Felt offers a great opportunity for fiber artists to work with
three-dimensional sculptural forms, and the vessel is perhaps the most
universal of these forms. Learn how to create a unique felt vessel that
combines a full range of innovative felting techniques. Start with a
simple “felt on a ball” technique to create the beginning shape,
covering it with layers of different colored wool that can later be
carved to reveal the underlying colors and create patterns and texture
on the vessel’s surface. When the vessel is partially felted, learn how
to add additional surface design with wool and yarns. Shape your vessel
through a variety of fulling methods. A wide range of complex, organic,
shapes can be created through controlled stretching and shrinking. Add
additional sculptural forms and surface design to your vessel, including
felted figurative elements, leaves, flowers and other abstract forms.
Combine these techniques with cutting, carving, needle- felting and
stitching to make the surface of your vessel a work of art!

Materials fee: $35.00 (US) includes all necessary fiber,
felting needles, inflatable ball, accent yarns and fibers.

Students should bring:

• Several old towels
• Small, sharp scissors (spring loaded Fiskars are best)
• Three pairs of old panty hose (extra large size-no control top)
• A washtub (at least 14”x14”)
• Needle and thread
• Any accent fibers you would like to use in your piece
• Pictures, objects and ideas to inspire you
• A large foam sponge
• A washboard or other fulling surface (optional)

Bio
Sharon Costello started as a fiber artist twenty-five years ago with a small flock of sheep and a love of creative experimentation. She has been a full time, professional feltmaker since 1995. She is well known for her prize winning needle felted art dolls and felted vessels. She has studied feltmaking in the US, Turkey and Scandinavia and shares her knowledge of the craft teaching workshops through national and international conferences, fiber and doll guilds, art centers and colleges. She also sponsors “Felters’ Fling”, a bi-annual conference that brings instructors from around the world to introduce new techniques to American feltmakers. Sharon has produced two teaching videos; one on her felt doll making techniques and one on featherweight felting methods. Her work has been featured in several books:1000 Artisan Textiles (Quarry Books), Uniquely Felt (Storey Publishing), How We Felt, (Interweave Press), 500 Handmade Dolls (Lark Books), Needle Felt (Felt Crafts), Yet More Felt in the Kitchen and Felt Figures Great and Small (Ewa Kuniczak).She has written articles on feltmaking and been featured in several magazines such as Shuttle, Spindle and Dyepot (Handweavers’ Guild of America), Fiber Arts, Spin-off and Felt (Interweave Press), Echoes (International Feltmakers’ Association), North American Felters’ Network, Cloth Doll Magazine, Soft Dolls and Animals Magazine, Hudson Valley Magazine, and a wide range of fiber guild and doll makers newsletters in the US and abroad. Her work has been featured in one woman and group shows from New York to California, as well as on the Home and Garden Television Network. Sharon is a member of The International Feltmakers Association, North American Feltmakers and Original Doll Artists Council of America (ODACA). Her feltmaking business, called Black Sheep Designs, specializes in kits and supplies for needle and wet feltmaking. Sharon has a design degree from Syracuse University and an MBA from the State University of New York at Albany.