3D felt -Dimensional felting course with Pam de Groot

An online course in textures and dimension – 3D felt objects

I have just completed the ‘Textures and Dimension’ online workshop with Pam de Groot. What a great course! Although not for beginners, for anyone who loves 3D felt techniques, this is the one. I had given up waiting for Pam to come to this side of the country anytime soon. So it was wonderful to be able to do this workshop in my own time over 6 weeks. The 3 projects covered were the ‘Splash’, ‘Spiral’ and ‘Twistie’. All the forms really appeal to me and fit in with my quest to explore the dimensional and textural possibilities of felt.

 The Splash

The splash is an exercise in creating a 3D object without any sort of resist. The overall shaping is achieved with a specific layout while maximising the differential shrinkage properties of wool.

The Spiral

This one involves some basic maths and the method is pretty logical when you know how! It is very satisfying to create this fascinating form with it’s continuous shape. Graduating the colour requires a bit more thought on this one. I added viscose fibres here and there and plan to do another one with added decor to see what happens.

The Twistie

This one involves some unusual items which I regularly include in my textile work, so it was right up my alley. With fulling, the transformation from a large piece of felt to a contorted object is nothing short of amazing. Being the shape it is, it is not the easiest to full, but persistence pays off.

The course is a combination of video, text and online support. It is not live, so it is suitable for any time zone. Pam is available every day to give help where necessary. Students can also share photos and interact which each other which all adds to the learning experience.

All the 3D techniques are quite different so there are plenty of new things to learn and apply to other projects. Just too many of them floating around in my head at the moment!