summer 2006 • issue no 14

inc.

newsletter for feltmakers of western australia

This newsletter is published quarterly. Deadline dates for material to be submitted are as follows: summer due 15th February autumn due 15th May winter due 15th August spring due 15th November

We will endeavour to have it distributed by the first week of the following month. Correspondence should be sent to the editor, Nancy Ballesteros 6 Benwee Rd Floreat 6014 nancy@treetopscolours.com.au

FeltWEST inc. ABN:20395651770

Notice of exhibitions by members that involve felt will be advertised free of charge (subject to availability of space). Advertising inquiries are welcome, contact editor for details.

FeltWEST inc. reserves the right to accept or refuse to place an advertisement.

The opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of individual contributors and are not necessarily those of FeltWEST inc. Articles may not be reproduced without permission of the author.

all wrapped up

felt news

perth schedule of events

international tutors

our local tutors

craft & quilt fair

winter retreat

bunbury felters

articles

history of feltmaking

review, fragile objects

technical

durable handfelted articles

medieval tent

resources

travellers tales:

canada

thailand

billboard

contact details

calendar

inc

I really appreciate everyone’s contributions. Thank you to: Heather Davis, Lindy Frayne, Lee Anne Davis, Dawn Nicholson, Lorraine McArthur, Linda Ricco, Karen Wood and Nancy Ballesteros.

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FeltWEST

Cover photo - Freo Arts Bazaar 2005

Cover design - shibori water mark created by Nancy Ballesteros Layout by Lee Anne Davis

We were dealt a wonderfully mild summer day to begin our toss ‘n tell days for the year at Craft House in Menora. It was marvellous to see so many familiar faces and several brand new ones as well. The committee felt it was a good idea to start the year by having a general meeting so that everyone could hear about our exciting plans for the year and discuss anything that was on their mind. I think we all came away remembering why we come together to FELT and not to have meet-ings at every toss ‘n tell….. The next general meeting will be at our AGM on the 5th of August – it should be fun having a trash ‘n treasure on the same day, this ought to put everyone in good spirits, nothing like a good bargain to heal the soul. I am not quite sure, but I can’t ever remember in the history of FeltWEST having THREE Interna-tional tutors visit Perth all in the same year!! This is an astounding accomplishment from your com-mittee! I hope you all realize how VERY special this year will be and take full advantage of the sheer talent that will be coming to your doorstep. Mark your calendars NOW! The committee real-izes that there are only limited spaces and will endeavour to devise a way for this new knowl-edge to be shared by others who miss out. I found this wonderful saying somewhere in my travels over Christmas;

Those who work with their hands are laborers; Those who work with their hands and heads are craftsmen; And those who work with their hands, heads and hearts are artists.

Let’s all try and find our hearts…. Happy felting for 2006! Nancy Ballesteros

by heather davis This years Christmas stall at Fremantle arts centre was a huge success! Our members came together to create a wonderful collection of colours, tex-tures and design styles. Fantastic lightweight wraps perfect for the cool summer days made eve-ryone feel glamorous and unique. There were some really fun hats and cute decorations. Every-one was really impressed with the quality and presentation of the work and the stall. So much so that we won the awesome Best Stall award! I would like to say a big thank you to everyone that do-nated their time, energy and work to the weekend, you all made it a wonderful event. The sun made enough of an appearance and the rain didn’t soak through. The scarves and wraps danced and sometimes flew in the breeze. The different position was a mixed blessing, being closer to the front and the through fare but on top the dreadful bark. Saturday was the busiest day, keeping stall volunteers on their toes. Sales were record high over the weekend, making just under $12,000 this beat last years great total. Let’s hope the standard remains high and sales in-crease more next year. I also want to encourage more FeltWEST members to submit their work into the next Christmas bazaar. Some of the other stalls offered handmade jewellery of all styles, pottery, and decora-tions made from driftwood and metal. There was also the return of some beautiful hand painted ceramics, colourful glass bowls as well as hand woven textiles.

Wraps displayed at the Baazar

Fuglies by Louise Snook

Scarves and bag by Heather Davis

FeltWEST is extremely lucky to host our first international tutor for the year, Alexander Pilin from Russian. Alexander will be teaching a two-day and a three-day workshop for FeltWEST in April 2006. Open to all FeltWEST members, see enclosed sign-up form. 2-day workshop: Hatmaking with a Russian. Tues-day/Wednesday 4th & 5th April, time: 9 – 4 pm, cost $140. Be open to breaking through your own design boundaries with head adornment. 3-day workshop: Felt Bags with Leather Accessories. Friday/Saturday/Sunday (1/2 day) 7th, 8th & 9th April, times: 9 –4 pm and 9 – 1 on Sunday, cost $210. Take a felt bag one step further – learn how to add and de-sign leather accessories and trims. Members may not enrol for both classes, unless work-shop does not fill, upon which there will be a ballot). Enrolments due by 15th March – first come first serve basis. FeltWEST will have a Russian translator on hand if needed. Materials list and possible materials fee to be advised upon enrolment. All participants must have used resist methods before (if in doubt how about signing up for the resist workshop on 1 April with Ju-dith Shaw). The use of coarser and finer wools will be explored. Please Note: coarse wool will be available for purchase on the 18th March toss ‘n tell day other-wise make your own arrangements BEFORE the class – about 500gms. It has been hard to define exactly what Alexander’s workshop’s will cover, therefore I have chosen to take an excerpt from his website which discusses him and his work. A picture is worth a thousand words, I highly recommend you judge for yourself and visit his website at http://geocities.com/apilin. ALEXANDER PILIN is a member of the Artists' Union of Russia, the Designers' Union of Russia, the Interna-tional Feltmakers' Association (IFA).

