  | For over 10 years, Tricia Mowat Slater's battle with renal failure provided the opportunity for creative study. She became a Lifelong Learner at Edinburgh College of Art where her love of feltmaking began. She has also participated in feltmaking classes with Heather Potten. Tricia combines felting and eco dyeing in her future work. She's a member of the International Feltmakers Association and recently attended Scottish Felters Summer School. | This was my second year attending the Scottish Felters Summer School in Dunblane. It was good to see many familiar faces from the previous year, I also met felting friends from Facebook for the first time. I had booked for three courses over five days - two days of Willow Weaving and Wool with Anna Turnbull, one day doing Shibori Wristlets with Christine Sinclair and two days of 3D Structural Felt. I loved all three courses but found I needed more strength in my hands for the willow weaving. I attached a piece of my own eco-printed wool fabric whilst others made some felt to weave into the vessel. At Christine's excellent Shibori day, I made a pair of colourful blue with fuscia silk wristlets and another white pair with silk. Back at home, I dyed one in onion water and will eco-print the other one soon. The final two days were devoted to trying out various techniques in felt, from making thin felt trapping willow sticks to make a kind of lamp to learning to felt wire for jewellery, experimenting with fins, crevises and lumps (representing pebbles) using merino tops instead of marbles. It really was a fun week in great company. The only downside ... I put on 3lbs I'm sure because of Connie's delicious home baking every afternoon! |
