Hi all

Don’t know how Julie has time to breathe, what with all she’s been doing in the States!

Since I last wrote I attended Alexander Pilin’s week-long class at Horsham Textile Fibre Forum. We struggled a bit with the language barrier (He is Russian) but the class proved to be interesting and educational. Best laugh of the week: Alexander wanted to find a surface we could poke pins into. We responded with a suggestion of poly styrene, then spent several long minutes trying to explain to Alexander what poly styrene is. Finally, someone grabbed a foam cup and pointed at it saying very slowly, “Poly Styrene”. “Oh!” said Alexander. “Styrene! I thought you were saying “Polly Stirling!” Ha! Imagine his confusion over why we were suggesting sticking pins into Polly! (For those who might not know, Polly is a famous felter who divides her time between Australia and the USA.)

Here’s Alexander’s website: http://www.geocities.com/apilin/

Then about a month ago I went away with Victorian Feltmakers for a weekend retreat and made scarves. Had lots of fun, too. Here’s their website: http://www.vicfelt.org.au/ The links section is particularly worth a visit if you have some time to go surfing.

FINALLY, have you all seen Robyn Steel-Stickland’s most excellent new book, Felt? We launched it at Horsham:

http://www.penguin.com.au/lookinside/spotlight.cfm?SBN=0143004328&AuthorId=0000004123&Page=Profile

Every Australian feltmaker should have a copy. It has been in bookstores since late April. Excellent value at just $24.95.

Catch ya later,

Stacey

Melbourne