Mary's writing on the workshop process

Walking down Govan Road after my first foray into the world of felting I was shocked at the amount of brain cells that were leaping from dormancy and lethargy! What a great day with such creative potential !
Guided by Anneruth and Flora an ancient world was revealed:
Wool, the Saviour of Mankind!

As the weeks passed by all participants were amazed at their abilities. Watching their faces glowat their achievements was a joy to see. No qualifications or skills needed. A truly universal craft.

Apart from personal enjoyment and growth, the path also led us to our Group Work. There we were throwing in ideas, debating, deciding and agreeing.
We all played different parts in creating the very beautiful "Portal Banner". Many hands worked together but looking at it there is unity and we all achived that "wholeness" we had set out to find.

Cups of tea warming hands at Galgael, Winter clothes brought out early. Timeplans forgotten. Everyone putting in time when they could. A truly communal effort and a great experience.
I've had a great wee journey and all I did was pick up a wee leaflet.

Many Many thanks to all fellow travellers and guides.
Journey on and fare thee well
Mary Docherty

And thank you so much, Mary, for your beautiful gifts, the 2 'painting with wool' pictures, those amazing 'copies' of postcards of the Hebridees:

It seems you have found your very own brand!

.......

A rich account of the making of the Felt Portal

A big thanks to all who made it possible that this felt making project came about :
Plantation Productions and their funders; the Galgael trust, its appreciative welcome into the big workshop, and whole community there and especially its passionate volunteers; but above all thanks be to the enthusiastic and now quite skilled participants of the classes!

To get the best account of this rich process, pleasae visit our various photoalbums and the slide show:
On http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/woolcraft.atgalgael/FeltMakingSessionsAtThePlantationProductionsThePortalGovan# you can find over 200 pictures of almost every stage of the process of making the Felt Portal.
You can see more photos from the process when it took place at 15 Fairle Street over the last 2 months dotted throughout our 2 albums
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/woolcraft.atgalgael/OurAugustPictures#
and http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/woolcraft.atgalgael/September08Woolcraft#
and also this month of course http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/woolcraft.atgalgael/OurOctoberPictures#

A brief slide show summary of the journey the Felt Portal took all of us can be found here:
http://docs.google.com/Present?docid=dhbv7q9h_38f9c3mshh&hl=en

This is what Debbie wrote on her journey with the Portal

I really enjoyed the felt making class at the Portal. I had dabbled in a bit of felt making before but have now learned a lot more about it from Anne-ruth and Flora. I had never heard of needle-felting and it really is useful for adding interesting designs to pieces of work. I enjoyed mostly being in the company of the nice friendly group of people who appreciate and enjoy arts and crafts. It was great to see the team of workers in the photos and the felted portal design as it moved through the various stages. It really does look beautiful and nice and peaceful. I can just imagine walking through that portal and up along the riverside. Thanks Anne-ruth and Flora for all your help and patience.

We received more notes of appreciation strewn in emails - and we gave Mary's poetic writing a blog entry on its own

There was a wee launch for the Timeout project (which the felting classes were part of) on Friday the 3rd of October in the Portal

The output of the various art classes (pottery, photography, cardmaking, and of course film making and animation, the core activity of plantation productions) was quite a feast to see. Now we very much hope that our felted Portal into Wholeness will find worthy home in the community there.

As Luis put it so aptly: "There were moments I thought this is not getting finished as ever new hurdles had to be taken. It is a pure miracle that it got done!"

Yes, it s quite a miracle - and we are looking forward to visit the Portal often. We need to get plague done still for it (informing folks in a nutshell as to the whodunits!) ...

The Interactive Felt-Portal at the wall in the Portal, Govan,

- during the launch party of 'Timeout'

week ending 3rd October

Before the Portal got to the stage you see it above (= being carried out of 15 Fairley Street for the final time) - this week saw still lots of action, and joint decision making ...

• what works best to stiffen the felt?
• how do we join the 2 big felt pieces with the bamboo frame?
  
• where do we put the tree now?
• what do we use as hanging rope?
• where do we put the lovingly created details?
  

You can best see the last 3 day countdown unfold on our photoalbum from photo 166 to 203.
And then from picture 204 to 217 you can get a look in at Friday evening at the Portal where Plantation Productions had a wee reception to showcase the works done in the Time Out sessions, and esp to show the animations and films done, everything in the light of Art in mental health.

Here is a picture of the Felt Portal before the exhibition started, showing you our clever solution to the many eager and so different views as to where the felted figures should go on the now interactive felt portal banner! We fitted each of them with a little velcro and put them up on a felt board, inviting visitors to gently place the figures on the banner, creating their own path into wholeness.
At the end of the night all little details had found a place in the greater picture and we gathered in front of it.

woolcraft log week ending 26th September

Last class at the Portal this week for the feltmaking project.
Feverish fun in felting the crochet cords for the bags can be seen above from Anna and Alison, and two last minute projects below: Alex finally getting down to her cushion and Moya (Plantation productions staff member) managed at last to try her hands at felting: a picture for Eva, her two year old.

