Dear Friends,
It’s exciting to share opportunities to learn more about needle arts. Coming up in September, the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival offers many excellent class options to further explore your creativity. The festival is September 7 – 9, 2018 in Jefferson, Wisconsin.
This year, the headline teacher is Kiyoshi Mino. Kiyoshi has an interesting background, not one that predict his love of making felt sculpture, but the excellence in his work displays his passion for the art. Kiyoshi is teaching a three day workshop called, “Needle Felted Realistic Bird Sculpture: Common Kingfisher (folded wing).”
Kiyoshi Mino, Felt Sculptor
Here’s a little bit about Kiyoshi Mino in his own words:
I grew up in Chicago, went to college in Massachusetts and grad school in Illinois. Right after graduating from college I spent four years in the army, including one year deployed to Afghanistan. After finishing my term of service I wanted to do something productive for people in Afghanistan so I went back to spend another year there doing aid work.
While in Afghanistan I had the privilege of experiencing life in villages in some of the most remote corners of the country. Seeing the way people lived there, almost untouched by our modern global society, made me realize that life does not need to be nearly as complicated as we make it out to be. The people in these villages had their goats, their fields, their homes and each other and that was enough for them.
When I came home I got married to my lovely wife Emma (who I met on our first day of college). After spending a few years working to further our own separate careers, Emma in library preservation and myself in international development, both of us came to the conclusion that we’d rather be doing something that would allow us to be together. We also both love nature and prefer working outdoors with our hands to being cooped up in an office so we decided to become farmers.
So in July of 2011 we started a small diversified farm in Central Illinois (facebook.com/luckyduckfarm). We are selling meat, eggs and asian vegetables to farmer’s markets in Chicago.
In January 2011 I learned about needle felting at a farmer training program my wife and I attended in Massachusetts. I had never even heard of needle felting prior to the class but I immediately fell in love with it. I loved to draw as a kid but had never tried any form of sculpture before. It was very exciting to me to be able to draw in three dimensions with nothing but a needle and a clump of wool.
I have always loved animals of all kinds and wool is a perfect medium for sculpting them.
Using fine wools such as merino, I can quite realistically depict three dimensional patterns of fur and feathers.
To learn more about the workshop and registration, click here.
Thursday’s Workshops
Thursday- Three Day Class 9:00am – 4:00pm
Thursday Two Day Class 9:00am – 4:00pm
- 402 – BEGINNING WEAVING ON A 4-SHAFT LOOM Nancy Frantz
- 403 – THE SHEPHERD’S RUG Letty Klein
Thursday – Full Day Classes 9:00am – 4:00pm
- 404 – NATURAL WOOL DYEING WITH LOCAL PLANTS Dawn Andersson
- 405 – EXPLORING THE DRUM CARDER Henry & Roy Clemes
- 406 – RUG WEAVING TECHNIQUES Barb Gallagher
- 407 – BEGINNING SPINNING Deb Jones
- 408 – KNITTERS DELIGHT Bev Larson
- 409 – NORDIC-INSPIRED SURFACE DESIGN: BLOCK PRINTING ON FABRIC Karen Rognsvoog
- 410 – BOUCLÉ SAMPLER Emily Wohlscheid
Thursday Morning Classes 9:00am – 12:00pm
- 440 – BRIOCHE KNITTING Javier H. Jara
Thursday Afternoon Classes 1:00pm – 4:00pm
- 450 – MASTERING TWO-COLOR BRIOCHE KNITTING Javier H. Jara
Friday’s Workshops
Friday – Full Day Classes 9:00am – 4:00pm
