Schacht Loom for sale

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36” Schacht 4-harness low-castle floor loom in maple; complete with Schacht bench and one 12 dent carbon reed.  Approximately  550 flat steel heddles.

Pricing the set at a highly-competitive $1500.00. 

Pick-up in Boxborough, MA. Local delivery may be possible.

Safe viewing:  loom is located in a well-ventilated room with direct access to the outdoors.

Please e-mail loom20200826@nvwg.org if you are interested.  

 

All proceeds will be added to NVWG’s Pauline Duke Educational Fund. The Fund was originally set up through a “pay-it-forward” donation by Dawn Forde from the sale of a loom given to her by Pauline.  The fund has been used for various outreach and educational programs, including payment of guest speakers, purchase of workshop supplies, and the screening of “Yarn, the Movie”.

Annual Meeting and Potluck, Tuesday, June 29, 2021 6:00 PM

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Postponed due to weather!

We are happy to announce that our annual potluck picnic will be happening on Tuesday, June 22, 2021, at 6:00 PM. Rain date Tuesday, June 29, 2021. It’s actually a BYOP (Bring Your Own  Picnic), not a potluck as you will need to bring whatever you want to eat and drink.

 We will have the NVWG Annual Meeting during the event and a ” show and tell and touch” of our 2021 Guild Challenge pieces–something woven from stash yarns–that stuff that threatens to take over every square inch of floor space available and that will outlive us. 

There will be a yarn and equipment sale from the Pauline Duke donation, for sale to members at the picnic. Small items will be available on-site and photos of the larger items will be provided for you to view. Cash or check only–NO credit or debit cards will be accepted.

For additional information email chair@nvwg.org. 

You will need to bring:

  • your own food, beverage, and utensils
  • a chair
  • your stash buster Guild Challenge piece
  • cash or check for the yarn/equipment sale

Note: Those who are not vaccinated are asked to wear a mask at all times except when eating. Vaccinated people may do as they wish when socially distancing.

25May Meeting: The Fabric of Civilization

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Co-Sponsored with the Boston Area Spinners and Dyers
Presented by author Virginia Postrel, 7pm via Zoom
Textiles are one of humanity’s oldest and most influential technologies, but nowadays most people take them for granted. Drawing on her widely praised new book The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World, author Virginia Postrel will take us on a tour of some of the innovations–in fiber, spinning, weaving, and dyeing–that gave us today’s textile abundance and the ways textiles shaped civilization as we know it.
Virginia Postrel is a Los Angeles-based author, columnist, and independent researcher whose latest book is The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World. She is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. Her previous books include The Power of Glamour, The Substance of Style, and The Future and Its Enemies. During her research for The Fabric of Civilization, she learned to weave and is now the program co-chair for the Southern California Handweavers’ Guild.

27April Virtual Show and Tell!

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A few of our Guild members took a 3 Dimensional weaving workshop with Sally Eyring, back in February.  Please join us for a Virtual Show and Tell, to see some of the pieces that we made during and after the workshop!  Didn’t take the workshop?  Bring your COVID Creations to Show and Tell, too!  This meeting is a fun way to see what everyone’s been working on.

The meeting will take place via Zoom, with a link to be sent out on Monday, the 26th.  All members should automatically receive the link.  If you aren’t a member yet, you can send a note to chair@nvwg.org to request the Zoom link information.  The meeting will start at 7pm, on 27April2021.

Yarn, the Movie

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Did you know that we have the DVD of “Yarn” available in our library? ‘Tis true! A few years ago, the Guild sponsored a screening of the movie at the Harvard Library. It was open to the public, and it generated much interest from locals.  As part of the licensing agreement, we are permitted to have the DVD in our Guild library to lend to members. According to imdb, the documentary reveals how “international artists and knitters take a simple skein of yarn to create their extraordinary ideas and stories.”  Calling it a documentary makes it sound serious, but it really is a fun movie to watch, if you’re into yarn!

If you’d like to borrow the DVD, you can contact Kathy, our multi-talented librarian, to arrange a socially distanced pickup. Alternatively, you can stream the movie through a link on its imdb listing for a small fee.

By the way, you can view everything in library by clicking the LIBRARY tab above!

23March2021 Meeting, Photographing Handwovens

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Join us via Zoom at 7pm for a presentation by professional photographer Joe Ofria.  Joe has been photographing fine art for almost 40 years. He will talk about what makes a good photo, how to use what equipment you have, and editing the image following the guidelines for entering shows or competitions.  He will also answer questions about setting up a “studio” and lighting options.

Not a member?  Send an email to chair@nvwg.org to get the Zoom link and join us for a visit!  (Please send your request before 5pm on 23March.)

February 23, 2021 Meeting

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Laverne Waddington has been learning to weave on simple looms with indigenous teachers in South America since 1996. In her home in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, she draws on ethnic design influences from around the world to create pieces on a backstrap loom using the various techniques and structures she has studied in South and Central America as well as with backstrap weavers from Vietnam and Mayanmar.
Since 2010, she has published eight instructional manuals on the various woven structures and finishing techniques that she has studied and produced a dvd on Operating a Backstrap Loom.
Her articles on backstrap weaving and indigenous textiles have appeared in Handwoven magazine. Shuttle, Spindle & Dyepot and Spin Off as well as in the published proceedings of the 2012 and 2016 Braid Society conferences.
She has shared her skills and experiences with many visitors to Bolivia over the years and now reaches a global audience with her weaving tutorials and travel tales on her blog. She provides online advice and support to weavers through forums such as Ravelry and teaches and speaks at guilds and textile conferences around the world.

26 January 2021 Meeting

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What is sprang? How exactly does it work, what evidence do we have of sprang in the past, and what can you do with it today?

Carol James, aka The Sprang Lady, will be joining us live (on Zoom) from Manitoba, Canada for our regular meeting at 7 p.m. on Tuesday 26 January 2021 to answer these questions.

We begin with simple definitions and live demonstrations to help you understand how every row of work yields two rows of cloth. A variety of stitches lend themselves to this type of work, some even look like woven cloth. Diverse  techniques transform simple rectangles into hats, socks, mittens, vests and more. We will see this played out in a series of images of sprang through history. The presentation offers photos of actual sprang artefacts, ancient artwork, and Carol’s sprang replicas taking us from the bronze age to present.
The presentation finishes will focus on ways to make sprang shirts. The ancient Persians and pre-Columbian Americans made shirts, so why shouldn’t we? History suggests a variety of approaches. Trial-and-error suggest a few more. Carol has made more than 20 sprang shirts, and shares what she has learned.

For more information on Carol and her work, see https://www.spranglady.com/.

If you are not a Guild member and wish to visit, please email Chair@nvwg.org to request the link to the Zoom meeting.

December 1, 2020 Meeting

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November/December Meeting
December 1, 2020, 1:00 pm
Via Zoom
We will be making star ornaments. Supplies you should have on hand for the meeting are listed below. A link for the meeting will be sent to you via email. If you are just joining our guild, please let us know you would like to attend.

 

1. Two 2”X2” pieces of corrugated cardboard
2. Two 2”X2” pieces of tin foil
3. Scotch tape
4. White Glue or paste
5. Yarn – from your stash. Wool, cotton, whatever. Sock yarn weight or so for this size ornament, not too thin. If you would like to get creative, go a bit thinner and use more than one strand at a time. Add a thin strand of something that sparkles!
6. Straight pins with the colored ball point tops
7. Yarn needle