Feltrosa 2019

A very short report on Feltrosa 2019 festival. "Short" because I've not done any workshop this year and do regret about it!
The event was held in a lovely (although remote) location in Arezzo region. The exact place was small town/village Stia-Pratoveccia. An area of extraordinary national beauty! The area is famous for its Casentino wool fabric and has a great museum of wool and its production.

https://www.museodellalana.it/en/museum

Apart from historical and technical stuff there was a small exhibition of work some felt artist. It was very impressive but I've not make a picture of  a label apparently so I do not know the name of the artist! Shame on me!

Back to Feltrosa itself.  There was an exhibition of felt pieces as well:

 

 

 

There were workshops and a social programme as usual. I didn't take any workshops but the results of one in particular had caught my attention and I think I should have done it even if it was about eco-printing! I have nothing against eco-printing, it's just the area I'm not interested in. But this particular workshop by Jade Aukin was about eco-printing on leather and results were stunning. And I missed it!

That's it for now!

Autumn-Winter Events

We are nearly in the second part of the year! Time flies...

I have the most of September-December events confirmed. They are mostly the same as the last year with one addition and one miss (probably). I've decided to try and go farther afield, meaning out of  the region where I live. The reason is that being an active feltmaker and selling at many events in the area means that the number of potential customers of my most popular products goes down. Obviously who needs three glasses cases  😖! Fish is a different story because there are people who buy two and more easily. So all this considering I added a new event  - Kendal Wool Gathering in October and am going to miss ETSY Made Local event in December.

So this is my list of events for the autumn-winter part of the year 2018:

September      29-30    Masham Sheep Festival  Masham
October           27-28   Kendal Wool Gathering   Kendal
November       17-18   Crafts in the Pen  Skipton

Once a month is more than enough I think 😊

Feltrosa 2018

This is my third event and I like it the most! May be because it is the recent one 😊!
I've already written about a beauty of Italy, delight of Italian food etc See my posts about Feltrosa 2016 and 2017.
What was different this time and why I like it so much?
In random order:
- the workshop I've taken was a great success;
- the exhibition of white felted items was amazing;
- the extra talks on local silk production and an exhibition of textiles in futuristic style was interesting although some extra info in English would have done a lot of difference.
         Workshop of Esther Weber on mini textiles.
I was uncertain about this workshop because for me it was a tricky timing and now I'm so happy that I did it!
The workshop itself was organised perfectly and results were fantastic. The first day was about learning technique and by the end of a day everyone had a finished piece of a quality equal to the tutor's.
For the second day Esther suggested to everyone to do their own project based on the technique learned. And the results were great. And at the very end we'd discussed our pieces, getting advice from the tutor and fellow students. I'm really pleased with the workshop and hope to see Esther at the next event!
Now in more details:
This is our first day working place, everything is ready and Esther's piece as an example:

 


And this is my finished piece (photographed at home). Very pleased with it!

For the next day project I'd chosen this beautiful picture of wasps' nest as an inspiration and this is my piece, rinsed and shaped properly:

 

 I want it to be asymmetrical and in a shape of a ball (at first it was in a shape of a vessel but I reshaped it at home).

 See below a picture of all items together, just before the end of the second day of a workshop.

 

 

I know that the every participant has learned a lot and enjoyed the course very much. Thankyou to Esther for a great  workshop and to fellow students for a fantastic atmosphere!
Just a few pictures of other courses:
A lovely owl portrait made at the workshop with Anna Esposito

 

 An exciting moment of unfolding indigo eco-printing:

   Now about an exhibition. Last year at Feltrosa-2017 there was a workshop with Maria Jose Troncoso making wool bas relief. I liked it very much but not only me apparently! A few Italian felters (seven, if I'm not mistaken) created twenty (!) relief panels, all in white and with botanical paintings as a reference. The bus relief technique of a previous year was an inspiration but every artist developed and adjusted it to their design and produced stunning pieces.  See them below. Unfortunately, there are fewer than 20 pictures just because of my poor skills as a photographer.

