TRACE:
Traditional Arts and Crafts of Europe
SLOVENIA
Seamless Wet-felted Products
Anja Musek
Anja Musek creates under the name Amuse, where unique woolen products for different purposes are made. She specializes in seamless wet felting. With minimal use of working tools, she creates unique and functional products. Just one base material - carded wool - but the array of colors and the technique make the possibilities for creating practically endless. In a video, Anja explains the basic wet felting process, which requires time and a hand-tactile connection with the material. She is adapting this old traditional technique into an individual expressive art form, crafting pieces based on clients' preferences as well as practical items for the home. Her studio is full of the softness of felted items, from bags, scarves, vases, and clothing to jewelry, natural soaps wrapped in felted wool, slippers, wall art and much more. Anja also shares her knowledge through workshops and classes, bringing a sense of calm, and creative expression with wool to both young people and adults in today’s fast-paced world.
How is a seamless wet-felted bowl made?
Anja Musek begins by separating carded wool into fine layers, placing them one by one onto a base in a crisscross arrangement. She then applies warm water and soap, and with a gentle touch, begins to rub the surface, allowing the fibers to bond gradually. As the felting progresses, she increases pressure (rolling, throwing), helping the wool fibers to further intertwine, tighten and shrink. The product is then washed to remove soap and soaked in the water with added vinegar, which closes the scales on the fibers and returns wool to its natural pH state. For shaping, Anja uses an inflated balloon, which provides the form for the final shape. Once shaped, the bowl is set aside to dry, the final stage of the craft process.
Mentioned in the video: Arts & Crafts Center in Škofja Loka - check them on their website: https://www.centerduo.eu/en/
You can find more about Anja Musek and her work on the website: www.amuse.si
English transcript of the video:
I’m Anja Musek, and this is my studio, Amuse. I work with wet felting, the oldest textile technique in the world. It’s a fairly primitive method, but incredibly versatile - you can create nearly anything with it, without sewing or cutting, from clothing and fashion accessories to vases, artwork, footwear, and much more.
The primary material I use is carded wool from sheep, which I layer in a crosswise pattern. I then sprinkle it with hot water and add soap to start the felting process. As the fibers bond, I begin working with the material more vigorously so it shrinks (fulls) and tightens. When it reaches the right level of shrinkage, we say that the piece is finished, and I rinse all the soap out, soak it in vinegar water and leave it to dry.
I started working with wool about nine or ten years ago after taking a course at the Arts & Crafts Center in Škofja Loka. I was captivated by wool and particularly drawn to this technique, as everything is done by hand, with almost no tools needed. Step by step, I began developing my own way, experimenting with new ideas, and refining my style. Eventually, I left my original profession as a landscape architect to fully dedicate myself to this craft and the art of creating unique pieces using wet-felting technique.
Felted and Embroidered Products
Darja Rant
Darja Rant is an artisan who, beyond creating her own works, is dedicated to passing her knowledge into the community. She believes that craftsmanship naturally seeks to thrive to live in the community. Just as our ancestors often worked and created together, it’s essential to pass down their skills to future generations with an awareness of this connecting aspect while working/creating art or something together. Through her mastery of textile techniques, Darja engages individuals - whether they are newcomers, those with past experiences, or those hesitant about creating - to reconnect with each other and the community through traditional craft skills. These techniques provide an endless source of self-discovery and remind us that we are all part of a larger whole. Bigger goal of her work are larger textile pieces like swings, ottomans, and tapestries, which come to life on the community workshops, along with smaller handmade items for the home, one of which is presented in the video. Each piece incorporates elements of local cultural heritage, such as the traditional Gorenjska embroidery she presents in the video.
How is a Felted Soap with Embroidery Made?
Darja Rant begins the process by layering the base material, wool. The colored wool for patterns must be added at the beginning, at the same phase as the basic, white wool. In the next step, she is wrapping the layers of wool around the soap. She then dips it several times in warm water, allowing the soap to soak and bind with the wool. Once the wool has felted and firmly adhered to the soap, she dries it thoroughly. Finally, she applies details with different techniques - in the video she is embroidering traditional patterns onto the surface of the soap.
