Continuing

I teach a class called “Continuing Weaving” for students who are well beyond beginning and want to continue to fine-tune their skills and knowledge.  Usually each weaver works on a different project or weave structure, so there is always a variety of work on the looms.

Here are some results of a recent class.

Shawl, Crammed and Spaced

Huck place mats

Lacy Basket-weave Blocks

Basket-weave and Twill stripes

Finishing up a twill sampler from Extreme Warp Makeover workshop.

I’m always thrilled to see the wonderful weaving that comes from this class.  These weavers work hard all day at their professions, yet they continue to make time for for an evening class after work.  Working with their hands to produce a tangible product adds balance to their lives.

Vines

My Daddy used to bring me grapevines in the spring when he pruned his muscadines.   This year, I was fortunate that a friend mentioned that she was cleaning out some vines.  We used these in my recent basket class.

We started with the vines.

We used them to make frames for a rim and handle…

…and ended up with this.

Basket Case

Earlier in the spring I offered a basketmaking class.  The new basketmakers seemed to have a good time learning to control the rattan reed as they made several baskets during the four week session.

Garlic Baskets
Photo: Nancy Voshall

Then we added some color and texture.

Round Basket

And the weavers thought these looked terrific as a stack!

Basket Stack
Photo: Nancy Voshall

We continued with some square baskets.

Square Basket

The next class is Underwater Basket Weaving, part of my “Beach Weaving” series. It’s perfect for summer weaving at the beach, at the mountains, or in your own back yard.

 

Color

My eyes are still tingling from last weekend’s Splendor of Multicolored Warps workshop with Betty Vera.  More on the workshop later, but here is where we started.

Yarn for color sampling

Starter

My class using the rigid heddle loom is called “Starter Class” — but many weavers love these simple looms and continue weaving with them for many years.  A recent class produced these wool samplers featuring leno, Brooks bouquet, Danish medallion, huck, inlay, and clasped weft.

Yes, all students were given the same instructions.  I never can figure out why all the pieces are different.

Folk School

The John C. Campbell Folk School is a wonderful place.  You can read about their history and Danish folk school philosophy, but it’s not near as much fun as hearing Jan Davidson spin the yarn.

Even in a weekend, students are able to accomplish a lot of work.  In a recent weaving weekend, we started here on Friday night

and by Sunday morning, we had some lovely crammed-and-spaced scarves.

So much yarn, so little time.

For the Community

Each year, Chattahoochee Handweavers Guild hosts an Open House for the community, introducing weaving, spinning, basketmaking, braiding, and other fiber arts to the neighborhood. It is always a rewarding experience to meet people who are interested in these ancient techniques.

This year, we met an 11-year-old girl whose grandmother used to weave, and we were able to show her some of the steps in making cloth.  We also met people who were interested in tapestry weaving,

Tapestry weaving.
Photo: C. Fox

spinning,

Making yarn on a spinning wheel.
Photo: C. Fox

weaving narrow bands on an inkle loom,

Making narrow bands with an inkle loon.
Photo: C. Fox

and basketry.

Making a garlic basket.
Photo: C. Fox