- 501 – DRUM CARDING MIXED BREEDS Henry & Roy Clemes
- 502 – FELTED VESSEL Rosie Dittmann
- 503 – IN SEARCH OF THE PERFECT GREEN–AND ORANGE, TOO! Stefania Isaacson
- 504 – CABLED YARNS: A SPINNER’S STUDY IN TWIST Kate Larson
- 505 – RARE BREED TREK – A HANDS-ON EXPLORATION OF HISTORIC SHEEP BREEDS Amy Ross Manko
- 506 – SKOLT SAAMI SOCKS Laura Ricketts
- 507 – BLENDING BOARD BASICS Amy Tyler
- 508 – BLEND & SPIN: CUSTOM CARDING Emily Wohlscheid
- 509 – BEGINNING SPINNING Deb Jones
Friday – Morning Classes 9:00am – 12:00pm
- 540 – BEGINNING INKLE LOOM WEAVING Cheryl Stegert
- 541 – NUPPS AND ESTONIAN LACE Mary Germain
- 543 – DON’T LET YOUR YARN WEIGHT YOU DOWN: GIST OF GRIST Jillian Moreno
Friday – Afternoon Classes 1:00pm – 4:00pm
- 560 – A DISTORTED VIEW OF CUFFS Mary Germain
- 561 – KNITTING WITH TEXTURE Mary Jo Harris
- 563 – PRETTY MAIDS ALL IN A ROW: SUCCESSIVE COLOR PLYING Jillian Moreno
- 564 – INKLE LOOM — PICK UP TECHNIQUES Cheryl Stegert
Saturday’s Workshops
Saturday – 2 Full Day Classes 9:00 am – 4:00 pm
Saturday – Full Day Classes 9:00am – 4:00pm
- 601 – LEARNING KUMIHIMO, LUCET & SLENTRE TO MAKE BRAIDS AND CORDS Susan Frame
- 602 – BEGINNING SPINNING Deb Jones
- 603 – YARNITECTURE: BUILDING EXACTLY THE YARN YOU WANT Jillian Moreno
- 604 – EXPLORATION IN RIGID HEDDLE WEAVING Cheryl Stegert
- 605 – 24 COLORS WITH ONION SKINS Diana Armes Wallace
Saturday – Morning Classes 9:00am – 12:00pm
- 640 – BEGINNING FELTING Rosie Dittmann
- 641 – SPEED KNITTING Kenneth Gossard
- 642 – SPINNING ON THE GREAT WHEEL – BASICS Pat Hilts
- 643 – SWEET FEET: SPINNING FOR SOCKS Kate Larson
- 644 – SHEEP TO SKEIN – PROCESSING RAW FLEECE FOR FUNSIES Amy Ross Manko
- 645 – FREE STYLE ITAJIME SHIBORI (CLAMP) SILK SCARF WITH BENGALA DYE Chiaki O’Brien
- 646 – FIRST SAMI KNITTED MITTEN – TECHNIQUES Laura Ricketts
- 647 – VARIATIONS ON LONG DRAW Amy Tyler
- 648 – CORESPINNING Melissa Bohrtz
Saturday – Afternoon Classes 1:00pm – 4:00pm
- 670 – FELTED FLOWER PINS Jane Ann Carney
- 671 – FELT…FROM FLAT TO FORM Rosie Dittmann
- 672 – NEEDLE FELTING: BARNABEE SHEEP, THREE LAYERS FULL Danita Doerre
- 673 – LEARN TO USE A SHETLAND KNITTING BELT Kenneth Gossard
- 674 – SPINNING ON THE GREAT WHEEL-BEYOND THE BASICS Pat Hilts
- 675 – KNITTING WITH CONFIDENCE Kathy Krause
- 676 – SPINNING BLENDED BREEDS: CORRIEDALE, COLUMBIA, CORMO, AND MORE Kate Larson
- 677 – SAORI WEAVING—LET’S ENJOY BEING IN A MOMENT! Chiaki O’Brien
- 678 – SKAITE-MARIA MITTENS: THE RED AND THE BLACK Laura Ricketts
- 679 – PLYING FOR TEXTURE Amy Tyler
Sunday’s Workshops
Sunday – Full Day Classes 8:30am – 3:30pm
- 801 – FELTED PILLOW PROJECT Jane Ann Carney
- 802 – BEGINNING SPINNING Deb Jones
- 803 – SPINNING SPECTACULAR KNITTING YARNS Kate Larson
- 804 – COLORPLAY: STRESS-FREE WAYS TO SPIN WITH COLOR Jillian Moreno
- 805 – SAORI WEAVING—EXPRESS YOURSELF! Chiaki O’Brien
- 806 – DYES OF THE AMERICAS Kathy Sparks
- 807 – BLENDING BOARD BASICS Amy Tyler
Sunday – Morning Classes 8:30am – 11:30am
- 840 – LARIAT BEAD SAMPLER Lynne Bergschultz
- 841 – INTRO TO TAPESTRY Robin Goatey
- 842 – BEGINNING MAGIC LOOP Kathy Krause
- 843 – BROOM MAKING PRIMER WITH HANDLES Bev Larson
- 844 – BROOMSTICK LACE Cheryl Stegert
- 845 – NEEDLE FELTED TEDDY BEAR Erin Whalen
- 846 – COILING ON A GOURD Sandy Bulgrin
Sunday – Afternoon Classes 12:30 – 3:30pm
- 860 – BEADWEAVE A BANGLE Katherine Hughes
- 861 – SHIBORI DYE CLASS Mary Silver
- 862 – HAIRPIN LACE Cheryl Stegert
- 863 – TREE OF LIFE PENDANT Sandy Bulgrin
If you’re going to the Sheep & Wool Festival to shop…enjoy two huge barns filled with fiber vendors. Here’s the list for pre-trip preparation!
Say hi to the border collies for me!
Jenny