Natalie Tretyak
Feltmaker
Natalie is a feltmaker based in Fernie, BC. Originally from Siberia Russia, Natalie started working with felt in 2015. Her eco-friendly felted projects use wool, fleece, silk and other natural fibers. She makes felted clothes as well as wall hanging art pieces and interior design objects.
“Felting is great because of how many different things could be made using this old traditional technique. Our ancestors used wool to make clothes and shoes, carpets and blankets. They covered their homes with felt and wrapped their babies to keep them warm. Nowadays, not only feltmakers use wool to create clothes that look more like wearable art, they use it as a medium to create paintings, art objects and interior decorations.
Most of Natalie's projects are seamless wet felt, which means that 3D shapes are created without sewing or otherwise connecting the pieces together. The wet felt is made by spreading wool fibers on a template, wetting them with soapy water, and then rolling and working by hand like dough until it binds to make seamless fabric. Felt has amazing fabric qualities, plasticity and limitless sculptural potential while wet and it also keeps the shape when it dries out. This wonderful medium can be shaped into pretty much anything”.
Natalie has been learning a lot from great textile artists and feltmakers to develop her skills. She also shares her techniques with others at her workshops teaching how to make felted wearable pieces like hats, scarves, mittens, etc.
