It’s a marvel to see all the different fiber arts in action during the course of a Sievers season. This past week was no exception with classes in Marbling: Paper and Fabric, taught by Joyce Gitter and Baltic Knitting Extravaganza with Mary Germain. Whether you achieve instant results when lifting the paper or fabric off the marbling tray, or reveal a mitten pattern row-by-row on knitting needles, the marvel is in the making. Using acrylic paints, a carrageenan bath and various tools and combs, the magic of marbling makes for a lot of fun experiments in color and design. Plus, you have all kinds of cool fabrics and papers to play with later! To learn the techniques of Baltic knitting […]
2023 Sievers Preview
February 1st will be here in only three weeks! That day, all of our 2023 classes will be open for registration and the class descriptions, along with complete information, will be available on our website. The site will be in “maintenance mode” soon, but available again for registration on February 1. Featured on the cover of the 2023 brochure are some of the many colorful splint-woven baskets made by Jeanette Biederman. Thank you, Jeanette, for all the beautiful baskets and equally beautiful friendships you’ve made with us and your students over the past 32 years! Many of our instructors are returning in 2023 and we welcome two new teachers this year, Joyce Gitter and John Rezachek. Both Joyce and John […]
Swirls, curls and waves, oh my!
So many designs…so little time! In the Marbling: Paper and Fabric class with Nancy Akerly and her assistant, Joyce Gitter, three days allowed for the exploration and creation of many designs and techniques including French Curl and Spanish Wave, but we’re sure the possibilities of so much more continues to swirl through the minds of the students even now. Step-by-step the process for each design is thoroughly explained and practiced. Even unexpected results can become favorites! Besides marbling on plain and printed papers, students used cotton, silk and rayon for fabric pieces, scarves, shawls or small garments. What a creative, fun and color-filled class providing (almost) instant gratification! Thinking about marbling brought the Stavkirke to mind and its altar with […]
Two at a time-part two
We’re back to the last week of July and two “painterly” classes, Weaving: Paint Your Warp! with Lynn Novotnak and Marbling Intensive: Paper & Fabric with Nancy Akerly. Both had the opportunity to experiment and play with color and there were many new and exciting reveals in each class. Students in Lynn’s class began by painting two tencel warps, one to weave while here and another to take home. This was one of the new classes scheduled for 2020 and after being put on hold, it was a delight to welcome Lynn as an instructor. Her first class as a weaving student at Sievers was in 1999 and she has taken many weaving (and knitting) classes since then. The first […]
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, […]
Three classes and one message
We’ve had the joy of seeing all the students and their wonderful work in Marbling on Paper and Fabric with Nancy Akerly, Beginning Weaving with Nancy Adams and Susan Johnson and Independent Study: Splint-Woven Basketry with Jeanette Biederman all within this past week! Looking back, it was 1999 when we last held a class in marbling. After 19 years, new were so many detailed designs. The options of printing on paper (from plain to pages from books, sheet music, maps and more) or fabric gave great options for students. This was the first time marbling has been held in the Walter Studio as 19 years ago, it was about a month away from being finished. As you can imagine, we could share dozens of photos from each […]
