Feltmaking at Seahouses FIRST School

---

Wednesday, 06 July 2011

Feltmaking in Schools
So far, 8 local schools have been visited by Anna Turnbull and Paula Constantine, 2 artists experienced in feltmaking, to involve the children in working with wool from local breeds of sheep, collaborating on the creation of a number of felt wall hangings. They have been displayed in various locations over the summer including The Glendale Show, Berwick Slow Food Festival and a Heritage Music Event in Wooler.

Seahouses First School, Year 3
The class had already created drawings of their visit to the ‘Children’s Countryside Day’ and were to use these as the basis for their individual designs for the felt wall hanging.
The first step was to redraw their pictures in wool, selecting fibres prepared from a variety of local sheep breeds. A wool fibre outline was laid down first. It was then in filled with various coloured wools to create a wool picture.
Each child then added a background of wool fibre to their picture.

A large background was laid out on bubble wrap, and then their individual pictures placed on top.

It was all sprinkled with warm, soapy water, then covered with more bubble wrap and sheeting. It was tightly rolled around a pipe so the felting could begin as the children took turns to roll the piece.

The finished piece was proudly displayed to other classes in the school and shared with parents at their technology day.