and in complete contrast these bright funky scarves

all have a real organic feel! 

I'll be bringing lots of familiar favourites along… 

New nuno scarves, embroidered bags & brooches,

 lavender birds & mice, felted pebble weights, notebooks with felt covers,

 hats, fairy slippers and much much more!

Shalfleet & Quarr Abbey are two very special places on the island and

I'm so looking forward to returning there for Open Studios.

It's going to be an exciting & enjoyable couple of weeks...!

PS. You can download a copy of the OS Yearbook here

It's full of information about all the events & artists taking part

(and click on any of the photos to enlarge...)

WOOL to DYE for...

What a perfect way to spend a sunny June afternoon -  ‘dyeing’ with friends...!!!

 Came home with stained hands & clothes, smelling of bonfires 

BUT with some wonderful coloured fleece ready for felting…

 All the natural plant materials were boiled up first in old pots to create 

the dyes using traditional methods and recipes. 

Some plants came from the garden - red dahlia heads, parsley, onion skins -

as well as some more exotic plants such as madder, cutch, purple heart & logwood. 

The wool was soaked first in water & urine (YES a traditional ingredient!) 

then added to the dye and stirred gently… 

Slowly the colours begin to develop…

And as the day passed the dyed wools were hung up to dry.

I’ve always been fascinated by the alchemy of natural dyeing, 

especially when mordants are added to the mix. 

These are powdered metals such as tin & copper that help fix the colour 

but also dramatically effect the results! 

 Natural dyes are always unpredictable & surprising 

and when worked together their soft muted colours always blend beautifully.

Some of my dye samples go back to the 1980’s 

when I kept note books, photographs and records of all my experiments 

and even grew some dye plants in my garden. 

I've lost count of the number of jumpers I've knitted using as many dyed wools 

as possible as the colours are so complimentary 

I’ve always dyed unbleached spun wool, bought on cones from 

Jamiesons in the Shetlands, so all my dyed wools are the same and

 can be knitted up together.

This was the first time I’d dyed Merino tops and I’m pleased with the results. 

I did sew the lengths of tops into net bags just to prevent too much agitation. 

I didn’t want the wool to start felting in the dye pots with all the stirring!

Now I’ve got some wonderfully muted colours that are 

quite unique and ready for felting.

It was one of those idyllic summer days!   

Lots of tea and cake, cheese scones & elderflower cordial...

Lovely company and really good fun!

PS. Don't forget you can click on all the photos to enlarge them...

ALPACA SHOW HAT...

One of the main events in the UK alpaca calendar took place last weekend. The British Alpaca Society's National Show was held at the International Centre in Telford, Shropshire. Spring Farm Alpacas and  West Wight Alpacas were both showing their prize winning alpacas and alongside the competitions in the show ring was one for an alpaca hat. 

The hat could be knitted, crocheted or felted as long as it was made from UK alpaca fibre, so I decided to enter a felted alpaca style 'sorting hat' ...

I used a beautifully soft beige baby alpaca fleece (sourced from the island) 

that I'd been saving for a special project, with a dark brim and 

different coloured highlights.

Both Spring Farm Alpacas & West Wight Alpacas did brilliantly well in the 

show ring with many of their alpacas 

winning in their various classes and there's more photos here 

They came away with new champions and many rosettes…

including this one for my hat!

It came 2nd out of 30+ entries and needless to say 
I was really thrilled...!