2020 Masterclass programme!
Here’s the programme of textile classes we’ve lined up for 2020.
You can book here where you can also view our cancellation policy for all the classes listed below. Use the “Find out more” links to go to individual class description pages.
If a class is marked FULL you can still make a booking enquiry and be put on a waiting list.
To be the first to know when we release more details, like our page on Facebook, or sign up to our monthly (or thereabouts) newsletter by going here and filling in and submitting the form. Note that if you have an ad blocker or VPN enabled the form may not be accessible.
CORONAVIRUS UPDATE 29 JUNE 2020
In view of the ongoing Coronavirus situation we are making further class cancellations: Caroline Bartlett, Jorie Johnson, Ekta Kaul and Michel Garcia. Everyone who has made a booking on any of these classes will be contacted. This means that nearly all of this year’s classes have now been cancelled. Once again we deeply regret having to do this, but despite some easing of lockdown restrictions we don’t feel, given the format of our classes, that we can yet offer compliance with current physical distancing regulations.
Not only that, we have fixed expenses for tutors’ fees and travelling costs, and if students are reluctant to travel there is a risk that classes will run at a loss. There are also accommodation issues and in the case of students or tutors coming from abroad possible quarantine considerations.
Cancelled classes will be left in our booking form for reference but please do not try to book on them. A full list of the current class status appears below. For further information, contact Alison on alison.mountain@googlemail.co.uk or 07703 023917.
Asymmetric Sculptural Willow Baskets 2 with Lise Bech
Saturday 28 to Monday 30 March 2020 (3 days) £295 CANCELLED
A rare opportunity to work with Lise Bech who developed this iconic form after studying in Europe to free the willow up from its traditional geometric structures, allowing it to reflect its natural flexibility and forgiving nature.Find out more.
Spring Chickens in Needlefelt with Jennie Loudon
Sunday 5 April 2020 (1 day) £55 CANCELLED
On this one day class you will first of all be making a little Easter chicken as an introduction to the technique for students who are new to needlefelting. You will then move on to create a larger hen or rooster. Find out more.
Heat Press Day with Jeanette Sendler
Saturday 25 April 2020 (1 day) £70 CANCELLED
Returning by popular demand – come and experiment with our heat press for a day. Discover a range of exciting techniques and effects using paper and fabric, cutting, folding pleating and dyeing. Find out more.
Dye Day with Alison Mountain
Sunday 3 May 2020 (1 day) £70 CANCELLED
In this second Dye Day, you will experiment with dyeing a mixture of sample yarns, pre-felts, silk and wool fabrics and fibres using acid dyes, over-dyeing and simple clamping, and mixing pigments in a variety of ways to create a larger and more personal palette of colours. Find out more.
Mixed Media Day with Alison Mountain and Jeanette Sendler
Saturday 16 May 2020 (1 day) £70 CANCELLED
A one day experimental workshop which will stretch and expand your use of media, as well as hopefully introducing you to new possibilities you have neither the space nor opportunity to engage with at home! Find out more.
Expressive Landscapes in Felt with Valérie Wartelle
Friday 29 to Saturday 30 May 2020 (2 days) £195 CANCELLED
This course allows students to delve deeper into the creative process to support their personal practice. It is suitable for all levels of ability from beginners to experienced felters. Use the wet-felting process to work with wool fibres, silk threads and fabrics. Find out more.
Form in Felt: Inner & Outer Spaces with Marjolein Dallinga
Tuesday 2 to Friday 5 June 2020 (4 days) £395 CANCELLED
This workshop will deepen consciousness about experiences learned from sculpting with felt and other fibres. You will explore different sculptural form ideas, focusing on basics like colour, design, and conceptions of an artwork. Find out more.
Weaving the Human Form with Joan Baxter
Tuesday 9 to Friday 12 June 2020 (4 days) £395 CANCELLED
In this class you will explore different ways to portray the human form in tapestry. Students should bring their own drawings and/or photographs as a starting point. (Please NOT digital images on a screen but actual drawings or printed photographs.) Find out more.
Pattern Cutting & Sewing Dresses with Jeanette Sendler
Saturday 20 to Sunday 21 June 2020 (2 days) £195 CANCELLED
Two days of cutting and sewing summer dresses. We will discuss a range of design details, such as neck and hemlines, pockets and sleeve options. The process will sharpen your eye and will present you with a number of choices. Find out more.
