Musing: Craft Cubed - Celebrating the Art of the Handmade

Monday, July 7, 2014

Craft Cubed - Celebrating the Art of the Handmade

Craft Cubed 2014

The Art of Handmade

1 to 31 August 2014

Craft Cubed is Craft Victoria’s annual festival of the handmade. This year Craft Cubed will have Federation Square as its home, while extending its reach across Melbourne and regional Victoria. Featuring exhibitions, installations, open studios, workshops and events, Craft Cubed is a unique umbrella for practitioners and the public to engage with contemporary craft and design.

After the fun and success of participating in the Dandenong Ranges Open Studios event for the past two years my studio at Ferny Creek will be part of Craft Cubed’s celebration of the handmade as a satellite event.

Over two days - Saturday August 23rd and Sunday August 24th between 10am and 5pm - visitors can experience the transformation of wool and silk fibres and silk fabric into beautiful garments, using an ancient skill uncompromised by our high tech world.

Watch the video experience of visiting my studio, from coming down The Lane to opening the studio door and finding me preparing for a demo.

On Saturday August 23rd at 2pm there will be demonstration of the process of Nuno felt making.

Nuno felt is also known as laminated felt and involves laying wool and silk fibres onto a carrier fabric such as silk georgette or cotton muslin, then wetting down with soap and water and agitating until the fabric and fibres are wedded together.

On Sunday August 24th at 11am, or at 2pm, visitors can get their hands wet making a small felt vessel using a potato as a form in a small workshop session.

Dandenong Ranges Open Studio 2014
Workshop participants showing their finished vessels

Children over 10 and adults welcomed for the hands on workshop activity but please book as places are limited and there is a $10 fee.

Contact by phone 0408 327 831; through Facebook wraptinfelt by Joni Cornell; or email jonicornell@hotmail.com

Otherwise, entry is free and please feel free to visit throughout the weekend to chat, view, touch, try on felted merino silk apparel or make a purchase.

You can also visit my friend, ceramic artist Lisa Hass, who will be exhibiting at Federation Square for Craft Cubed Clay Market on August 5th or at her studio home on Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th August as part of the Australian Ceramics Open Studio 2014.

Lisa Hass in her studio

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One of the best books on felt making

Feltmaking and Wool Magic: Contemporary Techniques and Beautiful Projects by Jorie Johnson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Jorie Johnson is a superb and fastidious felt maker, and her unique designs and oeuvre is testament to her skill and talent. I’ve had this book in my library for ages and loved to flip through it for the beautiful colour plates, to admire the many wonderful projects in it, as well as gain insight into the history of felt making and the breeds of sheep. I hadn’t made any of the projects because I love to felt garments and Jorie’s way of making the fabric is not only unusual but also requires a top loader washing machine, which I don’t own. I’ve tended to feel too, Jorie’s approach is demanding (requires lots of time and patience) and the instructional photo plates rather small to see.

However, the other day I decided to tackle a couple of little projects from the book, as I was looking for ideas to work with children…first the felt ball – and I succeeded in making two without major fault lines in them (which are what usually occur in my felt balls), as well as the flower. Then lo behold, before I knew it I was marking out a template on cardboard and making one of the small bags and I’m not great with using resists. I have a little experience but Johnson lays the fleece very differently to what I have been taught. So I was expecting a disaster – something with holes and to use as a tea-cosy but happily I managed to finish the bag without it forming ridges at the side. I now have a very cute bag, which I’m really stoked about. I have to applaud the instructions…I don’t have an exact replica of a Jorie Johnson bag and I don’t want one – what I now have are the skills and a little more confidence to use a resist in making a work. I feel I’ll keep experimenting with the Johnson way.

I love the attention to detail and the fastidiousness from this master felt maker. Highly recommended and as the jacket suggests ‘foolproof felting’…

View all my reviews

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