Menawhile Flora and Naomi were handsewing the stone felt pieces which had escaped the sewing machine.

Well, it might have been the last week for making the felt portal at the Portal in Govan, - it certainly was not the last days or week for the felt portal process:
at Galgael in Ibrox on Thursday and Friday many hands (Flora, Laryna, Mary, Ali, Luis, and who else was there ?) were busy making more details such as plants, leaves and animals, and the tree begun to take shape at last.

The greatest headache was how to get a supporting frame right for the big felt hanging..... As the welded version idea had to be scratched - due to lack of volunteers and overall weight of the iron rods - Flora's glorious idea of using bamboo canes proved the saving grace.

Albeit it was a public holiday on Friday, Galgael was opened for the wool crafters (+ and a couple of saw mill workers) that day to make headway on the portal banner and it's frame.
Luis, who had also taken a liking to needlefelt details (including a Bhirlin boat!), heat-bent the bamboo rods into arches and structures which can support the double layers of the felt portal.

woolcraft log week ending the 20th of September

This Week saw the first stages of assembling stone felt arch-wall to become the gate for the picture-felt. Flora begun to sew the stone-felt pieces together with the sewing machine, whilst folks needlefelted more tree branches, butterflies and birds as well as wet-felt sheets for similar features,

and Mary transformed a postcard from the outer Hebrideans into a felt for a cushion cover.

Thursday and Friday saw more hill and sky details being needled on the picture felt by Ali, Lynsey, and Naomi, as well as Debbie needling some cute sheep and an even cuter doggie to populate the emerging felt landscape.

It is now waiting for it's stonefelt arch to be assembled properly and for more details to be cut and felted...

Thanks to Martin the bothy now at last has a bookshelf for our books and thanks to Jackie, Lynsey and Anneruth it got all tidied up for the Open Doors day on Saturday, when Flora, Sarah-Jane and Verene took turns to welcome visitors and do craft demonstrations.

week ending the 12th of September

This week, at long last, saw Frances and Innes from Sgioba Luaidh at Galgael. They were rather taken by the vastness that is Galgael, and when we all cramped into the wee bothy, to look at Innes's folders and hear Sarah-Jane sing her latest Gaelic song Norman was also part of the party. You can see him here enjoying a quick waulking song demonstration with Innes using a felted Blackface fleece as cloth. And then we were literally blown away by George, friend of Norman, filling the bothy and all Galgael with the mighty drone of the pipes.

We are looking forward to have the whole bunch of waulking song singers with us in November, on the 21st, where they will entertain and teach everybody on songs and traditions of the Highlands and Islands. As the woolcrafters we are now looking into doing something together with Sgioba Luaidh, combining our love of the lore and our skills for ... well, watch this space!

Meanwhile Sarah-Jane and Flora had started to wetfelt the last light grey stonefelt sheet, so that at the Plantation project it could get finished, and we embarked on sizing the prefelt for the Portal picture felt, and on laying out the contours of the scene to be depicted, as well as getting the tree stuffed:

The prefelt turned out needing a lot of backing with white wool, all needle felted into it, before we dared to lay the wool for the scene, which was decided to be a landscape spanning the 4 seasons.

You can see it here grow in its fourfold bands under Mary's and Alison's hands back in Galgael the next day:

Once the colours were laid out thr needle felting begun, and it was lovely to have Tawny join us, too. Meanwhile Debbie wetfelted her cushion cover in the bothy, listening to a CD of birdsong.

On Friday at the regular woolcraft group time, more folks carried on with the needlefelting of the background colours - quite a big job that, actuall. But many hands (Lynsey, Sarah-Jane, Ali, Naomi and also Anna from Helensburgh) made light work. Laryna and Jackie carried on preparing the dark wool for the mittens (also a big job, it seems!), and were joined by Jeanne, the partner of one of the Galgael volunteers, who finally had managed today to come along with her knitting, too.

For more pictures - remember to visit: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/woolcraft.atgalgael/September08Woolcraft#

week ending the 5th of September

It is the last week of our 3 German girls, and Katie had been busy teasing the carding the shetland wool and all 3 were needling away on the hat foam block to create the basis for their hats, and the colours of the hats. But, alas, the clay hat moulds turn out to be too short for the full hat to be shaped on it! So Patricia and Melanie, gracefully are not too phased about it (thanks God!), inspite of the hard detailed work they had put into it, and are content to have their master piece fulled as a flat round piece which will adorn their home made into cushion or bag.
Katie needled a very strong hut material and is taken the dry felt piece home to find a proper hat-mould to finish it off on. Henry the foam-hatmould has his hair stand on end now thinking he is left alone now!

