Langley Weavers' and Spinners' Guild
General Meeting: Tuesday February 16, 7:30pm
Goodies: Lois H., Alison W., Lin I.
Hospitality: Lois H., Alison W., Marilyn O.
Program: The Revolutionary Knitting Society guest speaker
Spin-Ins Evening: February 9-Krista G., 7:30pm
March 9 Denise P., 7:30pm
Spin-Ins Day: February 4 Maureen D. 10am to 2pm, bring wheel and lunch
March 4, TBA, 10am to 2pm, bring wheel and lunch
Crazy Clackers: February 23, Judy M., 7:30pm
Exec Meeting: March 2, Krista G., 7pm
January Newsletter has been posted in the members only area.
Every third Tuesday of the month except for July, August and December.
November’s Meeting: January 19, 2010 @ 7:30 pm
Program: Shari scholarship repayment program on Surface Embellishments
Goodies: Judy , Marianne , Lin
Hospitality: Marianne Marilyn
Executive Meeting: February 2, 2010, 7pm, Jennifer home
Come celebrate the creativity and community of the growing DIY craft, art and design movement in Vancouver present by the museum of Vancouver.
Generously sponsored by OPUS and Blim, there’ll be materials and workshops in a range of art and craft media from paper to yarn. Workshops (listed below) will begin at 8pm. There will also a mini Got Craft market, along with music, snacks and local brews.
Activities are geared so that everyone can participate - from the craft newbie to seasoned creators.
Blim: button-making and screen printing workshops
Knitgirl: Knitting and Craftivism
Kirsti Wakelin: drawing/ exquisite corpse.
If you’re super-proud of what you make at DIY@MOV, MOV is providing exhibit space so that your creation can be on public display in a museum. Think of the bragging rights!
$15 - Tickets available online or at the door.
MOV Members Free
View the Fibre week web site www.oldscollege.ca/fibreweek for detail on the Fibre week program with courses and activities designed for the entire fibre industry from producers through to finished product.
36″ Leclerc loom for sale with accessories. $200. Please call (604) 856-0898.
For further information about each of the 9 workshops and 6 lectures being offered in May 2010, including registration forms, please refer to the Interlacement Symposium brochure or visit the website http://www.gvwsg.com/interlacement/overview-of-events/
According to Kris, this 3-day workshop is so jam-packed with techniques and play, she can barely describe it all! The thing that makes handweavers so special in the surface design world is that we can manipulate both the warp and the weft before the yarn is even on the loom. She’ll teach techniques for both pre-woven warps/wefts and finished cloth, including (but not exclusively) block printing, screen printing, nature printing (using preserved leaves), devore, arashi, and a Kris Abshire exclusive she calls “reverse transparency”, which is done on-loom. Be prepared to use brushes, squeegees, and wood blocks, paints, dyes and metallics. Be prepared for 3 days of unfettered play. (No loom required.)
Kris has developed this highly popular and fun class to take all the fear and guesswork out of warp painting. She has a wonderful technique for laying the warp out like a canvas so you can see the entire warp while you’re designing and painting. All her techniques, including the dyeing of the weft, are “direct application” rather than immersion, which results in rich, character-laden colours. She’ll also teach the use of thickened dyes, either freehand or with stencils, for your warps. You’ll paint 2 silk warps and wefts, one using a soft, watercolour technique, and the other using a more predetermined design method.
This exclusive two-in-one workshop allows us to spend a bunch of time in the morning learning about and understanding sett, and then applying that knowledge in the afternoon to add accent yarns into existing warps. For those of us who always say a little prayer to the Loom Goddess when we guess at the sett of our expensive alpaca/silk warp, Cameron will teach us how to determine sett properly – no more guessing. Later Cameron will use a clever little device called a “tie-in board” to show us how we can swap out warp yarns on a prepared loom and replace them with dazzling accent yarns – on the loom. Imagine the possibilities! (No loom required.)
Have you always wanted to learn how to make baskets? This is a step-by-step instruction class that will not only teach you the basics, but will encourage you to develop skills for adding techniques along the basket-making way – design as you go. Judith will teach why things “work” in basketmaking, lots of how-to techniques, and tidbits of information not usually found in written instruction – the stuff that’s “too silly” to write down. You’ll make at least one reed basket, including making your own handle – Judith will explain why this is such a great thing. Sit back, look at your finished basket, and bask in that great sense of accomplishment.
