Thank you to everyone who came to our exhibition opening last night. It was great to see so many people admiring our creations and enjoying themselves!

And of course a big thank you to Susan at Hula Juice Bar for providing the delicious rum & apple punch, tasty snacks and for arranging the delightful music by Megan.

The exhibition will be open until Decemeber 22nd. All the items on display are for sale so head on over and get some locally handcrafted gifts for your loved ones, or just treat yourselves…

It’s time once again to show the world what we get up to at our Annual Showcase Exhibition!

The idea of the exhibition is to show a sampling of the kinds of work our members produce, and we hope to have a nice selection of stuff to show again this year.

Our venue will be Hula Juice Bar, just off the Grassmarket, who have very kindly agreed to host the exhibition which will run from 27 November to 22 December with an opening party on December 4th.

If we’ve piqued your curiosity and you’d like to join us just click on the big orange button on the right and if you wanna go all the way here’s a bit more information about how it’s all going to work. If, however, you have  questions, comments or just want to say hi send us an email at hello@craftreactor.com.

On Tuesday last week we gathered in Hula to make felt flames.  Some of us had never made felt of any sort before but by the end of the session we’d made 12 needle felt fires on prefelt and an uncounted number of wet felted flames.  Thank you to everyone who came and took part.  I hope you had fun – I know I did.

needle felt fires

felt flame needles

I took the felt panels back to my studio and used the nuno felt technique to bond them to a piece of black silk chiffon. I added an all over pattern of flames on the back. This way both sides will look good if we hang it like a flag some time.  I also made a lot more of the individual flames to make a lovely little bundle of fire.

On Saturday 6th October, the International Day of Felt, both pieces were displayed in public in keeping with the idea behind the day.  As the main piece of work, the hanging was set up on the mirror wall in Hula Juice Bar and Cafe on West Bow just next to where we we started work on it. It’ll stay there until Monday lunchtime.  Pop in for a smoothie and see it.

12 felty fires in Hula

bundle of fire

I’ve been taking the bundle of fire to various places and photographing it in public places – the bar at Summerhall arts centre, the banks of the Water of Leith and more to come. Once I have a good photograph of each piece I’ll uploaded them to the Felt United international portfolio of this year’s day of felt to let the world of feltmaking see what Craft Reactor can do.

Craft Reactor comrades and fellow travellers are invited to join in making group contribution to the International Day of Felt at the regular meet up in Hula on 2 October.

The first Saturday in October every year feltmakers around the world take part in a wide range of public events to celebrate the glories of their chosen medium. For more about the Day of Felt see the website www.feltunited.com and join the Facebook group.  Each year has a theme in order to create some focus to these events and this year it is fire!

“close your eyes and think about it. Think about that word… fire, about every aspect, about the meaning, what it looks like, love the colours, feel the heat, find warmth in the friendships, taste the food, smell… use all of your senses… then dream of the possibilities.” – from the announcement in January on www.feltunited.com

So  your Craft Reactor committee has hatched a plan for everyone who comes along to our meet to make a flame which will be incorporated in a group piece that will be exhbited in Hula on the Day of Felt itself.  The work will also be photographed for inclusion in the international portfolio on the Felt United website.

We have two simple methods of making flames that can be made easily even if you’ve never made felt before. They can be flat or 3D and use dry and wet processes. We’re starting simple to get as many people as possible involved but there may be scope for something more sophisticated if there’s enough time and space.  We’ll supply the tools and the fleece but contributions of extra fleece in firey colours are welcome.

Madeleine Shepherd then will take the flames to her studio later that week and assemble either a hanging panel or a sculptural object from everyone’s work. The final form will be dictated by what we make on Tuesday.

At 10am on Saturday 6th October the work will be installed in one of the windows at Hula for all to see and admire!  Everyone is welcome to come along to that too.

Our next MeetUp falls on May 1st so in honour of Workers’ Day and in the spirit of renewal and revolution there will be a mending theme to this one.

If you’ve got a pile of mending but just don’t fancy staying at home with your sewing kit, well, you don’t have to! Bring some of it along and join us in  giving those old items a springtime revamp.

Of course if you are all caught up on your clothes repairs just bring whatever you’re working on (or just yourself!)