Bicorns with Jane Smith
Tuesday 23 to Thursday 25 June 2020 (3 days) £295 POSTPONED
The magnificent Bicorn can be made using a buckram base to be covered in fabrics or a felt hood, blocked and folded, as originally made, with ribbon cockade, button and loop. Blocks will be available and patterns supplied for a variety of styles. Find out more.
French Flower-Making with Loreen Lightfoot
Friday 26 to Sunday 28 June 2020 (3 days) £295 CANCELLED
This year’s flower making class will focus on using velvets and satins. Orchids and pansies are the featured flowers and the class will especially concentrate on paint effects to create both flowers. We will learn several different techniques to finish the stems and more detailed leaves this year. Find out more.
The Art of Sampling with Gladys Paulus
Tuesday 30 June to Friday 3 July 2020 (4 days) £395 CANCELLED
The power of the humble sample is often underestimated. Not only can samples help you avoid costly (and painful) mistakes in the long run, they can also help you get through creative blocks, and can even become art works in their own right. Find out more.
A Bigger Picture with Charlotte Sehmisch
Monday 6 to Friday 10 July 2020 (5 days) £495 CANCELLED
Use felt to construct a series of wall-hangings or free-standing objects to be lit up from either behind or below. Extend and combine techniques to create a more complex composite structure to your own design and personal specifications: a Bigger Picture. Find out more.
Mastering Double Weave with Cally Booker
Tuesday 14 to Thursday 16 July 2020 (3 days) £295 CANCELLED
During this class you will design a block threading on 8 shafts and weave a double weave sampler. Techniques will include loom-controlled double weave and pick-up. The emphasis will be on understanding the way double weave works, so that you can create your own original drafts. Find out more.
Cloth, Clothing and Memory: The Second Skin with Caroline Bartlett
Monday 27 to Wednesday 29 July 2020 (3 days) £295 CANCELLED
Starting from your own recollections and collected items, working with ideas of cloth and memory and sublimation printing processes you will explore printing onto, and then from small items or parts of garments. Find out more.
Cartography In Stitch with Ekta Kaul
Tuesday 4 to Friday 7 August 2020 (4 days) £395 CANCELLED
This course will focus on how to use the stitch to make commemorative maps celebrating our personal stories and those of our loved ones. Journeys (both external and internal), memorable moments and places will be used as starting points. Find out more.
Shibori Felt Bead Accessories with Jorie Johnson
Monday 17 to Wednesday 19 August 2020 (3 days) £295 CANCELLED
This three day class introduces you to felt bead-making production in a variety of sizes and shapes such as popcorn, log, flat and round, as well as cut-pendant spirals. Find out more.
From the Simple to the Sublime with Jorie Johnson
Thursday 20 to Saturday 22 August 2020 (3 days) £295 CANCELLED
Jorie will take you through beret design and manufacture with all its variations. Using a finer quality, dyed wool your chosen form will be made with the design idea in mind that it will be further embellished by over-dyeing with clamp-resist techniques. Find out more.
Naturally Dyed and Beaded Shibori Jewellery with Cathy Moon
Wednesday 26 to Friday 28 August 2020 (3 days) £295 CANCELLED
You will use Shibori stitching and Arashi Shibori techniques to make 3-dimensional forms that can be fashioned into sculptural jewellery wearables – earrings, neckpieces, arm cuffs and brooches – over this 3 day workshop. Find out more.
Contemporary Natural Dyeing with Michel Garcia
Monday 7 to Friday 11 September 2020 (5 days) £495 CANCELLED
On this 5-day class, master dyer Michel Garcia will share his new insights into natural dyeing with simple but stunning methods to get solid dyes onto natural fibres and fabrics, using water and energy saving methods wherever possible. Find out more.
Pattern Cutting & Sewing Trousers with Jeanette Sendler
Saturday 3rd to Sunday 4th October 2020 (2 days) £195 PLACES AVAILABLE
You will learn how to draft your fitted trouser block, and continue with your working pattern to add various details before cutting and fitting a toile. You will be taught finishing techniques such as how to insert a zip, pockets, a waistband or work facings. Find out more.
Nuno Pine Needles Wrap with Leiko Uchiyama
Tuesday 27th to Friday 30th October 2020 (4 days) £395 PLACES AVAILABLE
Nuno Pine Needles is the signature technique of Japanese felt artist Leiko Uchiyama, originally inspired by pine needles spread on the surface of the snow in her home town of Sapporo. In this Masterclass she is going to share, for the first time, the way she makes her own exquisite pieces. Find out more.