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 […]
Niches
In the recent class, Cartonnage: Puzzle Box with Nancy Akerly, students made an array of interlocking small boxes set within a larger, lidded box. Hidden underneath the five inset boxes is a secret compartment. Each serves as a niche for special items, collections or whatever the imagination holds. After being unable to teach in-person last year, Nancy created a number of Zoom classes through her website, Liberty Grove Paper Arts which has links to her videos and much more. We’ve heard from several people that these classes were just what they needed during 2020. We were so glad it worked out that Nancy and her students could return to our studio this summer and the boxes they created in this […]
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, […]
Small packages
Don’t you think some of the best things come in small packages? “Small packages” as in Japanese Temari and Cartonnage (box making) at Sievers this past week. In the Temari Techniques class, Judith Yamamoto and assistant, Kathy Broer, introduced the art to some students new to Temari and challenged others with more experience to work with complex patterns and to create tiny, jewelry-sized Temari. In Cartonnage: The Magic Box, students focused on the Karakuri Bako, a Japanese box which contains a hidden compartment. Using bookboard, Japanese papers and a good eye for accuracy, these special double-hinged boxes came together with the guidance of instructor, Nancy Akerly. (You can see more of Nancy’s own work at Liberty Grove Paper Arts.) These […]
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 […]
Handmade Treasures
We probably could’ve included the words “handmade treasure” in each of this year’s class descriptions or titles, but it officially appeared in only one: Handmade Treasure Boxes. We’re taking the liberty of applying those words to the two previous classes, as well, Creative Knitting Retreat with Sandy De Master and Mary Germain and the Open Knitting Studio session held in the Walter Studio, where eleven knitters worked independently on a variety of projects. The Creative Knitting Retreat class saw a number of knitters working on Latvian or Estonian-patterned mittens, Fair Isle, sweaters of all kinds, baby blankets and more. Help in solving fit issues as it applies to hand knits, substituting yarns and deciphering patterns are just some of the talents Sandy and Mary bring to class […]
