Exploring Lace Workshop – CLOSED
Round robin style
Previous Workshops
The World Isn’t Flat! – 3D Loom Weaving Workshop with Sally Eyring
Date: Spring 2021 (Thurs, Fri, Sat)
Time: All day (specific hours TBD)
Location: Harvard Congregational Church, 5 Still River Road, Harvard, MA
Cost: $175 for NVWG members/ $200 for non-members; includes $20 materials fee
Max participants: 12, taken as checks are received. Payment is required to reserve a spot.
Workshop Description
The world isn’t flat, so why should you think of your weaving as always being flat? You have spent years learning the rules of two dimensional weaving; now learn how to break those rules to weave 3D sculptural forms. Basket weavers have been weaving three dimensional objects since antiquity, but this class will give you the thought processes and ideas for weaving 3D forms on your loom. See for examples of sculptural weaving, and start thinking about the shapes that you would like to weave!
Student Requirements
This is a hands-on workshop of 3 days in length, approximately 6-8 hours per day.
Each student will need to bring a table or floor loom, with a minimum of 4 shafts, that has been previously warped per instructions that are sent out ahead of time. The warp will be tied to the front cloth beam, sleyed, and threaded through the shafts as instructed. However, the warp will not be entirely beamed onto the back beam prior to class. Each student will need between 2 and 4 clean, empty milk or juice jugs (the kind with a loop handle) that can be filled with water and hung off the back beam as weights to provide tension for certain sections of the warp. Each student will bring several extra bobbins that can be used (as they will be shown) to attach the chained warp sections to the water weights.
Students will need to bring their own shuttles (3 are recommended), weft yarn, a reed or threading hook, and scissors. Students may bring other tools as needed.
Sally will provide the students with certain design materials and some small specialized tools. Handouts will be provided.
Sally will prepare the materials and send out warping instructions ahead of time. She will also personally contact each student to make sure they understand the warping instructions.
Prerequisites: Registrants must be able to warp their own loom ahead of time following special instructions provided by Sally.
Questions? 2020workshop@nvwg.org
October 2017: Round Robin Loomapalooza
We are planning a guild workshop for the fall. Many of you have expressed an interest. Now is the time to commit. This is open to all NVWG members, regardless of experience level, as long as you can warp your loom on your own.
Location:
The Faulkner House, 5 High Street, Acton
Dates:
Opening session (mandatory for all participants) Saturday 14 October 12-4 p.m.
Various flexible day and evening times during the week of 15-22 Oct (Anticipated time you will need to devote is dependent on the number of participants, but probably about 12 hours total. A typical round robin workshop is 3 full days, or about 18 hours. Think of this as a spread out weekend of weaving!)
Guild meeting Tuesday 24 Oct, 7 p.m.
Who:
This is open to all NVWG members, regardless of skill level or experience. If you do not have a portable loom, but would like to participate, we can help you locate a loom to use for the workshop.
Structure of the workshop:
Round Robin
Each member will be given a weaving draft that is appropriate for their loom and their skill level. Yarn will also be provided. Members will need to wind the appropriate warp (with help if needed) and warp their loom. They will arrive at the workshop with their loom completely threaded and a small sample woven at the beginning of the warp.
On the first day (mandatory for all participants), each person will share information about their warp, the weave structure and their loom operation.
Over the next week, the space will be open at various times during the day and in the evening. A mentor from the guild will be on location during all of the open hours. Participants will come and go as they are able and weave on each of the looms, marking their own weaving with supplied tags.
At the end of the final day (22 Oct), designated people will cut the pieces off the looms and take them home to wash, dry and cut up.
At our regular guild meeting on 24 Oct (which will be held at the Faulkner House), the results will be shared with the whole guild. Notebooks will be given to each participant, including the drafts and the samples they wove during the week.
To sign up:
Send an email to Penny chair@nvwg.org with your name and what loom you intend to use for the workshop. (Also indicate if you have another portable loom you’re willing to lend to a fellow guild member for the workshop.) If you are interested in exploring a particular weave structure, please indicate that in your email. Send a check for $75 to 96 South St., Berlin MA 01503 to complete your registration. Financial aid is available. Please contact Penny or Laura for information.
So that we can plan and everyone has time to warp their looms, the registration deadline is Wednesday 9 August.
Let us know if you have any questions!
October 2015: Tapestry Weaving Workshop with Janet Austin
Work in progress: Janet’s 2015 calendar tapestry
Saturday 24 October and Sunday 25 October 2015
9.30-12.30 and 1.30-4.30 (Times may vary slightly)
Class description: Tapestries can be woven on any loom, but frame looms have the advantage of being inexpensive and portable. In this 2-day class, participants will learn basic tapestry techniques for creating shapes, a mini tapestry design lesson and information about tapestry tools and materials. No previous experience is required.
Cost: $175 for members, $200 for non-members (includes 1 year membership). Checks should be made payable to the Nashoba Valley Weavers’ Guild and mailed to Laura Busky, 96 South St, Berlin MA 01503
Materials fee: $35 per student materials fee is payable to Janet on the first day of class. The fee includes yarn and a frame loom. You get to keep the loom but if you prefer you can return it for a $25 refund.
Supplies: Notebook, pencil and scissors. Bringing your own yarn is optional.
Janet Austen, Tapestry Weaver
Floral Fragments #6 by Janet Austen
BFA, Fibers, Massachusetts College of Art
MFA, Painting, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Coordinator and Secretary, 1993-2009, Tapestry Weavers in New
Board of Directors, 2001-2009, American Tapestry Alliance
Member: Weavers Guild of RI, Art League of RI.
Janet Austin has been weaving since 1972. She has taught weaving and spinning classes at the Durham (NC) Arts Council, Slater Mill, Court House Center for the Arts, various elementary schools, at the New England Weavers Seminar (NEWS), and in her studio. Her tapestries are exhibited nationally, most recently in Small Expressions 2014, The Art is the Cloth, and the upcoming Small Tapestry International 4. Janet lectures about tapestry, writes articles for Tapestry Topics, the newsletter of the American Tapestry Alliance, and is author of the blog: Tangled Web www.austintapestry.blogspot.com