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| "J" is making this rabbit - this is the progress after two classes |
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| Safety Rule: Keep your eyes on your work |
Wow! I don't know why I resisted
learning about felting over the last few years – it is magical!
Here's how you do it:
1. Have someone donate a GIANT bag of
roving from the farm (thanks to “A's” mom for thinking we needed
this!)
2. Have the bag sit around for 3 months
while you ponder what to do with it
3. Suddenly think: “Hey, I know,
maybe we should learn how to do that felting thing...
4. Order felting needles and drag out
all those Styrofoam blocks another family donated (thanks for
thinking we needed these!)
5. Look
for a tutorial or two online to get a short jump on the students
6.
Test it out a little - “how does this work anyway?”
7.
Fall in love
8.
Love Love Love
9.
Learn the rest along side the students: make safety rules and share
tips and innovations
10.
Repeat 7-9 above, and invite other teachers in to try it too
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| We have a lot of roving... |
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| New "pop-up" FELTING CENTER is born! |
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| I borrowed the idea of "Play-Care" from Dr. John Crowe, Art Education Professor at Massachusetts College of Art & Design |
It
turns out, this experience is a perfect example of how the concept of “Play/Care”
functions in the art studio. The idea is that artists need to PLAY
(with ideas, materials, techniques, tools,) in order to EXPLORE &
EXPERIMENT which leads to DISCOVERY. The artist can then utilize
their discoveries and proceed on to CARE; when an artist works with
INTENTION, PURPOSE and strives to improve their skill toward better
CRAFTSMANSHIP.
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| Some first tries - Grade 5 |
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| Grade 8 - adding color for details. It's easy to make separate parts and then felt them together afterwards |