 

My first Spring into Wool fair

A month ago I published a list of upcoming events and here we are! The first one, Spring into Wool in Leeds come and gone. Will try to put my feelings and thoughts down on paper while I remember details:
- general (venue, organisation, people). Very positive! I like venue, light and spacious (even if I was in a bit of awkward place, but it was my choice), organisers did a brilliant job and fellow exhibitors were very friendly.
- footfall. Saturday was very busy, but not overcrowded still, which was good, I do not like when people need to push through. Sunday was much quieter. I know this happens often (if not always) and still...
- sales. This is a tricky one  😊 In general I've sold OK considering the time of year and my table position. There are two "buts" still. - the sales to the visitors were mainly of the lower price end. The two most expensive sales were to the other exhibitors. Obviously, people came for supplies and were very focused on it. I've received so many great comments on my stuff but sales were mainly of small and inexpensive items. And the second "but" - I've sold mostly on Saturday. If not one large sale to an exhibitor and good last minute sale to a visitor it would have been just lost day entirely.
Summary: - will I do it the next year? Yes, I suppose. I do like an atmosphere, I have had lovely chats with the other exhibitors, I didn't feel tired at the end, I've bought lovely silks and very fine wool tops. And it's so close to home, just 40 mins of easy drive. Yes, I'd like to do it again!

Now there are some pictures. These are of my stall on the first and the second day, when I restocked and rearranged things.

 And a few pictures of other stalls with people readying for opening.

Year 2018 Schedule

I'm delighted to be accepted to this year Art in the Pen event in Thirsk. Being not well for a half of February I run out of time to create new pictures and make a proper good application. Fortunately I'm still through!

So this is my list of events for the first half of the year 2018:

April 07-08  Spring into wool    Leeds
April 26-29  Harrogate Flower Show Harrogate
May 3-8       Felting festival Feltrosa   Cavareno, Italy
July 21-22    Art in the Pen ,    Thirsk
July 28         York River Art Market,      York
August 4      York River Art Market,     York 

Then I will have my summer holiday with a family and back to work in September. The September-December events are to be confirmed yet.

Crafts in the Pen 2017

A short report on the event.
Crafts in the Pen is my main event of the year, so expectations were high as was pre-fair stress :)
In general it was good this year as well but with a twist. A few twists actually.
- it was really huge! 230 stalls and a quality of very high standards;
- the footfall was 4370 against 2590 last year;
- again a lot of people coming who had already bought some stuff from me, sometimes just to say hello and tell that my things are alive and doing well, which was really great. Thanks everyone even if you are not reading this!
 - the weather was really nice, I was well prepared and didn't got cold;
 - apart from overwhelming number of stalls, 1/3 of them were textile artists and 25 stalls doing just felt! Some customers comments that this year felt was everywhere.
 - with such massive number of stalls customers became bored, tired or just cold. They lost interest and forget to come back or just lost in the maze of streets.  Some stallholders complained about the scale of the show and low takings. I happened to be in a good position in the very centre with good light but other could struggle when it became darker.
I can't complain because I did OK but with somewhat mixed feeling :)
I posted some pictures below of neighbouring stalls and to give an idea of the size of the show:

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

  

Masham 2017

My second Wool event at Masham sheep fair. One of my favorites! Nice venue, busy town, friendly people. good attendance. It was nice to meet some friends from the last year too! I did well last year and it was good this year as well. I like that I've sold a little bit of everything. I make a few pictures at the beginning of the second day, before we opened.

Catch up for Summer

Short catch up for June - July- early August  😊
Have been VERY busy!

New techniques.
After taking a course on a textured felt I started to use these new techniques in my fish and cushions. I think it works well for these items:

     

New Fairs.
I have tried a new event this summer, York River Art Market and it happened to be quite good for me (and for the most of exhibitors I presume).
I did two days, the weather on the day of the first one was very poor and still it was OK in sales. The second one, on the first Saturday of August was very good - a glorious weather, great location - a river work in the very centre of York. All in all it was very pleasant day and sales were high, at the same level as Xmas time. And it was so close to home ! Very pleased with the event, will do it again next year.
Could you see the difference?

 

 

 

As for a Art in the Pen this year it was not as good as last year for me. May be I need to reconsider "my strategy" 😊
Anyway I have finished with fairs for a while. The next one is Masham sheep festival the last weekend of September.
At the moment I'm nearly off to Finland for a holiday and try to put everything felty aside. Back to felting in September.