Alexander Pilin is an artist having 13 years experience with felt and leather. Since then his exhibitions have been held in Europe and USA. He is an author of tales about the felt and publisher of 'Felt NEWS' magazine. Mr. Pilin is a university senior lecturer at the Department of Design (Udmurt State University, Russia), teaching decorative proc-essing of leather and felt. He investigates national and develops original feltmaking technologies, researches Russian traditions of felt clothes and large felt mats. The Art Fashion theatre founded by Alexander 10 years ago popularise felt in choreographic performances and fashion shows. Editors note: below is an excerpt from a review by Natalya Rozenberg, Dr. of Fine Arts, member of Russian section of AICA. THE CALLIGRAPHY OF FELT

How can I rank Alexander Pilin among the artists of today's Russia? He is a fine spe-cialist who strives to break through the narrow bounds of provincial humdrum exis-tence. Probably that's why he likes to make his exhibitions entertaining and sensa-tional, to turn them into places for discussions and arguments. At the same time he sticks to traditional values still cherished in provinces. He inherited interest and re-spect for the material he works with. He possesses a remarkable gift for persistence in overcoming technical obstacles he meets with in his work (a quality so characteris-tic of any Russian craftsman). His intellectual tastes and interests are not influenced by the metropolitan artistic assemblages where somebody's dubious opinions and au-thorities always dominate. And where the final word always rests with critics and art dealers from the West. One more important detail: at the beginning of his career Alexander did not even dream of becoming an artist. He was a well-to-do young engineer and a scientist (his thesis was devoted to the problems of the constructing of sports guns). But some 3-4 years after he defended his thesis a new passion overwhelmed him and art became the meaning and the mode of his life. His talent to invent, to regard any object as a certain device (a talent so characteristic of many engineers) urged him to use usual materials for making unusual things, Alexander's inclination to abstract art adds a great deal of parodoxality to his works. The rigid and dogmatic principles of the Art-ists' Union were not for him. He joined it only after several sensational exhibitions of his works . The main exhibitions took place outside Izhevsk. He exhibited his works in Moscow, then - in Paris, in Pret-a-Porter, later - in Finland and Switzerland. His next exhibition will take place in Budapest. Alexander Pilin is quite at home in the world of postmodern. He is an inheritor and he is an inventor. The artist creates not just for the sake of creating. Creative work to him is rather a way of thinking, of seeking the answers to the eternal, the simplest questions. Principles of abstract art and fun are curiously intermingled in his works. Well, after all he is Mr. Felt, as Mary Burkett, President of International Felt Association calls him.

chad alice hagen from america Our second international tutor is scheduled for 2/3 or Sept and 5/6 Sept. Her website is worth a visit www.chadalicehagen.com. More about Chad and the workshops she will be teaching in the next newsletter. charlotte buch from demark Our third international tutor for 2006 is scheduled for sometime in November. Once again her work speaks for itself, see her website on: www.charlottebuch.dk. Charlotte is attributed with being one of the first felters to develop the “tossing technique” that we all so avidly use and love.

May 24 - 28, 2006 (9am to 5pm daily) Convention Centre Perth

FeltWEST inc is once again participating in the Craft & Quilt Fair held at the Conven-tion centre in Perth. It is an excellent time to educate the public and demonstrate the art and craft of feltmaking. This year there will be free workshops for participants to the fair; much the same as the Claremont Craft Spectacular. It is an excellent time to see the products of the many eastern states craft suppliers who attend the Fair; and also see new products in the craft world. The committee for the Craft and Quilt Fair are always keen for FeltWEST to participate as it always attracts many people to view the magic of making felt. The booth and ta-bles and advertising are supplied Free to FeltWEST, all we have to do is set up display and attend each day of the fair at the above hours. It is an opportunity for members to give something back to the group. Volunteers Needed to Demonstrate Feltmaking Volunteers are needed - at least 4 persons per day over the 5 days of the Fair. If you have anything for sale you will have to attend booth for at least a half day. Volunteers receive a free all day pass to the Fair. Contact Jan Stroud on 9447 4833 or email sjstroud@iprimus.com.au

♦ making bags with resist, by Judith Shaw. 1st April. Experience Level: Good for beginners.

