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
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
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
Haunted loom
Haunted loom weaves a pumpkin
https://youtu.be/En_NAU9i7AE
October meeting: Shibori: An Ancient Textile Tradition of Infinite Possibilities (via Zoom)
October 27, 2020 7:00 PM (via Zoom, meeting link will be emailed to members)
Members, please join us for our October meeting. Local art quilter Ann Ribbens will talk about the multi-faceted world of shibori. While she often uses it in whole cloth quilts, there are many applications, including woven shibori. Ann’s comments will cover the definition of shibori, highlight several techniques and show samples from amazing artists as well as some of her own work.
Artist Statement
Ann Ribbens
I moved to Berlin, MA, in April, 2018. I am a transplant from Minnesota where I lived for over 20 years. My husband, A.J. Moses, and I are “trailing grandparents” in that we followed our daughter and granddaughter to Massachusetts when our daughter got a new job.
I have always been interested in quilting. I come from many generations of women who made fantastically beautiful quilts. They were Midwestern farm women with great sensibilities for color and pattern. Of course, they used scraps because that’s what was available to them during the late 1800s and the first half of the 20th century. Little girls’ dresses and men’s suits alike found new lives in these wonderful quilts. I have 14 heirloom quilts that were made between 1880 and the 1930s. Most are works of art from my grandmother and her cousin.
I have been making quilts since 1985. In the mid-90s, I abandoned making traditional quilts. I joined Minnesota Contemporary Quilters and found a whole new artistic outlet. I’ve experimented with various media including using trims, dyeing my own fabrics and embellishing my work with hand embroidery.
I deploy a wide range of surface design techniques in my contemporary quilts. I seek to provide rich visual details while giving the viewer a “wide angle” view. I work in small formats, or “wall quilts.”
These days, I work primarily with shibori (a Japanese tie dye technique) and deconstructed screen printing. For several years, I’ve been successful combining the two techniques to get outcomes that I’d hoped for.
My work is both representational and abstract. I have focused on several themes in recent years: memory, environmental issues and women’s relationships to their bodies.
My work has been exhibited at the Mosesian Art Center in Watertown, MA, the Brush Gallery and the Loading Dock Gallery in Lowell, MA, the Schweinfurth Museum in Auburn, NY, Gallery One in Ellensburg, WA, The Wickford Art Association, North Kingstown, RI, the Minnesota State Fair and several venues in Minneapolis/St. Paul. My art quilts have also appeared in books and in textile magazines including the Surface Design Journal.
SOLD!!! Schacht Loom for sale (4s/6t 36″)
36” Schacht 4-harness low-castle floor loom in maple. Friction brake. Includes Schacht bench, one 12 dent carbon reed, and 10-yard warping board. Approximately 550 flat steel heddles. Minor cosmetic damage: tape residue on castle, staining on heddle frames. Click for additional photos.
Price: $1200
Pick-up in Boxborough, MA. Local delivery may be possible.
Approximate physical dimensions:
44″ wide (warp crank handle sticks out about 7″)
26″ deep, folded
38″ deep, open
Castle is about 37″ tall
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”.
Different weaving for me
Big wheel for free
A friend of mine inherited a big wheel, which she wants to get rid of. There are a couple of problems with it: one is a broken spike. I’m not sure of the other issue, but I think it was minor. It’s available in Bolton, MA. Let me know if you’re interested and I’ll put you in touch with my friend.
Janice
[SOLD] Selling my Might Wolf 8 Shaft [SOLD]
This loom has been sold.
23June2020 Annual Meeting via Zoom
Members, please join us via Zoom at 7pm on 23June for our Annual Meeting and Zoom Show and Tell! Come prepared to vote on our slate of officers, and spend a few minutes telling us about your Guild Challenge Project.
Prior to the Zoom meeting, please post pictures of your Guild Challenge Project to the Google Photos folder. We will plan to share the pictures from the folder for easier viewing of your piece while you are talking about it. Please refer to the email sent from Dianne Tyree on 18June with full instructions for how to post your photo(s).
To join the Zoom meeting, please use the link and/or information from the invitation sent by Laura Busky on 19June. We can’t wait to see you and your creations, and are still hoping for an in person, socially distanced dinner together later this summer!
See you Tuesday!
Laura, Penny and the entire NVWG Board