English transcript of the video:
I am Darja Rant, a textile artist, designer, and, above all, a craftswoman. I work with felt, creating products from seating ottomans to smaller textile pieces for personal use, such as bags, scarves, jewelry, and even felted soaps with embroidered motifs, one of them includes traditional embroidery from Gorenjska region.
I am keen to engage in community art projects, from felting large rugs that become tapestries to weaving loops that are transformed into swings and ottomans. These projects create beautiful connections between people - those who might never have created before, those who are reviving memories of daily craft traditions from decades past, and those who are discovering this craft for the first time, finding inspiration, relaxation, and a new appreciation for the power of working with their hands. It offers a space to create tangible items and, more importantly, to reconnect with oneself.
The clips featured in the video were taken during workshops for young people and adults that Darja Rant led as part of various projects.
Interweaving Wicker Products
Janez Krišelj
Janez Krišelj makes a wide range of items using hazel branches, from products for home, and farm tools to gifts and decorative pieces. His weaving workshop is full of knowledge he interweaves into baskets, bins, and traditional containers, as well as small nativity figurines, decorative items, and motifs inspired by the traditions of our ancestors. Alongside the finished pieces that adorn the shelves, walls, and entrance of his workshop, he is deeply committed to passing his craft next generations. Through workshops, courses, and active involvement in craft communities, he has a clear vision for introducing weaving - a traditional craftsman technique known in all of Eastern Europe - to the younger generation. As he says in the video, young people are interested; it’s just a matter of presenting them with the knowledge correctly.
Mentioned in the video: Arts & Crafts Center in Škofja Loka - check them on their website: https://www.centerduo.eu/en/
English transcript of the video:
I am Janez Krišelj from Preddvor, a basket weaver since my youth. I learned the craft at home from my mother, Milka, the family was named Petan, from the village Zgornja Bela. During the winters, she wove baskets to ensure a small additional income to the family. This skill stayed with me, and as I grew older, it became something I wanted to pursue more seriously. I’ve been weaving since 1985, which means several decades now. I began with a simple, traditional basket known as cajna, and over time expanded my craft to include larger baskets, such as camboh and koš. I also began creating woven products with wooden bases, like škundra, pobirač, or košara, along with various household products used in everyday life at home and at work in the fields - in fact, these items have a wide range of practical uses.
Along the way, I gained deeper insights into the craft, meeting older, experienced weavers from whom I learned a lot, though they were often reserved to share their knowledge. Watching their hands closely and observing their finished pieces, I was able to absorb many of the techniques they weren’t actively teaching. To keep weaving alive, I joined the Center for Traditional and Art and Crafts in Škofja Loka. They welcomed me as the only basketweaver in the group, and through this center, I organize basket-weaving courses throughout Slovenia each year. Through these workshops, I’ve trained several weavers, and a good percentage of them continue the work.
I’m very interested in bringing this knowledge to school programs as well, which I’ve managed to do at a few schools. Young people are genuinely interested in weaving, but you have to approach it without overburdening them. This work requires time and patience, and because there are always sharp tools involved, a specific program for schools in collaboration with the principals and school custodians needs to be crated to ensure we complete the project safely.
Natural Dying
Ladka Peneš
Ladka Peneš is an enthusiastic researcher of plant-based wool dyeing. She possesses a wealth of knowledge about the plants that grow in her surroundings, including how to process these plants to dye wool and achieve the most vibrant colors, as well as how to preserve wool skeins to prevent fading. Dyeing with plant-based dyes is not just a process that Ladka demonstrates in her video; it also involves the entire process of gathering plants, understanding their habitats, and knowing the optimal time for harvest. The knowledge that our ancestors used in their daily lives—having spent most of their time in nature—is passed down by Ladka in a truly special way through her creations. She infuses plant dyeing into wool skeins, from which she crafts various products for the home.
The process of creating products from natural-dyed wool
The first step involves caring for the plants, gathering them from nature, and properly storing them. The wool must be spun on a spinning wheel, where it becomes yarn. This is followed by various dyeing processes: the use of natural fixatives for colorfastness, boiling, soaking, straining, and finally drying. The naturally dyed wool yarn is then wound onto a special wooden device, where the yarn is ready for further use. Ladka Peneš uses these balls of natural-dyed wool to create different products for home.
