Anna reports: With illness overtaking our scheduled guest artist, our own Melanie Siegel, artist and Exhibits Chairperson, stepped in on a moment’s notice to provide an exciting programme for the evening. And what fun it was!

Melanie introduced us to a technique of felting bracelets and then demonstrated the process. She created a basic form with neutral fleece, by wrapping it around her hand and securing the wrap with wool yarn. Then, layers and layers of exotic colours of our choice wrapped round and round the form.

All members got busy immediately, wrapping and wrapping and wrapping. Then we dipped our hands in water and mild soap. We rolled the bracelet between our hands, feeling it firm up as the felting process proceeded. What quick workers Guild members are: in an hour we completed what is often a 3-hour process. We set our bracelets aside to dry and imagined the embellishment we might later do with beading.

Once the drying started, Melanie also taught us how to felt beads out of the fleece wool. Then, by rolling the fleece in a bamboo mat, she demonstrated how we could make snake-like shapes –  to add a Rastafarian look to our hairdos? Finally, Melanie shared with us her love of her new felting machine.

How lucky we are to have such a talented, creative and imaginative member as Melanie in our group! She is truly a Pomegranate treasure. Thank you, Mel.