A resist pattern will be cut from bubble wrap and used to felt a bag which can be em-bellished with your own choice of surface decoration. Learning a resist technique will enable you to go on to other three dimensional pieces such as hats, slippers and more.

Editor note: Judith is one of the most experience felters in our group and has created many lovely hats and bags over the years. She has a very strong sense of design and has taught for many years. ♦ how to design garments to work for you, by Lorraine McArthur. 6th May. Experience Level: Some felting experience.

The day will cover the adaptation of commercial patterns and the conversion of ethnic designs to make them suitable for felt garments. You will learn how to lay the wool to shape a garment so that there is no need for darts. Also find out how to create amaz-ing seamless tops, skirts, fisherman pants......and more !!!

Editor note: Lorraine trained as an art teacher and is also one of the longest standing members of FeltWEST. Her experience is vast and her enthusiasm enormous. She re-cently attended the Geelong Textile Fibre Forum taking a class with May Jacobsen Hvistendahl from Norway on seamless felting. May is a leading felter in this area, her work is outstanding. ♦ how to make a ‘cloche’ hat, by Noreen Willcocks. 3rd June. Experience Level: Good for beginners.

You will find it easy to make a hat using the resist technique; this is the traditional way to create any hat shape. Wonderful creations of colour, shape and texture will evolve during the day by talented felters, who will then depart with the skills to continue make hats. For further details see enclosed forms.

Our monthly SATURDAY toss ‘n tell meeting at Craft House will be change to SUNDAY on the following dates, due to the lack of availability of Craft House.

April’s toss ‘n tell will be held on SUNDAY 23 April.

June’s toss ‘n tell will be held on SUNDAY 25 June.

FeltWEST Date: 8-11 June 2006 Place: Camp Simon, Roleystone Costs and details to be announced in a special mail/email notice in April. All members are welcome to attend the annual FeltWEST winter retreat. For those who have never been, it is a great escape away from your everyday worries with plenty of time to con-centrate on felting. There will be a special half-day guess speaker, Jody Pearl, who special-izes in helping people to creatively re-design recycled clothing. She will focus on the use of felt in re-designing the clothing. Two of our members have had classes with her and are over-the-moon with their results and design inspirations they came away with. The YAL Camp Simons is located in a gorgeous bush setting in the hills by Araluen, 35 min-utes from Perth’s CBD. The area is quiet and secluded. The venue has a large hall with good northerly light, wood stoves, and will fit 40 tables. Accommodations are bunk beds (use of lower bunks only), four to a room with shared toilets. Arrive Thursday by evening dinner and departing Sunday lunch.

Stirling Street Arts Centre

Welcome back to all fellow felters for 2006. We had our first meeting on the 3rd Feb-ruary in which 20 members some of which travelled a fair distance for the first Friday felting programme which is fantastic. We had a great day with a lesson from Lorraine Mc Arthur showing us how we use sinimay (a pineapple fibre fabric) for hat making which can be incorporated with felt. There were all different shapes, colours and ideas buzzing most of the day and I must say not much chat was happening. This me-dium of fabric could be used in lots of ideas in feltmaking of garments and embelish-ments. Thankyou Lorraine. Felting for part of the Calendar for Bunbury 2006: • 3 March - Jewellery making • 7 April - Rusting technique • 5 May - Felting in a bucket • 2 June - Layers of silk • 7 July - Boots, slippers using thicker wool • 4 August - Ideas, designs, patterns etc. diversity of wool • 1 September—Nuno with a difference

We meet 1st Friday of each month, for more details contact Val Hornibrook 08 9727 1968.

by anne willsford. (reprinted with permission, taken from Felt/Filt Magazine 1995/2) Editor note: This is a very interesting and accurate history of the development of feltmaking in Australia. Many of the people mentioned are still Feltmakers today.

Australia is currently experiencing a tre-mendous surge in feltmaking activity, after a fifteen year period of gradual growth. The following account is in-tended to give an idea of some develop-ments leading up to the current wave of interest in Australia. In 1981, at the first Australian fibre conference WOOL AND BEYOND, held in Melbourne, Victoria, many Australian fibre artists were probably made aware of the contemporary feltmaking move-ment for the first time. Trevor Sem-mens from Tasmania conducted a three-day felting workshop and lectured on the history of traditional feltmaking in Central Asia and outlining hand felt-ing and industrial processes. Margaret Stephens, a Melbourne-based feltmaker, showed a film and gave a slide lecture on traditional and contem-porary feltmaking. She showed exam-ples of felt from Afghanistan and gave a demonstration of her own felting method. Margaret Stephens and three other fibre artists held the first contemporary Aus-tralian felt exhibition, FELT NOW, at the Meat Market Craft Centre, Melbourne, in 1981. Mainly wall pieces, the felt displayed great sensitivity to the me-dium and the diversity of techniques that could be incorporated with the felt-ing process. In 1982 Marg Stephens travelled in India, the United States and