Seeamless bag making at the Plantation project this week, with the action spilling over again into Galgael on Thursday to finish the fulling of the bags. Everybody admiring the bold and beautiful colours.

Lynsey had a go at felting the sheet for the tree (for the Portal), and the washing machine shrunk it considerably to just the right kind of narrow piece of felt a tree needs.

On Friday Mary came with a very nice Sultana cake and Naomi came for a shoulder massage to have the burden of the week being taken of her shoulders. Woolcraft action by Laryna, Jackie, Verene and Lynsey included more preparation of the dark wool ( a blend now of Hebridean and Shetland/Jacob) for Jackie's mitten project, as well as spinning and weaving. Anna from Helensburgh (via the Portal project) also had managed to come along for the first time to Galgael and she enjoyed the wool handling and company.

Friday saw also the farewell party for the German students, who will be missed and who will miss us, as well as visit from Nicola Sturgeon MSP, and a tripple birthday party for Gehan, Heather - and who was the third?
Verene got caught on video spinning and explaining to Nicola our woolcraft project and the very special story of the Hebridean sheep.

week ending 29th August

Big group this week at the Plantation Production felt making workshop, which was mainly about designing and sizing the "Portal into Wholeness and Wellbeing" wall hanging. Ali came to continue laying and felting the inner arch of the portal at Galgael, as well as getting her hands into clay and ceramics with Luis.
Sarah-Jane was also getting rolled in by making stone-felt for the felt portal with some clever effects such a wool neps! Plus:, she is getting Eugune rolled in too! ;-)

Wednesday saw also our participation at the Bridges Programmes Stakeholder meeting in the Pearce Institute. Bridgesprogrammes is a local organisation which help refugees into work in Scotland. It was very nice meeting them all, albeit some of the affiliated community groups we were hoping to meet for possible future working together had not been able to come. Still we hope that future working together is possible between Bridges and Galgael.
Sarah-Jane performed her spinning song she learned from Norman, and we met Sgioba Luaidh properly at last! You can watch Frances giving an introduction to the waulking tradition on
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=3Kb_EVaRWXE
and as snippet of the cheerful energetic singers on http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Oz8HO8gfBhY. Some of the young African men thought the song and rhythm was perfect for to do break dancing to it! Well there would be meat for a future project? !

More pictures can be found here:
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/woolcraft.atgalgael/BridgesProgrammesStakeholderEvent#


The next day, back at Galgeal, the German girls were enjoying themselves with the woolcraft, and would like to felted hats!
So, Anneruth was sourcing a firm foam roll to serve as a base for shaping a hat via needlefelting, which Luis the potter sawed into an oval shape. He also prepared to create hat moulds via plaster pouring for the perfectly measured German heads.

Today on Friday, Laryna and others met for the usual group, with Jackie deciding she will embark on felting one or more pairs of mittens made from Hebridean wool, and got started with stage one: teasing the Hebridean wool. Katie from Berlin also got down to teasing wool for the hats, and thus partaking in the full wool craft process = from fleece to fabric.

Phew - this was a very busy week!

wool craft log week ending 22nd August + more fun in the woods!

On Wednesday Laryna and Sarah-Jane practised the Gaelic spinning song this week, especially in preparation for our day out and for the Bridges Programmes AGM next week.

Flora and Anneruth had a very small group of 2 only at the Plantations Productions. The decision was made today to go ahead with the Round Portal Felt-piece imitating natural stones, and we made a beginnng by felting the sheets which will be cut to provide the stone slabs for the Portal. See first piece below:

At Galgael, the 3 German girls, Katty, Melanie and Patricia, who are part of an exchange project Berlin-Galgael, got very enthused at the many woolcraft projects sights in the Bothy and are keen to try their hands on woolcraft anytime during their stay the next couple of weeks.

So they can be seen (above) making a flat sheet felt piece for the round Portal felt, a piece of felt which is to imitate the stones for the inner arch.
The girls learned fast and did a second one by themselves more or less... with Lynsey keeping an eye on it all too.

On Friday, after a wee gathering in the bothy, admiring the 2 cones of wool Helen got for us and discussing what we could do with it (see above), it was our big day out: the Nurturing day in Pollok Freestate. Gehan, Issy and Heather were - naturally - part of the party. There was bring and share herbs - which is a vey old tradition: women would gather in the month of August and early September to collect herbs and share herbal lore for the benefit of the whole community.
We had lots of homemade good food and fun to share, such making a fire and singing - and practising singing Gaelic in that.

It was so good to hear Gehan share of how Colin started here in 1997, as a local man, concerned about the local woods and lands, given over to the motorway; and how the protest camp developed into a true community, where the roots of the Galgael lie, including the cradle and playground of the kids, such as Heather's Arran (can you see her above, all shy :-) and Gehan's threesome who were in school though, this sunny afternoon. Shame - Oran would just have loved to make a fire again! It took us a wee while, but we managed, and went home all wonderfully smelling of wood smoke.