There are many ways of weaving and many types of looms. Last week in one class, upright frame looms were used to teach the ways of Navajo weaving, and in another class, students learned the basics of weaving on a table loom. Although geared for beginners, each class could be used as a refresher, too. In the Navajo Weaving Techniques class taught by Betty Glynn Carlson, the looms are warped with one continuous warp and authentic Navajo wool yarns are used to create the designs. There are no mechanical parts involved in Navajo weaving, it’s just the wool placed in the warp and tamped down with a comb-type beater in the hands of the weaver. Betty has offered Navajo weaving […]
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 […]
Weavers all around
Recently, it was looms to the right of us and looms to the left in Rita Hagenbruch’s Halvdrall and Monk’s Belt class in the Sophie Studio, joined by Nancy Frantz teaching eight beginning weavers on our Sievers table looms in the Walter Studio. The samples Rita brought were so inspiring. Some commented that they could never bring themselves to actually use such fine handwovens. But Rita reminded them that unless they are used regularly at family dinners, holidays and the like, they don’t become heirlooms. Only when they are part of your memories do they become most valuable. This piece (also shown at the top of the page) was fresh off the loom at the time of the class visit […]
Be All You Can Be
Attention!! The recruits in Deb Jones’ Spinner’s Boot Camp grant permission for you to inspect their field of operations (aka the Walter Studio). Deb brings so much for the students to experiment with, from wheels to blending and carding tools to an amazing array of fleece. It certainly allowed them to be all they can be! In this class, the boot camp atmosphere began with each student receiving a fatigue hat to form a spinning squad. Daily training in techniques and challenges were part of the week’s wooly “obstacle course”. To become a more intentional spinner along with instilling more skills and confidence were the goals of these training exercises. At the end of the first day, the comments were, “I’ve learned so much already”. […]
Weaving times two
It’s not often we can have two weaving classes in session at once, but this past week it worked perfectly to have Ruth Manning’s Tapestry Weaving class and Nancy Frantz’s beginning table loom weavers here at the same time. The tapestry weavers did some outdoor sketching as one means of design inspiration for their woven landscapes. How exciting to see these small gems be revealed, row by row. Ruth’s own samples along with what the students were working garnered many “oohs” and “ahs”. A visit between classes had one group of weavers impressed with what each were doing in just three or four days of class time. To learn the basics of weaving and complete a project […]
Time to Bead and Weave!
Each day of Diane Fitzgerald’s Anything Goes…with Beads class had a special theme or focus (as posted on the easel in the studio) with of course, time set aside to work on individual projects, some of which incorporated the class “mascot”. We won’t focus on Friday (with sad face, shown above, signifying the last day of class and good-byes said for this year), but instead look back at some of what the students were doing on the six previous days. As the last beads were being stitched into fabulous jewelry, the first heddles were being threaded by the beginning table loom weavers. Instructor Nancy Frantz guided the students through the steps involved in weaving a small sampler that can be used as a runner. As […]
The Glass is Half-Full
It’s hard to believe, especially for us, that only half of our class schedule remains. We’ve had the pleasure of seeing many of you already and look forward to seeing many more of you through October, so we look at it as if our glass is half-full. The classes leading us into the second half of our schedule were Table Loom Weaving with Nancy Frantz, Beading “Bucket List” with Diane Fitzgerald and Making Your Mark with Stephanie Robertson. The beginning weavers spent three days learning the basics while weaving a sampler on a table loom. There were beautiful beaded creations adorning the beaders themselves as well as their workspaces in the studio. Because Stephanie Robertson’s Making Your Mark class is still […]
Sparkles and Shuttles
There’ve been sparkles to the east and shuttles to the west this past week with Diane Fitzgerald’s two beadwork classes and Nancy Frantz teaching beginning weaving on a table loom. Tiny seed beads were worked in bead embroidery techniques making a cuff bracelet on the weekend and the following class created jewelry out of two-hole beads. Would you like to do some bead jewelry window shopping? Here’s another reason to make bead jewelry! Sunflowers II was the first place winner in the Crystal Jewelry category at the 2014 Bead & Button BeadDreams international juried competition. Made by Mary Lou Allen, she kindly brought it with her to show in class. The shuttles in the Walter Studio were in the hands of […]
