Felt Basket Workshop

Service Description

Come along and learn how to make a felt basket. This workshop uses an exciting new method to create a large felt basket. Unlike our felt bowl workshop which uses the flat resist method, with this technique the basket is formed around a ball. As an additional twist, the external pattern is laid up directly onto the ball which means one of the final acts will be to turn the basket inside out. If you attended the felt pot workshop (which uses the same technique), this workshop takes it to the next level since you also need to add handles. Your design is placed around the ball before adding fibre layers in small amounts on top, much like a papier-mâché technique and it is kept wet by spraying with warm soapy water throughout. Once the fibre layers are complete your felt basket is encased in thin plastic and some tights (to secure the layers) before sessions of bouncing the ball on the table surface commences. This is when the fun truly starts! After a few sessions of bouncing and hand felting, we have the exciting moment of turning your pot the right way around to reveal your basket design! Our expert tutor Rachel Morley will be on hand throughout the day to assist absolute beginners and people with some experience of felting who are curious to learn a new technique. This is a full day workshop from 9:30am to 5pm to ensure there is plenty of time for a relaxing session. During the day you will be guided through the felting process, the handling of the wool fibres, and use of a ball as a resist to create your own unique 3D basket. We will have several sample baskets available to help inspire you and our experienced tutor will ensure you have lots of fun. Participants are encouraged to have a colour palette in mind beforehand; three colours or three shades of a colour are recommended. There will be a good choice of wool fibre colours and assorted wool yarns to use for decoration. The process lends itself well to using the yarn as line, either horizontal around the basket or vertical, more organic lines, running from the base upwards.