Thursday 13 February 2020

'Quirky Birds' - day school with Angela Neilson

Today we had a day of fun and frivolity making these gorgeous little birds. Angela sent us a list of materials, but she had brought kits and so much of her own stuff we were spoiled for choice and could let our imaginations run riot. We received a packet with the cardboard templates already cut out, plus beads, braid and wire, which saved a lot of time. We chose our fabric, and following Angela's detailed instructions, cut out and stitched the birds on our sewing machines. The real fun came with decorating the stuffed birds with embroidery and embellishments, letting their own personalities take wing. People chose feathers, lace, beads, sequins, and even bells, to decorate the birds.

It was quite an intense day. I thought because the birds were small we would finish them quickly, but there were quite a few steps and many different techniques, and not all of us had finished by the end of the session. The more elaborate the decoration the more time required. However, I'm sure there won't be any 'UFOs', as everyone enjoyed making them so much. Angela was generous with her time and her materials, and is such an enthusiastic and entertaining teacher. We had lots of giggles, fuelled with homemade cake (thanks, Nancy 👍), and hope we see more of Angela in the future.

There will be some more photos of birds when they are finished.

One of Angela's birds

Stuffing the bird

Works in progress











Wednesday 5 February 2020

Dolly Mixtures - talk by Angela Neilson

We were really happy to welcome Angela back to give us another talk, this time on the wonderful dolls she makes, and she had brought along a huge family of quirky characters for us to marvel at. Angela gave us a slide show about her research into dolls in history, their roles in society, art and religion, which was extremely interesting, and pictures of Barbie, and paper dolls from comics brought back many memories.

Angela described her journey from making her first doll with no moveable joints and a flat face, through to making more complicated jointed dolls and sculpting faces to give features and expression, making them more realistic. It has been quite a learning curve and the dolls have evolved into unique characters with their own stories. A lot of the clothes are from the lovely scraps of fabric we all hoard, or finds in charity shops, such as leather hot pants being turned into boots, and bits of jewellery. Imagination is the only limit of what you can do, and I'm sure a lot of us are inspired to give it a go.

Angela also teaches, mostly adults but made us laugh with descriptions of a term teaching school children, letting their imaginations run away with them. She is such a lively speaker, we could have listened for hours, and we are looking forward to her day school next week when we are going to make quirky birds.

Angela can be found at www.facebook.com/ondineisnotofthisrealm
Or on her Pinterest page
https://pin.it/nmrutf6fjsd6yp

Click on the pictures below to enlarge.