English transcript of the video:
I am Ladka Peneš, a retired translator, mother of three children, and grandmother of ten grandchildren. Even during my active career as a translator, I started working with wool. Wool is a pleasant, soft material. I discovered it in Solčava, where I also began felting. At that time, they had some wool dyed with plants, which I used. The following year, I experimented with other types of dye, but I realized that plant-dyed wool was much more beautiful so I decided to pursue it. And so, I became “hooked.” The computer and English were not a problem; I even started buying books and began to research.
I mostly use wool from an indigenous Slovenian sheep, named by the region where they breed it - Jezersko-Solčavska -, and I also have one sheep that I keep in Jezersko, which I visit from time to time.
There are some basic plants that have been good dye sources for centuries. One of them is indigo, specifically dry indigo, which I also grow in my garden. Another plant, woad, produces a similar indigo with a slightly different hue; this is European indigo, and I cultivate it as well. It yields a very strong, durable blue color. Then there's the madder plant, which I also grow in my garden; it produces a vibrant red dye. I use even the tiny twigs; nothing goes to waste. The buckthorn is a Slovenian shrub that is considered "worthless"—it has unattractive leaves, no beautiful bark, and no appealing flowers or useful fruits. However, the typical Slovenian butterfly, called “cekinček,” feeds on it, and the bark gives wonderful orange-red shades. This here is dried buckthorn.
There are many natural yellow dyes, such as lepe očke (coreopsis), vratič (yarrow), as well as many other yellow plants, including dandelion and marigold. I primarily use fresh plants when they are available, especially those that grow locally. I don’t purchase them, even though the market is well-developed and you can buy anything, including powdered indigo, etc. I prefer to go for walks and search for what I can use, including goldenrod, which is invasive and produces beautiful yellow dye. I also gather a lot of leaves from willow, alder, oak, and walnut trees; for instance, green walnuts, which are used to make walnut liqueur, yield lovely brown colors.
However, there are some plants that one might think would produce beautiful colors but do not yield anything at all. Nature is both abundant and stingy; it offers both extremes. For example violet it won’t be durable; the same goes for red and green, and blue won’t be permanent either. So, what remains, you might wonder? You always end up with yellow, beige, or brown.
Pottery
Petra Markič
Petra Markič is a creator of clay products who, in her youth, discovered the positive aspects of working with clay while attending a clay course to spend more time with her father. For Petra, clay is a material that primarily connects one to oneself. In her studio, her hands shape unique clay products for the home and well-being. The traditional craft she has practiced since her teenage years, when she was grappling with the challenging emotions of adolescence, gives her a way to explore new dimensions within herself and her medium, which she skillfully shapes on the pottery wheel. To share this experience with others, she organizes workshops, where both young people and adults are discovering the techniques of our ancestors, who primarily used clay for practical purposes, but now can be a chance for genuine social connection during creativitz process. In this way, the craft remains alive and continues to inspire future generations.
How is a pottery from Petra’s hands made?
Petra begins by preparing raw clay, kneading and rolling it out. She then places it on the wheel, shaping the piece with water from one side and then, on the same wheel but with other tools, refining it on the other side. She also creates additional elements, like saucers for cups or various relief elements for bowls and other pieces, which she then adds to the main piece. The finished item goes into the oven or kiln - some pieces are fired only once, while others receive a glaze layer and are fired a second time - both times in a high-temperature kiln that reaches over 1000 degrees Celsius.
English transcript of the video:
I am Petra Markič, and I run Stories from Clay. Through Stories from Clay, I offer clay workshops and create unique ceramic pieces. My journey with clay began when I was 13 years old, attending my first workshop with my father. My main motivation was to spend time with him, not so much to learn about clay. But as I started working with it, I discovered how much clay spoke to me and calmed me, allowing me to connect with myself as I kneaded it. As a teenager, I was lively, often angry, and anxious, and none of the things I tried (from yoga to tai chi to breathing exercises) had focused or centered me as much as clay did.