This is a heaven-sent format for basketmakers who know what they’re doing. You can bring the skills you already have to this class, and Judith will customize your learning experience to suit what you want to learn. After you’ve registered, you’re encouraged to view her website outlining your options and choices, and then contact Judith for input on what you’d like to learn. You can create the basket you want, or if you’d prefer to just learn some new, advanced techniques and not make a complete basket, that’s also an option. It’s almost like a self-directed study, but with an expert to guide you along.
Anne Field comes from New Zealand, a land populated by 8 million people and 64 million sheep. This woman knows wool. This workshop is focused entirely on learning the differences between the fibres of different sheep breeds and how to spin them to their best advantage. Anne likes to create a friendly, informal atmosphere with lots of laughter, as it results in the best spinning.
This workshop is based on a set of 4 Bauhaus design exercises: Geometry, Shapes from the Natural World, Dynamic Forms, and Symmetry. Each exercise will be explored, and a small tapestry will be created (or at least started). You’ll leave this workshop with a firm understanding of tapestry technique, and a confident approach to design. Some weaving experience is an asset, but you don’t have to be a tapestry weaver to enjoy this workshop. If you’re interested in the process of creating good design and colour, treat yourself to 5 days with this dynamic, talented and extremely popular instructor. (BYOLoom, either a vertical tapestry loom, a small floor loom, or a table loom – anything that will make 2 sheds.)
The best thing about this workshop is that you’ll be encouraged to break every rule you were ever taught in weaving school. How fun does that sound? Anne says that this workshop is not about advanced weaving – the weaving itself is quite simple – it’s about how the way we weave and the fibres we use create bendy, pleaty, flexible, drapey cloth that has loads of textural character. The first morning is spent warping the looms, with assistance provided where necessary. (Looms provided.)
This workshop is all about weaving and how colour and weave structure work together. Coming from an archaeological angle, Cameron will show us countless examples, both images and actual samples, of weave/colour interaction through the centuries, and encourage us to use them as a vast library of inspiration for our weaving today. Armed with all this inspiration, we’ll weave our way into understanding how the colours we’ve chosen will be influenced by the weave structure, and vice versa. (Looms provided; warp the loom the day/evening before the workshop starts.)
Thursday, January 21 - Noon to 3pm - Making use of Electronic Media for Promoting Textile Arts
Felicia Lo, FREE Lecture. Felicia Lo of Sweet Georgia Yarns in Vancouver, will discuss how textile arts can be promoted using current communications tools. Her presentation will provide effective ways to connect with fibre friends and promote weaving and spinning. Is a website enough as a promotional tool? How can social electronic media, like Twitter and Facebook, assist textile arts? and Can an iPod assist with arts communications? Felicia will provide answers to these questions and more. NOTE: Presentation follows the Guild’s business meeting which begins at NOON. Visitors and New Members welcome to attend! For further information please visit www.gvwsg.com, email dmrussell@shaw.ca or contact Dawn at 604-576-8101. The Greater Vancouver Weavers & Spinners Guild meets at Aberthau, West Point Grey Community Centre, 2nd Ave at Trimble, Vancouver.
Don’t forget your name tag and mug!
Are you wanting to add beading into your weaving? If so check out Wanda Jenkins article on Weaving Beads into Cloth in the latest postings of Weavezine.
The Langley Weavers’ and Spinners’ Guild are accepting submissions to be included as a vendor in our November 6 and 7, 2010 Artisans’ Sale. We do have returning customers who come specifically to purchase from some of our current vendors, so we will continue to have some of the same people included. We have a minimal amount of tables available this coming year and we like to have a variety of artisans included. We are accepting applications for items that do not conflict with what we currently have either on the Guild floor or as current vendors. If you are interested in having a table, please email me back before February 16, 2010 to let me know. If you have never been a vendor at the sale please contact me by email as soon as possible so that we can arrange to have our Guild Executive jury some of your items. (If you wish to have a table and are a member of the Guild, please bring a variety of your items to either the January 19 or February 16 meetings so that we have time to review them.)
The Executive will then meet and choose who will be accepted for the 2010 year and we will contact you either way by April 15 with our decision. Thank you for your interest, please understand that we are in a very limited facility and there are several people who wish to be a part of the sale. We will do our best to continue having high quality items that are of interest to the public.
**Please Note - If you are a member of LWSG, we do demonstrate and have tables at other functions in the year, and there is a possibility of selling your other handmade items at these events, as well.
Thanks so much,
Shari