Buellwood May Natural Dye Presentation

Clare  received a grant in 2023 with which she assisted Dawn Andersson

for a Natural Dye Experience.

Each month they examined which natural dye materials could be gathered for Dyeing. Then proceeded to experiment with dyes and mordants on wool or some linen.

 

Flowers

St. John’s wart

Leaves

Bark

Roots

The colors Clare got from East coast plants she made Dye

Testing for color fastness of samples.

 Buellwood now returns to our Monday schedule for the summer

1:00 pm 

Show n tell this month.

Intro to shibori with Nate

              

April 2024 Buellwood Guild Meeting

Lisa will be teaching the Ryijy workshop in June
She is holding her woven Thimbleberry Flower Ryijy.

Melissa wove the placemat in a double weave block class last year with Phyllis.

She bought an old loom and wove the rug below but she found it did not beat as hard as she needed to make a tight rug. But a very beautiful rug!

  

Using the Theo Moorman book ‘Weaving as an Art Form’ Marci was able to weave this Theo Moorman sample on a 4-shaft loom. 

She also wove a sample with a computer generated warp for the Art and Silico exhibit at MTU. See the Below left picture.

   

Cynthia brought her small coiled baskets for show and tell, which have a leather base and paper wrapped wire, and many other fibers. 

She also makes stretchy knitted beaded bracelets with a 0000 US needle, using Perle cotton or silk. A very nice bracelets. 

New member Cynthia A

Knit beaded bracelets 

Coiled baskets by Cynthia 

  Nancy wove these 8-Shaft twill towels with a 6/2 cotton warp, 8/2 cotton weft and 20/2 cotton in the weft for the hems.

Jimalee made these coasters and a gold neck shawl with Habu Silk Yarn.

She knit a Brioche stitch head band and made knit liners for her Selbu mittens to make them

warmer to wear. 

In 1982 she wove the overshot wall hanging.

Overshot wall hanging woven 1982

Habu coasters 

Brioche knit headband 

Jimalee wearing the Habu scarf and Selbu mittens

Karen showed a new birch bark tumbler, her wire creations from the ‘Textiles techniques in Wire’ FA folk school class with Heather Allen Hiekala. They are made with plied iron and steel.

 She used a mending loom to patch the collar of her shirt, which she started with a row of chain stitch on the fabric.

 

Wrapped dowels and tinkering on 16 gauge wire.

Nathen  wove a point twill sample with 8/4 cotton warp with a weft of acrylic, cotton or wool.

Kathie enjoyed going to Sew Cranky in Hancock for one of their many sewing kits to make on the hand crank sewing machines. A great group event with your friends or kids.

Woven Linens and Moscow bag 

Kathie made a Sew Cranky Calico Fish 

Mary M finished knitting her Lopi sweater and she added a collar and a hat. The hat is really cute but my picture was not!

David shared his quilted square from a day sewing
 at Sew Cranky in Hancock, shown here with his Alpaca yarn 

       

Lois has been doing rehab and not weaving but she enjoyed taking the Finnish American Folk School Embroidery class with Heather Allen Hiekala last month.

She also did an online class ‘Soul Collage Cards’.

Below is an antique ‘Weave it Loom’ she found at a resale shop.

Lois’s Sole Collage cards

She also received a second hand find from Anita. The jacket fit her  

 Phyllis shared a

the embroidery sampler that was done by Heather Allen Hietala.  It uses many stitches Heather taught in the folk school workshop in April.

Below is her woven 8 shaft twill towels at 20 ends per inch. 

She recommends the book ‘Ashley’s Book of Knots’ 

The Ashley Book of Knots is without parallel when it comes to knot tying. Published in 1944, this book is still the number one reference to all things knotting. There are over 7,000 drawings of 3,900 knots and their application in the 619 page knot tyers tome.

In April Mary finished weaving her double weave towels on her 4-shaft loom that she started in January. She really enjoyed weaving these towels, it was a refresher of double weave she tried long ago.

She used a skeleton tie-up to make a 4 block pattern on a 4-shaft loom. See Handwoven N/D 2023 page 42 to see the skeleton tie up she used.

Double-weave block towel

In New Mexico Mary visited Steve Robinson and Leslie Toombs who were members of the Buellwood Weaver’s Guild in 2011 - 2014.

Leslie is now painting rather than tapestry weaving and shared a silk painting technique she just learned.

These are Mary’s silk paintings from Leslie’s instructions. Leslie is using some of her silk paintings as window coverings.

Steve gave up weaving rugs and is now repairing old looms.

      

Gutta Resist from Dharma with Silk dye

 

Crayon as resist with silk paint

Next Buellwood Guild meeting is Saturday May 18th 1 pm

 Topic: Clare will share what she learned about Natural Dyes

February 2024 - Show & Tell Meeting

This month's meeting focused on show and tell. We had some new members join us, including a quilter and sisters who are interested in a little bit of everything fiber and wood. 

David brought in some examples of yarn he has been spinning recently. He was especially excited about spinning Polwarth fiber, which was buttery and fun to work with. The roving he used to spin the yarn he's holding in this picture came from a company called Widdershin Woolworks based in New Mexico. 

Phyllis brought examples of the inkle weaving she's been doing with students, including pick up patterns. Then she showed us the retirement gift she recently bought for herself from Multicolores, a Guatemalan non-profit. See below for a picture of the gorgeous hand-hooked rug.  

Clare showed a sweater she recently finished knitting and was wearing, but as as the blog writer this month she didn't get a photo of herself. Kathie brought a recently Goodwill find - an adorable mini loom pictured below. She plans to get it warped and keep it at camp. 

Kathie's friend Joni joined us and brought a remarkable Crazy Quilt she's been working on for a few years. It includes fabrics from her world travels and family heirlooms alongside some intricate hand stitching. 

New member Alesia shared some photos of the inkle loom she built and her sister Diana brought some of the inkle bands they've woven during and after Phyllis' recent workshop. Weaver Lisa Wiitala brought in a ryijy she wove in Finland, inspired by a peony bud. Lisa will be teaching ryijy weaving June 17-21 at the Finnish American Folk School. 

Marci shared samples from the Reverse Drafting Club through The Weaving Mill in Chicago that she participated in recently. The idea is that you first receive swatches in the mail and work to diagram the construction without any information other than the swatch. Later you receive the information and drafts for each swatch. She has donated them to the guild library if anyone wants to give it a try. 

Sean brought a waffle weave towel he made using unbleached cottons in three colors. He discussed some of the challenges he had with the selvedges while weaving. He also brought in some new bands he's been card weaving and discussed the amazing card alphabet he's invented to cut down on issues with twist that can be a problem in card woven patterns. 

Nancy has been knitting socks from the toe up on two circular needles. She also knitted her sweater in a lace stitch.