My Feltrosa begins on Friday morning with the “Arditi Orditi” (Daring Warps) seminar by Patrizia Polese who clearly describes tapestry technique. We spend a few hours working with a loom, alternating yarn with merino tops.
In the afternoon, we head to the Loden Museum which hosts a large part of the “As green as…” exhibition while other works are displayed along the streets of Brixen. In my opinion, the “green” theme helped to perfectly integrate the works both into the museum and urban spaces.
Saturday is a day of intensive seminars, a highly anticipated moment for many felters who, like in years past, had come from all over the world.
In comparison to previous editions, the course offerings are not as focused on wet felting: in edition to weaving, there are courses on natural dyes, millinery and needle felting.
To get a better impression of the courses, I surveyed my fellow felters on their impressions of the workshops that they participated in.
Let’s start with Cristina, a felter from Rome, who took part in the workshop conducted by the Russian Elena Smirnova, where she made an openwork shawl with ruffles from extra fine merino wool prefelt and extra fine merino wool tops. Cristina really appreciated Elena’s energy and precision. Elena had the entire group use orbital sanders to speed up the felting process.
From the noisy yet well-made Russian shawl, we move on to a completely different workshop, both in the techniques used as well as in the relaxed and slow atmosphere. I am referring to the “Morbide Creature” (Soft Creatures) workshop by Ruth Packman.
I asked for feedback from Lucia, who was at Feltrosa for the first time. She told me that she developed a passion for felt a year ago and she signed up for the course after seeing photos of Packham’s work. Her expectations, which were to work on the definition of small details such as animals’ eyes, were met in full.
In a large room between wooden figures and felt cones, we find the millinery course held by Federica Prezioso.
Celeste, a felter from Viterbo, has long desired to learn this type of craft. She likes the technique and tells me that she considers it complementary, a sort of enhancement for her. Unfortunately, despite its historic past, there are not many artisans who continue to practice this art.
In Varna, another town in the Sudtirol, a young expert in natural dyes from Argentina, Marrone, teaches how to dye with cochineal, a dye that allows us to achieve an ample gradation of red tones: from light pink similar to Cyclamen, to bordeaux and black, through tones of violet.
I asked Konny, a veteran felter, why she uses natural dyes. She explains that dyeing by hand gives her a sense of satisfaction and allows her to personalize her creations.
Sunday morning, it’s Ruth Baumer’s turn to entertain: lots of felters participated in the creation of a large net, working to the rhythm of music, immersed in a festive atmosphere with town marching bands parading in traditional costume.
Cristiana Di Nardo and I were trusted with the task of creating the center in which to write Feltrosa 2014.
Ruth unexpectedly asks us to create the other side of the circle and so we decide to recreate the logo of the Textile Workers Organization (Coordinamento Tessitori) with knotted yarn. I cherish a beautiful memory of this moment. It was work that needed many hands but that was carried out in a fluidly and harmoniously.
The two more in-depth seminars are making a jacket with thin prefelt, quickly felted with the sander, and on making a fascinator or hat created using a rigid base using millinery techniques and embellished with nuno felt decorations.
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