the United Kingdom making contact with many practitioners, to document and gain first hand experience of both traditional and contemporary forms of feltmaking. Back in Melbourne she was further involved in community fibre-work projects, conducting felting work-shops and developing her own work. She attempted to start a felting group in 1982 but there was not sufficient inter-est at that time. Erika Semier, a German master weaver who arrived in Australia in 1951, set up the weaving studio at the Sturt craft workshops in Mittagong, New South Wales, and was actively involved in con-ducting felt workshops in the 1980’s. Along with a Swiss feltmaker, Marlise Stachelin. Erika assisted Kay Donald in the production of her book CREATIVE FELTMAKING published by Kangaroo Press in 1983. This book and Mary Burkett’s THE ART OF THE FELTMAKER have continued to provide much infor-mation and inspiration to those fibre artists exploring ways of felting in Aus-tralia. Similarly, overseas publications have been a great source of information about fibre art, and visiting Feltmakers provide very welcome firsthand infor-mation on current feltmaking activity overseas. Mary Burkett visited in the mid 1980’s and has vivid memories of (continued over page)

how a group of enthusiastic textile workers ‘kidnapped’ her after she gave a lecture in Perth, West Australia, taking her to Bunbury for several days. Mary’s visit stimulated sufficient interest for the formation of the Bunbury Felters Group which has been actively involved in conducting workshops and group feltmaking projects, such as making a yurt, ever since. Workshops given by local felters for hand weaver’s guilds around the coun-try initiated interest in felting. Al-though many fibre artists dabbled in feltmaking in this way in the 1980’s, few went on to pursue it seriously. Annie Sherbourne, a leading UK feltmaker at the time, attended an In-ternational Textiles Symposium at the Canberra School of Art in 1988, and was artist-in-residence at several art schools around the country. Prominent textile artists and teachers Marg Stephens, Elsje King and Tony Dyer were invited to attend the two week symposium on felting and since then feltmaking has had a higher profile in textile departments at art schools. Dutch-born Elsje King has been co-ordinator for the Textiles course at Cur-tin University, WA, where many of her students have shared her approach to materials and processes. Elsje pro-duces subtle works in response to the Australian environment, by manipulat-ing loose and woven fibres and incorpo-rating a series of processes; dyeing, surface printing, piecing, layering, felt-ing and stitching.

The Australian Forum for Textile Arts (TAFTA) holds biennial conferences and publishes the magazine Textile Fibre Forum three times a year, edited by Janet de Boer, TAFTA’s annual work-shops, Fibre Forum, at Sturt, Mittagong, attract serious fibre artists from across the country and cater for a wide range of contemporary fibre-based activities. After the first Fibre Forum feltmaking workshops, given in 1991 by the New Zealander Jeanette Green, many people who participated became serious feltmaking practitioners and teachers – Polly Stirling, Andrea Haas, Chrisstine Sloan, Pam Wheeler and Nancy Balles-teros. Nancy brought her dyed fine me-rino tops which were much easier to use than raw fleece. The availability of dyed wool tops combined with the very stimulating workshop given by Jeanette, seemed to mark the start of more in-tense feltmaking activity in Australia. Carol Divall was the felting tutor at Fi-bre Forum ‘92 and ‘93. Carol is one of a group of textile workshops who run Fibre Design, a gallery/workshop com-plex in Goulburn, NSW. Lene Nielsen was an inspiring visiting Fibre Forum tutor in 1995, as part of her intensive workshop program held at eight major felting centres around Australia and later New Zealand. Links with New Zealand have done much to foster the current boom in Australian feltmaking activity. Since the WOOL AND BEYOND conference in 1981 some fibre artists have crossed the

Tasman Sea for the annual New Zealand National Woolcraft Festivals. These have included Joan Fisher, Andrea Haas, Christine Sloan, Mary Naylor from NSW and Val Gilmour from WA among oth-ers. The festival in 1993 was devoted to feltmaking and the US feltmaker Beth Beede gave workshops and a master-class, prior to coming to Australia to conduct workshops. Jeanette Green was inspired by the tre-mendous sharing atmosphere among participants at the 4th International Felt Workshop in Hungary held in 1988. Jeanette, Deryn Pittar and other New Zealand fibre artists organized the first Southern Hemisphere Felters Workshop for 28 people at Taupo, New Zealand, in 1990 followed by the second in 1992. Several Australians also attended these. The Bunbury Felters Group, co-ordinated by Val Gilmour, organized the third SHFW in Bunbury, in 1993. Each of the eighty participants from Australia and New Zealand found the spirit of en-thusiasm, excitement and free sharing of knowledge and ideas an unforgetta-ble experience. As a result of the workshops in Bun-bury, apart from generating an endur-ing passion for exploring and develop-ing new felting techniques, several new groups have recently been established in Australia: the Canberra Region Feltmakers (with over fifty members from the ACT and Southern NSW) co-founded by Jenni Farrell and Anne Wills-ford in December 1994, and the

