It came before we knew it…the last class of 2024, Boundweave Rugs with Lynn Stracka Schuster. What a wonderful way to put the finishing touches on this season. The week was a combination of beautifully woven rugs, meeting new-to-Sievers students, welcoming back those returning for another class, outstanding instruction and continued gorgeous fall weather. Lynn brings many of her own rugs as inspiration and displays them in the studio as students arrive. Using that inspiration, students design their own rugs, choosing from a colorful array of rug wool and a range of motifs. So many possibilities! You might think the thickness of the wool makes the shuttles fly fast, but the thoughtful color changes create a different pace of weaving, […]
Take five
We’ve had a busy start to August with five classes in session during the first ten days of the month. Beadweaving, and then Mixed Media Fiber Jewelry with Francie Broadie, Finding Our Way: A Dyeing Journey with Stephanie Lewis Robertson, Batik with Anne Landre and Coiled Basketry with Lynn Stracka Schuster. Let’s “take five” and see a little of what each class did during their time in the studios. Francie Broadie’s Beadweaving: Lesser Known Stitches class allowed all levels to try beadweaving for the first time or to explore unfamiliar stitches, then in her Mixed Media Fiber Jewelry class, students created one-of-a-kind jewelry using fabric scraps, beads, found objects or pieces of old jewelry, upcycling and combining them in fun […]
Boundweave and a pop-up shop
We’d been waiting for this for a long time! Since the class in 2020 was not able to be held, it had been five years since the last Boundweave class. It’s such a treat to see the rugs Lynn Stracka Shuster brings and the ones students plan, design and weave themselves. Sharpen your colored pencils and watch the rugs come to life on the looms! One of the students, who has taken many weaving and knitting classes here, had first come to Sievers for Lynn’s Boundweave class in 1997. She brought her rug back to show us now that it’s been 24 years off the loom. Another student used one of our table looms to weave her project. There’s a […]
Learning and making
Learning something new and making by hand is an exciting adventure. That being said, we’ve been fortunate to witness a lot of good adventures this year, including those in our August classes. Lynn Stracka Schuster guided several new basketmakers in her recent Covered Coiling Basket class. When travelling down a new path of learning, it’s good to have an experienced guide, and Lynn is that and more. This is her 40th year of teaching at Sievers. Lynn likes to tell the story of finding a notice about Sievers while studying art in college and realizing it was in Door County, a family vacation spot. A short time later, after graduating, she paid Walter Schutz a visit and he said that […]
One or many
Maybe it was one coiled basket or maybe it was many marbled papers and fabrics that were completed in class during the last week of August, but whether it was one or many, it was a delight to see the student’s work progress through the three days of class. Most of Lynn Stracka Schuster’s Covered Coiling Basket students completed one special piece using unique yarns (some used handspun purchased at the Sievers Shop). From a small base, an expanding spiral forms into a one-of-a-kind basket. As Lynn says, “the basket will tell you where it wants to take you”. Lynn brought several examples of her own work illustrating various yarns used, shapes, choices for rims and embellishments. One by one, […]
Express yourself
There are so many ways to express yourself. Count our first two classes in August, Basketry: Covered Coiling with Lynn Schuster and Making Your Mark: A Fabric Journey with Stephanie Lewis Robertson among them! By completely covering the core material with various yarns and expanding or decreasing the spiral core while constructing a basket was the method used in this class. As Lynn related to the students, the basket will tell you what it wants as far as its shape, rim and embellishment. The students commented on the relaxed and meditative-type atmosphere that was inherent in the wrapping and stitching of their baskets. Expressing yourself and telling your own story through fabric is the basis of Stephanie’s fabric printing and dyeing class. Experimenting with […]
Summer & Winter & Fall
Inside the studio recently, the focus was on Summer & Winter (weaving), but outside, it’s all about a different season. First things first…weaving. Summer & Winter has reversible areas of pattern and background on both sides with the “summer” side predominately showing the lighter colors and the “winter” side, the darker ones. Lynn Schuster’s handwoven samples, some using fine 10/2 cotton, some using Brown Sheep’s Lamb’s Pride Worsted, gave a real variety of choices for students in planning their own projects. The last morning of class, strong winds knocked power out to the studios. Finishing up, looms were moved a little closer to the windows and cellphones were taped to the task lights to use the flashlight feature so that the […]
Through July
It’s hard to believe we are approaching the half-way mark of our classes, but we’ve found ourselves there. Bringing us through the end of July were three classes which overlapped a day or two on each end, Lynn Schuster’s Boundweave Rug Weaving, Deb Jones’ Spinner’s Color Workshop and Susan Hoffmann’s Landscape ‘Painting’ with Fabric. We started with Boundweave Rugs and the gorgeous wools and colorful designs created by each of the students. One person was able to finish two rugs in class…a first in our recollection. (Some late hours were definitely involved. We wondered if she wove after the 2 a.m. timer on the outdoor lights went off. As some weavers know, that would not be a first!) While […]