Today, I offer clay workshops to help people connect with themselves and spend time with others through the experience of creation with the clay. Just as I cherished my time working with it alongside my father, I now give others the chance to share that experience on my workshops.
I create functional household pottery, typically cups, fruit or cereal bowls, and plates. These are also items that participants can make themselves in my workshops. When they later use these pieces at home, they are reminded of the enjoyable experience of working with clay and the meaningful time they spent with another person, leaving them with a lasting, functional memory.
What clay teaches me is that nothing is permanent. I can invest a great deal of time and energy into a piece, but it can crack or the glaze break, or for it turns out the same as I predicted. Clay teaches me persistence and non-attachment, pushing me to try again and again - just as in life, where you must accept imperfection and keep trying before you become good at sometnhing. Clay also helps me connect with myself; when I’m restless or anxious, with my mind racing, working on the clay wheel triggers a mechanical memory in my hands, which calms my thoughts entirely. This aspect of clay is deeply comforting; when my hands are busy, my mind finds peace.
Carved Wooden Molds
Petra Plestenjak Podlogar
Petra Plestenjak is a craftswoman who has been practicing woodcarving for nearly 50 years. In the video, she demonstrates the carving technique taught to her by her grandfather, Ivo Plestenjak. From a young age, she developed her artistic skills, influenced by both the needs of her environment and her own artistic interests. Today, her hands and her extensive collection of chisels produce highly decorative and intricately detailed original carving motifs, as well as traditional molds for baking Loški kruhki (decorative bread).
She portrays motifs that are slowly fading from memory—motifs that once protected our ancestors and their possessions, and depicted their tasks, beliefs, and customs. The baking molds are left unwaxed, with more open cuts and fewer details to ensure that the dough imprints clearly and preserves the pattern when removed from the mold. Petra Plestenjak uses pear wood for her work. She shares her knowledge through workshops and artistic colonies, helping to keep the technique alive and evolving through those who continue to practice and enhance it.
How is a baking or decorative wooden mold made?
Petra Plestenjak takes a prepared piece of pear wood, selects various chisels—typical tools for carving—and begins to carve, she hollows out patterns, removes small pieces of wood, and breathes new stories into it. In the end, she waxes the wood if it will be used for decorative purposes, or leaves it in its raw form if the mold is meant for baking.
English transcript of the video:
I am Petra Plestenjak, and I have been carving for almost 50 years. I started because my grandfather, Ivo Plestenjak, was a wood carver. As a young girl, around 11 or 12 years old, I was fascinated by the technique and practically insisted that he let me join him at work. At first, he was afraid I might cut myself, but when he saw that I could select the chisels (tools) on my own, we began carving together, each at our side of the table.
I started by carving traditional molds for Loški kruhek (a special type of decorative bread), mostly for non-practical use, as they were not used for bakery so frequently at that time. Later, I began expanding my work, creating bookmarks, keychain pendants, jewelry, and furniture. I enjoy incorporating stories into the molds, I do this mostly at the artistic colonies (workshops or gatherings for craftworkers).
At these colonies, there are different themes. Here, for instance, is a protective motif, which was once very common among our rural inhabitants. Here are Sv. Miklavž (St. Nicholas) and Parkelj (Krampus), typical figures of our region, and I also make replicas. For example, I created the symbol of St. Corbinian for Freising (German town historically very related to Škofja Loka, the home town of Petra Plestenjak).
The true classical molds are the ones that are hollowed out, but if you visit Slovenian National Museum, you'll also see flat molds, where the dough was laid and later trimmed. The polished molds are mostly ornamental. For baking, where the bread is imprinted and baked, I don’t wax the molds; I leave them in their natural form. I use pear wood to make the molds.
Both types of molds take me about the same amount of time to create, as the ornamental ones require more intricate cuts that fit together like lace. With the baking molds, I make the cuts more open, ensuring that the pattern isn’t too fine, so the dough or bread leaves a clear imprint, rich and detailed enough either way.
In two years, it will mark 50 years since I began, and I still find great joy in this work.