Just winding down now after Open Studios… It's been a fantastic hectic two weeks. We had 620 people visit us at the Freshwater Parish Hall over a very wet weekend, which may have played in our favour as people lingered in the dry, browsing and enjoying Penny's homemade cakes.
Then we had some lovely sunny days at Quarr where a further 1,001 visitors came through the gallery doors. The Abbey looked very summery & peaceful in the July sunshine, with the gardens full of flowers & fruit trees, swallows roosting in the gallery eaves and I found some wonderful places to photograph the new pots…
Open Studios at Freshwater was where it all started for me last year and it's hard to believe that it's just one year ago that I came away with my visitor's book full of lovely comments and requests for workshops, not really knowing then what to do!
This year, one year on, I'm looking through a visitor's book full of similar requests so the workshops continue with lots of new people keen to learn to make felt. But there's another aspect to it all - my 'students' came back to show me what they've been working on, still wanting to learn more. So from this feedback I'm putting together a programme for this autumn, with workshops for beginners plus some new ideas for those who wish to continue trying something different.
This year, one year on, I'm looking through a visitor's book full of similar requests so the workshops continue with lots of new people keen to learn to make felt. But there's another aspect to it all - my 'students' came back to show me what they've been working on, still wanting to learn more. So from this feedback I'm putting together a programme for this autumn, with workshops for beginners plus some new ideas for those who wish to continue trying something different.
A very big THANK YOU to everyone who came along to Open Studios and helped to make it such an enjoyable success. It's lovely to have the opportunity to talk to so many enthusiastic people who all seem to share such an interest in felt... Including the lady who came over from the mainland specifically to find out more about my workshops, the woodturner who wants to incorporate felt into his work and the gentleman who has asked me to repair his favourite Bavarian felt coat, bought over 30 years ago and although badly ripped he hadn't the heart to throw away... I'm looking forward to the challenge!
And finally I must mention Paulette, who came along to one of my first workshops with her sister Jacqui and has now started to teach felt making to a group of ladies with learning difficulties. Some of these ladies have never been given the opportunity to do anything like felt making before, or to handle the fibres and craft materials that we take for granted in our creative lives. The colours and softness of the wool together with the gentle simplicity of the technique has produced some amazing results and they have really responded to her teaching...
It's such a wonderful story... and it's just the beginning!