November 21 2016 Coiling

Our November Guild meeting was held on November 21 st at Gloria Dei Church in Hancock, MI.

After a brief business meeting John and Clare introduced us to coiling. They are both auditing the  Intro to Fibers class at Finlandia University. Clare shows us samples of coiled pieces and how to start a coiling project.

Here are some samples of our coiling attempts using a base cord and scrapes of yarn to make our base.
We all enjoyed the demonstration and the information the team presented.






John shared a coiled basket he made. This is a
lovely piece and we loved the untwisted cord to
finish the basket top.

Show and Tell

We always have a great show and tell.

Sample woven by Clare

side A

side B

Dawn has been busy knitting hats with her natural dyed wool. These are some lovely colors that she has produced with her natural dye experiments. Also she is still working on perfecting her knit and felted slippers.

our guild is small but a very productive group.

Jean brought in some purses she made from her woven cloth and a basket and scarf she wove.

Karen shared some lovely Nalbinding headbands from Donna Kallner. Check out the classes at Vesterheim Museum in Iowa http://vesterheim.org/events/calendar/2016/04/02/getting-loopy-gathering-of-nalbinders/

Donna Kallner headbands

Mary brought in some recently woven Double weave scarves woven with Rayon in Frank Lloyd Wright pattern. They were a little stiff coming off the loom but once washed the drape was lovely. To make the fringe she used a new tool which makes the job go so much faster. 

Mary's double weave scarves.

A must have cord maker and fringe twister from Lacis of Berkley CA

March is Double Weave month

close up of Taylor's Jacquard cloth

We had a great turn out for our March Meeting, it must be Spring in the U.P. and we saw some faces we had not seen in a few months. Welcome back!

A great turn out for our March Meeting!

We also have a new interested weaver, Taylor, who is a student at Finlandia University in the fibers program. Taylor brought along some of her projects to share with us.

Taylor's sample from the Jacquard class Project....

The design she used for this woven cloth was  a rug weaving enlarged and graphic. It was beautiful and the sample cloth was woven in many colors of warp and weft combinations.
The color she choice to have woven was this red and gold sample. You may see more of it in the near future when you visit Finlandia.

Taylor comes from I believe Maine and chose Finlandia because of its Fiber Program. As we all know it was a great choice.

the woven Red sample of Jacquard weaving

Carol brought in her Navajo Loom that she received from her class at Midwest weavers in June of 2016. it was great to learn that she can actually weave 4 projects on this loom, before she has to re warp it. Always a good thing for a busy creative weaver, not to have to re warp.

carol showing her Navajo weaving loom

weaving on loom from Midwest weavers class June 2015

Dawn's felted slipper

Dawn's Show and tell was a felted slipper that she was able to get the toe exactly like she wanted it. She has made a few of these slippers and is getting the pattern and yarn selections down to create what she has a vision of.  Dawn will also be doing a Natural dye class at the Calumet Art Center in early August 2016. This looks like a fun day, Check out the 2016 class schedule at Calumet Art center. 

John Shared with us a weaving pattern he plans on putting on his 8- shaft loom. It looked like an advancing twill pattern, John is a fairly new weaver and does some beautiful weaving. I can't wait to see this fabric or towels when he has it done.  

Jean brought some beautiful yarns from the HGA  Convergence 2016  Colors. Check out HGA site if you like what you see here. Jean is also attending Convergence this summer and has a full schedule planned for her visit to Milwaukee. Including a class on using nontraditional materials so we may see Jean lite up next fall with her newly woven scarf.

HGA 2016 fiber colors

I finished my towels from Handwoven Magazine
may/june 2015 pg 44 Danish Rosette towels. A deflected double weave pattern. Which fit right into today's program.

Double Weave 

Presented by Jean was our topic for this month.

Double weave has a lot of uses and and you can be quite creative with what you do on the loom once it is warped. You can make pockets, tubes, purses, or even a cloth double the width of your warp. 

I learned a warp winding trick form this session today, I am anxious to try it out on my next warp. 

 

Jean explaining how to weave double weave.

double weave linen bread bags

Our next meeting is April 18th. Dawn will lead the meeting and send out notices. We will all bring a project we are working on to share for the program.

MLH has a number of  June workshops at Hope college June 3-6 There is still room in most of the classes. Check out what they have to offer at Michigan League of Handweavers.
Also the Marsin Retreat dates have been changed to September 17, 18, and maybe 19th . So put it on your calendar for next fall.