Victorian Feltmakers, founded by Mar-tien Van Zuilen in Melbourne in July 1995. A strong interest in wearable art in gen-eral has influenced the direction of feltmaking in Australia. Alongside the production of felted head and foot wear, many felters create ensembles for the various annual wearable art awards and exhibitions. In the early 1990’s a few felters participated in the Wool Expo Wearable Wool Awards in Armi-dale, NSW, and many took out prizes in the handcrafted and open design sec-tions – Mary Naylor, Catherine Rands, Polly Stirling, Jolinda Visser, Pam Wheeler and Anne Willsford. Another show to recently attract feltmakers is the Sheep and Woolcraft Show, Melbourne, where Christine Sloan has taken out major prizes in recent years for the natural fine merino outfits. Many members of the Canberra and Vic-torian felting groups have won prizes at recent local shows, and at events such as the Mudgee Wool Awards where a cloak by Rachel Meek won the major prize in 1995. It is intended that the next SHFW, planned for Australia in early 1996 and organized by the Canberra group, will continue the underlaying theme of shar-ing. The venue is Birragai, a large mod-ern residential complex located in the hills outside Canberra, adjacent to a na-ture reserve full of kangaroos, walla-bies, koalas, emus and many native birds and there is a space tracking sta-tion further down the valley.

by lee anne davis. Fragile Objects… Earth Coverings exhibition was held at the Mandurah Art Gallery last month. The collection of artworks were by 28 local artists, 9 being FeltWEST mem-bers. The list includes Marian Magee, Jenny Martin, Liz Odd, Helen O’Neill, Gail Putz, Linda Riccio, Jan Stroud, Karen Wood and myself. Walking into the gallery was like walking through the Dwellingup bush, the earthy palette of raw edged, lay-ered and stitched textiles echoed the natural world. Each piece demonstrates the individual’s response to the envi-ronment and personal assessment. Materials used where silk and woollen cloth, with some FeltWEST members using felt naturally col-oured and/or dyed with plant dye stuff. The harmony of colours and subject united the exhibition as a whole making it a pleasure to view. The exhibition will travel to the Ararat Regional Gallery this month. Works will be exhibited in conjunction with students work from the Michael Brennand-Wood masterclass ‘Consequences of Proximity’ that was held at the Geelong Forum 2005 and Aotearoa Textile Forum, NZ, 2005.

Karen Wood. Tied to the land, cushion (detail), natural bush dyes, wool & silk.

Jenny Martin. Xanthorrhea, hanging (detail). Wool dyed with Xanthorrhea seeds, hand stitching.

Lee Anne Davis. Untitled I, wall hanging (detail). Felt with nuno woollen cloth naturally dyed, felt cords, hand stitched.

Linda Riccio. Boundaries IV, hanging (detail). Wool, hand felted and stitched.

The following is an excerpt from the exhibition cata-logue by Barbara Pannell, reproduced with kind permis-sion from Barbara Pannell. During November 2004 and 2005 three week-long, live-in Masterclasses were held at Banksia Springs Cottages near Dwellingup, guided by International Textile Artist Glenys Mann from NSW. We were encouraged to examine facets of our personal lives. Everyday objects from the immediate bushland en-vironment provided the vehicles and the language through which we created imagery. We looked at a variety of frameworks specific to fibre. These included fresh approaches to design and visual languages through which ideas could be explored and pieces of work created. We worked alone and collaboratively with an assortment of textiles and images. Using found materials we dyed silk and woollen cloth. Leaves, bark, gumnuts, rusty iron and copper were all used to change fabric col-our and to make marks. This Exhibition showcases the Textile Art which was created during and as a result of the Masterclasses.

Linda Riccio. Boundaries VI: Community. Doll installation with pa-per dolls. Wool, hand felted and stitched.

Fragile Objects… Earth Coverings at Mandurah Arts Centre

Liz Odd. Tracks II, two piece set. Natural dyed wool, voile, silk organza stitched and cut.

Jan Stroud. Sacred Truths III, wall hanging (detail). Silk organza layered and stitched.

by dawn nicholson Hats, bags, waist coats, slippers, mittens, floor mats, casserole dish warmers etc: I looked critically at the above items that I have made and used for several years. The garments, accessories and household items that have been felted from crossbreed merino slivers, and other types of crossbreed wool have worn extremely well with very little 'pilling (small balls of wool). But with wearing/handling, the items that had been made totally from merino woollen tops showed large areas of pilling in spite of being well fulled which of cause spoilt the look of my work causing disappointment. Often I choose the top layer to consist of woollen tops decorated with silk paper, or at times I like to add texture such as small pieces of fabric veiled with merino tops; as well, mohair or other fibres are also added as embellishment. The crossbreed fibres tangle through this top layer and a stronger and better wearing felt is achieved. It is helpful to keep detailed notes on each project - quantity of fibre etc used, number of layers, the type of texture, and a description of the fully felted piece together with a sample/photograph in a file. Looking forward to seeing members dressed in beautiful and durable felted outfits at the Toss 'n Tell days during the winter.

