September workshop: Chad Alice Hagen returns to the Pacific Northwest!

...and we can't wait to have her back...

Resist Dyeing and the Fabulous Refillable Felted Book Cover!

September 9, 10 and 11, 2011

with Chad Alice Hagen

Lopez Island, Washington

So blog friends, what are you doing in September...want to join us?

This workshop is going to be FAB!

If you're keen to learn or play some more with Chad's method of resist dyeing on merino prefelts,

this workshop promises to not disappoint.  By popular request, this year we'll have TWO full dye days, 

nine dye baths each day...YAY!  Plus, we'll then create a journal/sketchbook cover that we can use over & over...

Here's a snippet from the workshop description:

Join us for a delightful three days of resist dye pots and a

fabulous new book project.

Thanks to student's requests for longer resist dyeing times, we

will be spending two whole days over the dye pots. We'll do

nine dye baths each day, giving everyone more time between

dye pots to think about and design each piece of felt.

On the third day, we will design a book cover from several

pieces of your beautiful resist dyed felt, solving the age-old

problem with hand bound felted books "It's so beautiful I can't

write, sketch or make any marks in it..." Our book covers will be

fitted to your own hard cover journal, sketchbook or even

favorite book so that when you have filled one book with poetic reflections, you can slip out

that book and slip in another! Book covers will be lined with upcycled fabric or leather.

Several different closures will be shown.

To read ALL the workshop details and lots of background information on the wondrous redhead herself

including more photos of her finished books,

go  HERE  to Jan's website and click on the linkie. 

My friend Jan is once again taking on the awesome task of organizing all the details.

While you're over on her site, be sure to check out her textile work...some beautiful stuff over there.

Example of resist dyed felts created by workshop participants, 2010

In the meantime, would you like some entertaining (if I do say so myself) background reading on previous workshops?

Here is my post from 2010...

and Robin Atkins (beading wizardess extraordinaire) posted about her experience, over on Beadlust.

Some of the fabulous resist felt that comes out of the dye pots!

courtesy of Chad Alice Hagen

Want more?

www.flickr.com/photos/chadalicehagen/

http://chadalicehagen.blogspot.com

www.etsy.com/shop/ChadAliceHagen

www.ChadAliceHagen.com

photo courtesy of Chad Alice Hagen

photo courtesy of Chad Alice Hagen

MORE??

You may not wanna miss Chad's own blog post about 

her  time  adventure

on our little rock last year...

So if you do register for the workshop, please let me know won't you?   I love having more things to look forward to! 

***

UPDATE as of August 4, 2011...

this workshop has ONE spot left

Please contact Jan above if you would like to join us.

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She was bookin'...

I think of Chad Alice Hagen as a redheaded whirlwind.  Best to get a lot of sleep before one of her workshops  ~ you will definitely need the stamina.  And you probably won't be dozing during demos, won't be nipping out for *whatevers* because you will have stood in front of a table like this with your mind a bit blown and like most of us in her workshops, chomping at the bit to learn just HOW Chad makes these merino felt(ed) beauties.

"Resist Dyeing and Book Making" was held on our little island last summer.  Chad traveled all the way from her Asheville, NC digs to teach for three glorious days.  She only brought a few things with her  ;>}

Day one was about learning to resist dye the merino wool pre-felts using a huge assortment of binding, pinching, clamping, clipping and banding objects.  Our dye station was set up outside, the perfect spot for three of these:

While the Dye Master (Chad, in the yellow apron) kept the dye pots cooking, the sorters were kept busy.  Each bucket held all the bundles from one student which had to be separated between successive dye baths.  This is when the anticipation really started to build ~ waiting to unwrap our precious bundles was grueling!

By the second day, our felts (laid to dry on tables overnight) were ready for some serious scrutiny which included a whole lot of oooohing and aaaaahing and, "Can I have that one?"   I think I actually told someone that one of her pieces was going to disappear off her table overnight, HA!  The goal was to pick two pieces to embellish for book covers.  Chad made the rounds, offering her own share of ooohs & aaahs & "oops, that one fell in my pocket"...

Then came the hard part (for me anyway)...the bookbinding.  I don't think I have hands built for the task so I fumbled, grew a tad peeved with myself and decided in the end that stitching and beading were softer alternatives.  Book making is best left to stronger hands.  Sometimes it is just as important to know what we shouldn't be doing as it is to know what we should, right?

Here's a group view below of the covers for our coptic books, embellished with stitching and beadwork and ready to be filled with pages. That stunning black & blue one (2nd row on the right) belongs to my good friend Robin A., who came over from a neighboring island to join us for the workshop.  She wrote a wonderful post on her blog Beadlust, about this workshop.  If you aren't already familiar with Robin's extraordinary beadwork, leave a few moments to peruse the rest of her blog, too - it will not disappoint! 

Although I didn't complete my coptic book, I did finish my little wrap journal.  The binding on the spine was quite easy to get the hang of and I adore Chad's version of the bone and leather closure.

For Chad's own tales of her time out west, don't miss her post about it over on News from Studio A & B.  I think she liked it here.  She is threatening to come back.

In the meantime, check out Chad's Flickr photos of her FeltBooks and be prepared to drool.

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Slow Felt: upcoming workshop with Chad Alice Hagen!

Felting and dyeing and beading and stitching, oh my!

