February 1st will be here in only three weeks! That day, all of our 2024 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 2024 brochure is the handweaving of Judith Yamamoto. Judie first came to Sievers as a student in Mary Sue Fenner’s 1981 Basic Weaving class and the following year, she offered a class in knitting. Since then, she’s gone on to offer another 100 classes at Sievers and has been a student here 35 times. Thank you, Judie, for being part of Sievers for […]
From summer to fall with weaving and woodcarving
Two classes bridged the gap from summer to fall last week. To begin with, what a pleasure it was to watch new weavers create a finished piece, placing thread by thread through the loom. In our last Beginning Weaving on a Floor Loom class of 2023, taught by Nancy Adams and her assistant, Susan Johnson, some students went beyond the expected by weaving as many as three projects, including table runners and scarves. So many lovely choices, suitable for beginners, were on display for students to choose from. The looms were in motion from the very start. And so were the instructors! There’s an extra level of patience and helpfulness in all of our beginning weaving teachers. Nancy and Susan […]
Tool times
It’s not often we have two classes in session that predominately use hammers, pliers, saws, knives, drills, gouges, torches, burners and more, but it happened when both Kay Rashka’s Metalwork Jewelry Boot Camp and Woodcarving with Jerry Landwehr were here earlier in September. Where a set of carving tools can fit in a nice case or box, the many hundreds of pounds of metalwork tools, equipment and supplies need the space Kay’s entire pickup truck offers. However, this post is not just about the tools, it’s about what you can do with the tools! To create metalwork art jewelry, there’s cutting, filing, stamping, etching, piercing and soldering. Along with all the “-ing’s” you do with the various tools, there’s an […]
Carving out some time
Carving out some time, or in Walter Schutz’s words, “doing something nice for yourself” is often mentioned at Sievers class introductions and graduations. It’s an old-fashioned interpretation of today’s self-care. In literal terms, students in Jerry Landwehr’s Woodcarving class were able to carve out some time working on a Nuthatch or carving a face into a walking stick. One bird migrated back from a previous class and there were others that kept watch over the students as they worked. Practice blocks allowed the opportunity to create just the right expression on the students’ newly carved companions. Doing something nice for themselves is what Jeanette Biederman’s students have done in class together more than once (or twice). Renewing friendships, making baskets […]
Baskets and Bluebirds
When “happiness is in your hands”, it shines through in the finished work, just like the baskets made in class with Jeanette Biederman and the bluebirds from Jerry Landwehr’s Carving Songbirds class. The week was filled with patterns, colors and a multitude of baskets just like previous Independent Study classes! A number of students focused on trays with many complex designs seen in the studio. We like to think the happiness generated in class was tucked inside all these baskets before they went home! Using basswood or butternut and starting from a rough-cut form, the carving students brought their bluebirds to life in just two days time. If “happiness is in your hands” could these be […]
Carving Songbirds & Fall
It’s not a matter of “whittling away” a few hours at Sievers, instead it’s about bringing to life a songbird from a block of basswood that has been shaped with just a hint of the bird waiting to fly out into your hands. In the first afternoon, the tail feathers, head and beak were formed. Another day and the features of a Goldfinch are all in place and body smoothed by careful sanding. As always, the talents of the instructors and students make for a great sharing opportunity. Flying in for the studio visit, Jerry Landwehr’s own Goldfinch became the centerpiece of the carving table. This week of sunshine is giving us more views of the trees as they continue to change. There are […]
Together again
It didn’t seem like an entire year had passed since the Creative Knitting Retreat with Sandy De Master and Mary Germain and Carving Songbirds class with Jerry Landwehr met again at Sievers this past week and weekend. Coming together like caramel and apples, or turkey and stuffing (if you were on Washington Island over Columbus Day weekend, you know what I’m referring to…), the knitters and woodcarvers had the opportunity to savor a favorite hobby or get a taste of something new. A lot of knitting projects were out on the tables during the week, but a main focus was spending time catching up with knitting friends. Projects included Fair Isle knitting, lace, color knitting and working with beautiful Washington Island handspun yarn. […]