Another possible road trip would be to Mary Burn's Manitowish River Studio in Mercer. If she has some free time this summer (she is involved with Convergence in Milwaukee in July) we could have a private visit to her studio. Let me know if you are interested in joining us.

First Annual Buellwood Fiber and Weaving Guild Retreat 2015:

Jean and Clare working out the Krokbragd weaving

John weaving on 8-shaft loom

 On May 11 and 12th our guild met at the Marsin Retreat center in Houghton Michigan.

The retreat sight is lovely on the Houghton Ship Canal and in a secluded area.

We are delighted to say we have a number of new members who are interested in learning more about weaving.

 
Our plan: was to have 4 or so looms set up in various weave structures to give everyone a chance to try weaving on these looms. Members were encouraged to bring along a loom they had warped to share their weaving with the group.

Eve also brought a loom along to do a warping demonstration. This demo is always good as a refresher for our group. 

Melissa weaving on the krokbragd sample

*One loom was warped with a beautiful example of Krokbragd. It is a Norwegian weave that is essentially a 3 shaft Twill. With a wool warp and weft that are very tightly packed.

Krokbragd

Debra weaving the krokbragd sample

*The next loom was set up with double faced twill scarf with a multiple warp structure on an 8-shaft loom developed by Sheila O’Hara. This will weave a reversible scarf of red and green.

The Painted Warp

Our weaving on the red front side of scarf

the Green- Back side of Scarf is visible here on beam

*A small loom was set up with a warp for a Creative weft faced weave of your choice. The idea here was to be creative and weave whatever you wanted to with the thrums and fleece provided. 

* An Inkle loom which saw little action was also available for those interested.



* The last loom was also an 8-shaft loom with a warp of various fibers and sizes threaded in an M’s and O’s pattern. This Pattern can be found in Handwoven May/June 2007 page 38. This is a challenge for beginners as they are using multiple shuttles and yarn colors for the weft. 

M's and O's Warp

Lorraine weaving

The treadling plan for M's and O's

 







 Our days were relaxed and fun as a lot of socializing was a prerequisite. Also food was involved so we had quite a pot luck lunch each day. Time was spent planning for 2015 – 2016 season at our long lunch breaks. As well as a great show and tell. Some of us brought other fiber projects to work on while waiting for a loom.

Melissa's Punch Needle Project

Melissa with her "Miniature punch needle" snowman project. Punch Needle is an old craft, which mimics the appearance of hooked rugs--but in miniature doll house size! The design is punched from the back using a specialized punch needle tool, creating a series of tiny loops on the front surface.

Pekka -gluing the carved items

Pekka brought along his latest weaving which has cattails in the weft. On this wall hanging he has added some of his beautiful hand carved images.

Susan brought along her Rigid Heddle Loom to weave on during our workshop.

May 2015 show and tell:
 

Clare with hand knit blanket with a Scottish Cable Pattern

John Handwoven - twill Hand towels

Susan made a pillow out of her first woven cloth

Susan Modeling Melissa's knit scarf

Pekka's Woven Wall Hanging

Forgive me if I forgot to mention your show and tell.... I did not take any notes! OOPs!

Member joined us when their schedules allowed. We had a nice turn out of twelve members on Monday and eleven on Tuesday. We all had a chance to try out the various looms and each person took home a sample from the looms they wove on if possible. 

Samples:

The M’s and O’s samples have been washed and will be cut apart for each of your records.

M's and 0's

I hand washed my Krokbragd sample let it dry on the counter and it flattened out very nicely.

Krokbragd

Everyone enjoyed weaving on the sample loom that Carol prepared for us before she ran off to the east coast to visit relatives. The creative and freestyle wefts were really lovely. But I am sorry to say I did not take a picture of those samples only this one. So if any of you would like to send pictures of your samples I will post them too.

free style weaving

The double weave scarf will be woven to its full length and the loom owner will have a scarf woven in part by our guild.

The inkle loom will be re threaded for a demo next year. Also a complete inkle loom warping demo will be attempted at one meeting or next year’s workshop.

We are planning a July meeting at Jean’s house in Ontonagon as summer is the best time to travel, please try to make the event. Bring your lunch and join us to tour Jean’s studio and visit my weaving area on the other side of town. 

We have some great programs planned for next year, maybe starting in August including another May Retreat at the Marsin Center. We hope all of you will try to make some of these meetings on the 3 rd Monday of each month.