by Lorraine McArthur Lorraine felted 32 metres of brown felt with medieval designs and Tudor roses. Then used a market umbrella for the tent structure.

by linda riccio For anyone having an opportunity to visit Vancouver Canada a MUST SEE is Granville Island, the artisan center of British Colombia I went in search of felt. In Circle Craft, a co-operative shop and gal-lery, there was a good range of felt displayed – hats, jackets, vests, slippers, cushions, jewellery and other precious small items in a locked cabinet! I was given permission to photograph pieces for our newsletter including hats by Ulrieke Benner and pieces by Elana Sigal. The other place where I found a variety of felted items was at Craft House! – The Craft Association of British Colombia. Object Design Wearable Art Gallery has two locations; the gallery in Whistler Village (where the winter Olympics will be held in 2010) is stocking felted pieces by Colette Lisoway (many of you will remember Colette’s beautiful colourful bags when she was living in W.A.). The Granville Island gallery only has jewellery, but Colette is expecting her work to be available at this location by midyear. Granville Island has a huge variety of other crafts available and many artists’ studios open to visit. I also found a great bead shop and some fabulous threads – silk, and silk & wool (50/50) – so if you have a chance to go to that part of the world have a look and see what you can find.

by karen wood Our hotel in Bangkok, booked in haste, was a long way from the river, tem-ples and, worse, the Khao San Rd which we had been advised was the best for shopping. Why did we fret? Not fifty metres from our door, past sev-eral tat tourist stalls, was a shopping building large enough to keep us busy for weeks, even though it was, by Asian city standards, quite modest. The upper floors contained several “wholesale” clothing, fabric and shoe outlets - small producers who proudly assembled orders bound for Singa-pore and Sydney in the public passageways outside their stalls or shops, but who sold retail happily and no doubt at a much better profit to wander-ing tourists in need of a bit of the right sort of therapy. Prices were good here. I bought a deep red Thai silk top edged in black raw silk and an ikat jacket. The latter, I was assured by the shopkeeper/designer, is “antik” fab-ric. Since I’m besotted with ikat I know my eyes lit up with the “must have” light so maybe I overpaid, but it’s full of lovely muted colours and will be worn for years. The two pieces together cost about forty dollars Austra-lian. Most beautiful of all was a range of stylish pin-tucked silk jackets in glorious colours bound, so we were told, for Hong-Kong.

The Khao San Road, when we eventually got there was a little disappointing - full of ageing European hippies and the tofu/sprout smell that they always seem to generate. The silver shops were interesting but the display fa-voured those with both patience and great eye-sight. The goodies were banked up around the walls in lidded plastic boxes with an example of the contents taped to the outside. Important, therefore to know what you were after and to have had a recent corneal transplant. The very best fun shopping was without doubt the night bazaar in Chiang-mai in the north of the country, about ten hours by bus or train from Bang-kok. The long market road runs parallel to the river and within easy reach of the old city where most of the hotels and guest houses are located. Shopping and gawping start at around six o’clock and go on until about midnight. And you can even eat on the hoof so as not to waste time as the roti stall ladies will whip up a delicious stuffed and lightly fried flatbread with egg or banana or both and, if you’re not alert, will smother the lot in condensed milk no matter what the filling.

Stalls varied - lots of souvenirs, but interspersed with all sorts of totally scrumptious stuff. We hunted out silk scarves in stunning peacock and jewel-like colours for about three dollars each - perfect for using with felt. The mountain people from the Lao and Burmese border areas hawk silver jewellery and wonderful embroidered fabrics up and down the market and enterprising designers have made some of the old textiles into clothing and the most gorgeous handbags. Why was I so careful with my money? Lots of the items are either not seen here at all, or are expensive if they do make it to the west.

According to some fellow travellers the craft tour from the city which visits state sponsored and regulated shops was also excellent. We chose to take an elephant trek instead reasoning that we will shop while there’s a breath left but, in a very few years, zimmer frames might preclude the possibility

of posing on top of a pachyderm and tramping through the jungle for a few hours without a toilet stop. It turned into a bit of a crafty day anyway as af-ter the trek (thoroughly recommend it though be prepared to get very fond of your elephant - ours was called Numbah) some brightly dressed Karen people turned up to flog a thing or two and on the way back to Chiangmai we stopped off at the Elephant Poo Paper Factory. What a treat! And why was I so careful with my money? I loved the elephant poo paper and the pineapple fibre paper and the banana fibre paper and the saa (? anyone?) fibre paper. How very cunning to make the elephant dung into something! They, the elephants that is, do so much of it!

