Prefelt Rug Workshop with Nomadic Design
In Kyrgyzstan, when a daughter got married, her mother and relatives felted a rug for her. Using their ancient symbols they felted her best wishes and good luck into the rug that stayed with her for the rest of her life.
Not scheduled right now. Last taught 2026.
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The workshop
In Kyrgyzstan, when a daughter got married, her mother and relatives felted a rug for her. Using their ancient symbols they felted her best wishes and good luck into the rug that stayed with her for the rest of her life. In this workshop, you’ll create a felted rug (finished size approximately 3×5’ or 90×150 cm) with the instructor’s pre-felt technique, inspired by the several hundred-year-old symbols or creating your very own.
A basic understanding of wet felting is helpful. Creating a wet-felted rug requires good physical condition.
Skills and techniques
- Learn about the traditional symbols and techniques of the felted nomad rugs
- Gain understanding of various kinds of wool that fit this project to create structural felt (we’ll work with batts, approximately 21-31 micron: Wensleydale, Karakul, Mongolian, Gotland, Bergschaf, South-German, Portugal, Walsh Black Nose etc.)
- Learn how to plan a powerful design
- Make your own prefelt with vertical and horizontal color blending
- Learn the technique for outlining the pattern with a nice contour line
- Discover how to construct and felt a large rug
- Master turning the soft prefelt into a strong and durable felt
- Learn how to shape and control nice edges on a large rug
- Acquire tricks of the trade that make the felting process easier
Before you come
Details for students
Where
One of the farm's studios, confirmed at check-in. See the campus
Staying on the farm
Housing, meals, the daily schedule, and places to stay nearby are on Prepare for your workshop.
Your instructor
Questions about this workshop, housing, or meals? Email registrar@sanbornmills.org or call (603) 435-7314. Please read the workshop policies before you register.