Welcome to Guatastudio the center for Feltmakers
“I truly believe we have the duty to create our spirit during a lifetime” – Carmen Padron Sanchez
Carmen came to Ireland almost a decade ago and having enjoyed a two year intensive Art & Crafts course at Grennan Mill, Kilkenny discovered her love for felt making. Carmen subsequently established ‘Guatastudio’ where she facilitates arranged workshops with adults and children bringing her many skills and rich life experiences to the essentially therapeutic process of felt making. Carmen is a member of the guild Feltmakers Ireland.
Felt is the result of a process using friction and hot soapy water on wool fibres. Individual wool fibres are coated with a layer of overlapping scales which are rough in one direction and smooth in the other. When wet these scales open and the alkaline property of soap encourages the overlapping cuticles to expand outward. With agitation and friction these cuticles act like hooks grabbing onto each other becoming displaced and entangled, matting together and ultimately shrinking into felted fabric. Diverse textures can be created by adding a further medium such as silk in Nuno felting or marbles in Shibori.
Student of ‘Guatasudio’
Shibori – Is a Japanese technique used to shape (and if desired dye) felt. Three dimensional effects can be created by twisting, folding and stitching at the pre-felt stage (bound but not yet shrunk) as shrinkage locks the shape into the wool.
Shibori
Nuno – Is a method of incorporating a fine lightweight fabric into wool fibres within the felting process. When the wool shrinks it pulls the fabric with it creating a crunched, textured effect. It is advisable to choose natural fabrics such as cotton muslin, scrim, gauze, silk chiffon/georgette and include into fine merino wools.
Autumnal Nuno
