Orikiri Felt workshop with Sachiko Kotaka

Orikiri felt making comes from Sachiko's childhood play.

Ori means "fold" and kiri means "cut". Sachiko's adapted this paper technique by making decorative cutouts from fabric, prefelt and prenunofelt instead of paper.

Sachiko credits Kanako Yaguchi, author of "The Art of Decorative Paper Stencils" for some borrowed patterns as well as the recognition that these paper techniques are not restricted to Japanese culture, but also appear in Thai and Portugese cultures.  

My finished scarf.

Laying out. First 2 layers of randomly placed blocks of colour were laid out and topped with fabric torn from a polyester Indian sari. Cutouts were made of design elements contained within the print, then cut from wool. Cutouts from the fabric were placed on top of the wool shapes, before felt making was begun.