Our last five days were spent on Koh Samui at a small but very pleasant beach resort, the idea being to recover from the therapy and laze about a bit. Since this smallish island is on the east coast of the peninsula, that is, the opposite side to Phuket, it was not affected by the tsunami. As a result, it was chockablock-full of western tourists and growing fast to accommo-date them. It looked a bit like the outskirts of Mandurah squashed along one main road. The beaches though, were pretty and the food still excellent and cheap by our standards. Surprise, surprise the shopping was pretty good too with the main drag staying open until well into the night. No-where near as varied and classy as the other places and mostly of the cotton shirt variety but with lots of little markets bearing goods shipped from the mainland or from India. All good clean fun though and great to saunter down the Chaweng Road after dinner for a spot of eyeing up the fakes and feeling up the “silk” table-runners. There were also hawkers along the beach. Not as persistent as the ones I’ve encountered in Bali, and all adding to the colour by flaunting their mostly gawdy wares in the breeze.

Every evening we debated over whether to have our massage/manicure/pedicure/facial before shopping or after or before dinner or after. Hard life! We found that the more upmarket the salon looked, the more likely it was to have the best practitioners and the prices didn’t vary much. A good mas-sage lady has studied hard and is required to spend at least one hundred and fifty hours in one of the schools, most of which are attached to temples. Nothing beats a proper Thai massage. It knocks all the rest into a cocked hat, gets rid of toxins and tiredness and enables the true fanatic to KEEP SHOPPING!

A few tips in case you’re going to Thailand for the first time.

• Go to Jim Thompson’s House in Bangkok to see the best of Thai handi-crafts.

• Take a load of cash. For the first time (though others had warned), my credit card made a charge for every transaction. $1.09 AUD on $46.00 AUDs worth of good Thai silk.

• Best prices can be haggled for a multiple purchase. Best to decide what’s really desirable the buy several or lots. I wish I had!

Internal flights are dead easy to organise and cheap if you decide the train or bus might take up too much shopping time. Having said that, everyone we spoke to who had travelled by train had enjoyed the experience. All had travelled first class, which is not expensive but has to be booked in ad-vance.

An Interactive Demon-stration and Talk on Contemporary Textile Arts. Sponsored by the Joondalup Community Arts gallery - Blend(er). Local artist, Judy Rogers will focus on em-broidery, textile collage and conservation/collecting. Come for cof-fee and have fun with a quick no-sew textile ap-pliqué project. Date: Friday, March 31 2006. Time: 10.00 am to 12 Noon. Cost: free, re-serve your spot. Phone 9300 3088 or email to news@theblender.org.au

Treetops Colour Harmo-nies is excited to an-nounce our totally NEW SUPERFINE merino wool tops called COLOUR NUANCES. These wools are uniquely coloured and machine crafted to our exacting specifications. They re-flect the subtle tonal variations found in na-ture. There are a total of 32 colours arranged in 3 palettes: neutrals/pastels, earth tones and brights. 100gms = $8.50 (wholesale inquiries wel-come). See our website for details www.treetopscolours.com.au. or phone 08 9387-3007.

Australian Wool Innova-tions (AWI) 7th World Merino Conference. 1-24 July, 2006. In particu-lar interest to FeltWEST members would be the Merino Innovation Day 12 July, 9:30 – 3:30, at Egerton, Upper Swan, The home of The Grange Merino Stud. To show-case Merino industry in-novations and inspire the world’s Merino Producers and associated industries that quality research and development of prod-ucts, systems and ser-vices will shape their fu-ture viability. The day is centred around 12 Inno-vation Platform Presenta-tions speaking on every segment of the wool pro-duction from the animal to the textile. Free entry, + complimentary lunch.

At 3:30 the AWI World Merino Conference seg-ment officially opens – ticket required. The highlight of the evening will be a fashion parade featuring Akira and lead-ing WA Fashion Design-ers (Megan Salmon, Rae Costarello, Rebecca Paterson) and two lead-ing student designers, one being FeltWEST member Louise Snook, who will be featuring FELT garments in the pa-rade.

For more information: www.merinowa.com.au/conference Email:worldmerinoconference@bigpond.com

