Thanks to Jenny Neill for providing these pics. I will be uploading more so you can see the progress and the finished piece. The workshop was really successful and we achieved our main aim which was to make a communal piece of felt. It's fully dried now and I will be cutting it into small pieces for each participant when I have documented it, I will then use the remainder to create the soles of a pair of felt shoes I will make.
We discussed issues surrounding hair, and the session was some what ritualistic with everyone parting with some hair, be it from a hair brush or bravely snipping a bit off! As the hair was 'given' I asked everyone to think of a secret (and keep it a secret by not saying it out loud) that they could embed into the hair. This ties into what Hannah told us about Norse mythology and folklore and the idea of women keeping secret in their hair. Or perhaps we grow them out? We have woven our thoughts and our hair into the felt, thus charging it like an effigy.
Thanks very much all who joined me
xxx
13/10/11
I have just found some writing I did about my immediate thoughts after the workshop. Thought it might be of interest
" I am so happy with how today went. We created our communal piece of felt and enchanted it by embedding our hair and secrets into the fabric. It was soapy, therapeutic and we probably burned off a few calories by pummeling and rolling the wool which knitted it together. Hair, family, community and discussions into our own relationships with our hair and how it impacts on feminine identity were all covered in my 2 hour workshop. We produced a beautiful felt of many colours!
The fabric we produced has a painterly quality to it and essentially has 2 faces as each side has a different pattern. It's possible to map where certain pieces were placed and recall which end each half of the group started felting at. "
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