I love colour and spent many years as a decorative artist and interior designer. I fell in love with needle felting after attending a workshop, with my sister, about 100 miles away, run by the amazing Felt & Dandy. The excellent tuition opened up a new world for me and I was so sorry that that their busy creative hub was so far away. I decided, after lots of experiments with wool, to try to create my own little hub of 'makers' in my area so we could share the joy of poking wool into anything our imagination could create. After a flying start, the social restrictions of 2020 made it hard to share my skills in person, but I had some fun, socially distanced, teaching under canvas in my beautiful garden during the summer . It's been great to be back at Farnham Maltings and I'm also teaching needle felting for wellbeing at some wonderful historic Hampshire buildings under the Brighter Futures programe. As always I've been busying myself with commissions for both furry felted friends and 2D dog portraits as well as learning some exciting new wet felting techniques.
Most of my creations are the wildlife that surrounds my home, I can watch wrens, blue tits & robins from my studio windows and often see rabbits and hares in the nearby fields. I've suffered from quite a lot of allergies, but wool is a joy for me to use. The wool I use is ethically sourced from British or New Zealand sheep farms. Needlefelt creations often have structural wires or glass eyes so are definitely not toys for children or pets!
If you attend one of my workshops, you too can become a maker and it would be lovely to see what you have created at home afterwards. I'm always happy to recommend suppliers etc and you will certainly learn tips and tricks to aid you in your felting fun. Pls email me photos of your finished projects. It's not a competition, just for fun, but it would be good to have feedback on how the materials worked for you. Your work could be in the website student gallery!