Stitched and Bound 2006 An exhibition of contemporary quilts organised by WA Quilters' Association Inc, to be held at Fremantle Arts Cen-tre, 29 July to 3 September 2006. Designed to showcase the best of original contemporary quilts produced in Western Australia, entry is open to all WA residents. Quilts will be selected from slides by an independent three-person jury. Entry deadline is 28 April 2006. For further information and entry form, please visit WAQA web site http://www.waquilters.org.au/ Melbourne Scarf Festival Dates not announced yet but last year it was held from 30 June – 3 July 2005. Contact www.craftvic.asn.au or 31 Flin-ders Lane Melbourne, Victoria 3000, tel: 03 9650 7775 fax: 03 9650 5688 FABRICATE, a juried textile exhibition with $3,200 in prizes sponsored by TAG the new Textile Art @ the Guild (Embroiderers' Guild Victoria). For more information contact to taginfo@internode.on.net WAGGA WAGGA WOOL AWARDS – presented by the Golden Gown Com-mittee 4th May 2006. Entries close 7th April. This has a new Felt Award – “Technical Excellence in Felt” prize money $1,000. For more information contact: Events Wagga Wagga, 114 Fitzmaurice St, Wagga Wagga, phone: 02 6971 9100. or mobile: 0402 561 364. CATALYST TEXTILE WORKSHOPS Term 1 2006. All workshop to be held at Craft House, Clyde Rd, Menora. Cost $72 per workshop. Enquiries: Annie: tel/fax: 9433 3418 mobile: 0414 372794 email: catalyst@annierawle.com.au Elizabeth: tel: 9448 5593 or mobile 0415 272341

Membership fee: $25.00 per year ,$30 overseas members - includes receiving our quarterly newsletter Renewals due: 1st July each year Send to: Lynda Palai Treasurer 117 Rookwood Street, Mt Lawley, 6050 WA Name: Address: Suburb: State: Post Code: Phone: Fax: email:

I grant permission for FeltWEST to publish my contact details in our newsletter once a year (this will enable everyone to contact each other more easily).

yes no

Where do we meet?

Place: Craft House, Alexander Park, Clyde Street Menora 6050 Time: Toss n Tell Workday 3rd Saturday of each month 9:30am to 3:00pm

Contact: Lindy Frayne 9337 4069 or feltwest@hotmail.com

year receipt no.

Liz Odd, President 22 Hornsey Road, Floreat 6014 ph: 9383 7395 mobile: 0419 965 876 fax: 9383 7724 email: odds@bigpond.net.au

Karen Wood, Vice President 8B Gloucester Street, Swanbourne 6010 ph: 9284 6136 email: woodht@it.net.au

Lindy Frayne, Secretary 16 Long Street, Beaconsfield 6162 ph: 9337 4069 email: lindyfrayne@hotmail.com

Lynda Palai, Treasurer 117 Rookwood Street, Mt Lawley 6050 ph: 9471 9216 mobile: 0411 664 105 email: lyndapalai@optusnet.com.au

Nancy Ballesteros, Editor 6 Benwee Road, Floreat 6014 ph: 9387 3007 fax: 9387 1747 email: nancy@treetopscolours.com.au

Lee Anne Davis, Sub-Editor 32 Barbican Street, Shelley 6148 ph:9457 1457 email: hobbsdavis@bigpond.com

Jennifer Blair, Committee 193 Labouchere Road, Como 6152 ph: 9474 1741 email: jenb@westnet.com.au

Virginia Campbell, Committee 62 Goldsmith Road, Dalkieth 6009 ph: 0416 264 175 email: vcam1917@bigpond.net.au

Heather Davis, Committee PO Box 99, Northbridge 6865 fax: 9227 8634 email: hairytreefairy@hotmail.com

Linda Riccio, Committee 31 Folly Road, Baldivis 6171 ph: 9524 2332 email: lindaoz8@hotmail.com

Jo-Anne Saunt, Committee 3 Tipperary Mews, Subiaco 6008 Ph: 9381 8174 email: medelect@bigpond.net.au

Judith Shaw, Committee 30 Pascoe Street, Karrinyup 6018 ph: 9447 5659 email: jaymshaw@hotmail.com

Jan Stroud, Committee 3 Tecoma Street, Duncraig 6023 ph: 9447 4833 email: sjstroud@iprimus.com.au

FeltWESTinc Meet: Toss n Tell workdays - 3rd Saturday of each month (except January) Place: Craft House, Clyde Road, Menora, WA 6050 Time: 9:30 - 3.00 bring your lunch Charge:$5.00 members, tea/coffee provided

FeltWESTinc committee members

FeltWEST inc membership / renewal form

Bunbury Felters - meet 1st Friday of each month, for more details contact Val Hornibrook (08) 97271968

moving? make sure your FeltWEST newsletter follows you to your new address

toss n tell check list - sign in and pay $5 plastic for table towels bamboo mat and/or bubble wrap, pole netting wool, silk, yarns fabric scissors

name tag soap water container bucket (good for taking wet things home) lunch Show and tell items needing two tables - remember to book

march 18 saturday

perth toss n tell

april 1 saturday

making bags with resist 4-9 tuesday to sunday

alexander pilin workshops 23 sunday

perth toss n tell

may 6 saturday

how to design garments to work for you

20 saturday

perth toss n tell 24-28 wednesday to sunday

craft & quilt show @ new convention centre

june 3 saturday

how to make a ‘cloche’ hat 8-11 thursday to sunday

FeltWEST retreat 25 sunday

perth toss n tell

july 1 saturday

intro feltmaking

15 saturday

perth toss n tell

august 5 saturday

FeltWEST agm

see schedule of events and billboard for further details