Resist Dyeing and Bookbinding

~  with Chad Alice Hagen ~

June 17, 18 and 19, 2010

Lopez Island, Washington

I had my first experience attending a felting workshop with Chad Alice Hagen last summer and WOW, was it ever wonderful (see my blog post, Resist * Stitch * Bead.)  So I was thrilled beyond belief when my good friend Jan S., was able to "convince" Chad to come out to our little corner of the world - the beautiful San Juan Islands - and have a vacation lead one of her awesome workshops right here!  This post is to let you all know that there are a few spaces available...hint, hint...

I can't wait to learn how to make one of these!

This three day intensive workshop will combine felt-making, resist dyeing AND book making.  Let me quote directly from the workshop description:

The first day's focus will be the dye kitchen where we will not

only learn the basics for setting up a safe at-home dye area

and the use of Lanaset and WF acid dyeing, but will transform

our fine Australian Merino needle punched prefelts into dozens

of brilliant resist dyed samples through the magical use of hundreds

of odd but interesting resist tools and up to 15 dyebaths.

The next days will be filled with stitching and beading those beautiful

dyed surfaces and transforming them into small, exquisite books.  The

class will learn two different bookbinding stitches and two types of book

covers.  With many demonstrations and hands on learning, we will finish

at least two books - a wrapped sketchbook and a wonderful Coptic

bound journal.

The stitching, beading and binding of books is a thoughtful, slow process

so be prepared for delightful hours surrounded by color and texture

and the company of like-minded folk.  The instructor will bring lots of

samples of her books and will lead discussions on design ideas and

variations for using handmade felt in books.

Click here for the pdf which has the complete workshop description, cost, instructor details, and contact info.

Let me tempt you just a bit further - go to Flickr (here) and have a peek at some more examples of Chad's handmade books.  And while you're at it, you may not want to miss her fabulous felted and beaded brooches and ooooh, the Art Pages.  

edge detail on handmade book

The photos above can be viewed larger and in greater detail on Chad's blog - which btw, is also a hoot to read and will provide you with lots more info about her work, studio, travels, sense of humor, and the overall general state of her artistic life living with two demanding cats.  You might want to check out her website, too, chadalicehagen.com.  There's a wonderful photo of Chad passed out on the work table, surrounded by oodles of resist dyed felts.  Ah heck, here it is (hope she won't mind).

This workshop is being hosted and organized by Jan S.  If you have any questions (really, any at all) or would like to inquire about reserving a spot around the dye pots, please contact Jan directly via her website.

Won't you join us...it's going to be a BLAST?!  I'll be there and I would so love to see you!

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Resist * Stitch * Bead

Have you ever signed up for a workshop when you weren't quite sure it would offer what you need to know, or if that direction is where you want to go?

And then when the workshop is over, you head home with your mind swimming with new inspiration and you realize you made a darn good decision - for once, that month...?!

Resist dyeing on hand felted wool was something I knew nothing about but I did know that at this juncture in my beading life I was keen to explore different textiles on which to sew all those tiny beads.  I had been working primarily with Indonesian batiks so when a friend suggested this workshop, the first thing I did was to Google the instructor's name (I Google everything so that was nothing new) and whoa, not only did this gal seem like a barrel of  FUN, she also created very beautiful work with felt.  I figured if all else failed and this wasn't going to be a medium for me, at least I would have lots of laughs and view a whole bunch of really wonderful felt art.  

Workshop photos courtesy Molly Green

If you haven't heard of Chad Alice Hagen, let it be known she is a whirling dervish felt dyer extraordinaire.  For five days she had us kneading, pounding and squeezing merino batts.  We then clamped, pinched and folded the felted wool around the weirdest objects you can imagine - like tongue depressors, popsicle sticks, office clips, clothespins of varied sizes, rusty bits of this & that and lots of stained whatyamacallits.  Then into the dye pots they all went, while we danced - yes, that's right, danced.  Warning: Chad makes you do a "dye dance" - it's tradition - although no dance skills are required on the paperwork you fill out before attending one of her workshops.  It was a hoot!


The dancing must have worked because we watched while the dye pots transformed our little swatches of felt into quite remarkable something-elses...

The Pacific Northwest Art School on Whidbey Island, WA, was the site for our workshop.  They have an excellent workspace for these kinds of textile shenanigans - a table for each participant with power access for a task light, several sinks and easy access to outdoors, which is where the dye pots lived.

You have no idea what you're going to get until you unfold that felt.  There is a lot of big B.O.L.D. color with this type of dyeing and by placing your bundles into successive pots of color, the variations in design, color overlays, are endless.

This red one was rolled on the diagonal around a metal tube, then tied with rubber bands

Those yellowish stripes on the bottom?  Tongue depressors!

And all those half circle shapes?  Big 'ole office clips.  Who knew?!

I'm especially fond of the subtleties that happened, like this filigree in the corner...

When it came time to begin stitching and beading, we each had about 35+ pieces to choose from.  Out came the threads, the stashes of beads.  Our work tables started to look like this:

Glorious mayhem...

...and bead coveting galore!

After deciding to cut up & then stitch together three different felts (is that a word?), I finally put my beading needle through that first bead, through my first felt, and oh la la, little did I know that sewing beads onto felt was gonna be like sewing through butter.  There is no better word than YUM.

On this cold & chilly winter solstice eve,

I wish for each of you

the warmth of what you love,

the fine colors of vivid imaginings,

good & true companions,

the many blessings of laughter

and

dancing when you least expect it.

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