MASTER CLASS WORKSHOPS WITH NATALYA BRASHOVETSKA

EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST FOR MASTER CLASS WORKSHOPS WITH NATALYA BRASHOVETSKA

MAKING SHOES OR BOOTS AND BAG PROPOSED FOR OCTOBER 2018

Hi, I'm  Barbara King and I am a Creative Fibre member in Canterbury and belong to Southern Felters. I have approached Natalya in regard to her being able to hold workshops in New Zealand. Natalya did three workshops in Australia later this year and travels around Germany, Paris, London etc  teaching these classes.

The boots and shoes made in the workshops are just like any outdoor shoes or boots you would buy, solid soles with heels, heel boxes at the back, innersoles, tongues, laces etc.

There will be 2 5day boot and bag workshops in Christchurch and one 3 day shoe workshop in Blenheim in the 3^rd week of October.

If anyone is interested in attending or arranging workshops in their areas, please contact me  via email barbara.king@bdo.co.nz

Natalya Brashovetska- Proposal for Master Classes

Master Classes Options

1.                  "Boots and a bag" – 5 days. Christchurch

2.                  “Shoes on a block". 3 days.  Blenheim

 The specifics of making felted boots is complex and requires few days. Boots must be completely dry in order to continue working with accessories and to assemble all boots parts, sole, heel and insole. This is the reason I run master class creating two products boots and a matching bag. We first felt boots, leave it to dry, meanwhile felt a handbag. When the boots are dry, we then spend one day to finish boots and a felted bag installing all accessories.

PLEASE CONTACT ME VIA EMAIL: arly@xtra.co.nz if you are interested in attending a workshop and require further information. I have lots of photos from Natalya. Her Facebook page is GriNat and that is also her Etsy name should you wish to look at more of her work.

It is anticipated that the 5 day workshops will be approx $650 and the 3 day one approx $550. This is very cheap for a workshop of this calibre with the materials included (apart from any embellishments being silk, shoelaces etc that you may wish to put on your boots

Thank you for your time.

Barbara King

You get to keep your shoe last and awl. With the shoe last you can make slippers, boots and shoes without having to finish felting on your foot and we all know how difficult that is!

About Natalya: I was born in Ukraine and have been living in Cyprus over ten years. I have always been creative and was making clothes even when I was a child. 

 Currently, I work as a medical theatre nurse during the day and feltmaking occupies nearly all my free time. I am a self-learner. However, I have been also attended master classes which help me to polish my feltmaking skills developing my style and own technique which I have been teaching in various European countries.

Feltmaking for me is not just a hobby it is a life style, which helps me to control my stress level due to extremely tense work I do and connect with many talented feltmakers around the World. It lets me to express myself  and fly my creativity, creating not just beautiful but functional footwear. I also like to create matching items, such as footwear, bags and scarves. 

Wool and feltmaking became a major part of my life. My world of wool has no limits for me and my creativity, just unfortunately, there is limit in time. I can confidently say that I am experienced and highly skilled craftsman, feltmaker and a shoemaker. Quality is a major and first priority for me. Felted shoes must be very durable. This is not an easy process, often no one believes that my shoes are handmade.

I have also been searching a long time how to create comfortable shoes. After numerous experiments, I found this method, which I also teach during my master classes.

Amongst all feltmaking articles I have been designing and creating, felted bags and especially boots became my passion and  became a priority amongst other felted items which I am able to do very well.  When I started felting, my goal was to create not just beautiful shoes but functional and durable. For this purpose, I developed my own technique. It is a balance of classic shoemaker craftsmanship and felting. With my technique, you will be able to perform all the steps of creating shoe without involving a shoemaker, achieving orthopaedic shoes.

 I also have been designing and created felted clothes, bags, shawls and scarves using various felting techniques during self-learning and learned while undertaking few master classes learning from the best well known feltmakers and designers.

I have been promoting feltmaking and sharing my knowledge and experience running various feltmaking workshops, master classes  and taking part in various exhibitions.