Teaching at ANWG in June

Now that I’ve left the tech world, one of the things I’m picking back up is teaching fiber arts at select venues. So I’m excited that I’ll be teaching in Prince George, British Columbia at the Association of Northwest Weavers’ Guilds conference on June 11th – 16th. I’m honored to be included among an amazing roster of instructors.

I’ll be presenting three fun topics, and since seminars are two hours long, I’m developing never-before-presented content which means a lot of exciting research for me! (I’m doing some things for the e-textiles class, especially, that fill me with squeee!)

Woven Shibori

This is a super-fun class taught on the rigid heddle. On the first day, we learn how to weave supplement wefts, sneakily picking up behind the heddle for efficiency. Then we pull the wefts taut, and overdye to create patterns like these.

Woven shibori samples

Right now the class only has 6 students, which means lots of individual attention and opportunity to ask questions.

In addition to the usual hand-on class work, I’m bringing a slide presentation on the history and traditions of shibori in Japan, modern trends in woven shibori, and using man-made threads with shibori to create pleats and other textured fabrics. This presentation is new, and I’m excited about the research (and the opportunity to use a new slide projector I bought for teaching.)

For more information, see the Woven Shibori write-up on the ANWG website, and if it’s something you want to do, there’s still time to register. In fact early-bird registration runs through April 15th.

eTextiles

Enhancing textiles through electronics: lights, sensors, motors, el-wire and… exciting new content I’ve never presented before! More than just a class on technology, we’ll talk about how to incorporate electronics in a way that enhances the design instead of just plopping an LED on top in an artless way.

When I signed up to teach this seminar, I assumed it was the usual one-hour talk. Afterwards I saw it was two hours! Which to be honest freaked me out a bit. Then I realized this was an opportunity to present two eTextiles classes in one! Which means I get to play with all the new technologies, including an area of fiber maker-y that I’ve just started experimenting with and which has me positively gleeful: 3D printing on fabric.

So come for the eTextiles, get inspired to bring your cloth and clothes to life. And get bonus content: 3D printing for textile artists, including free 3D printing patterns to make fiber tools: cone winder adaptor, lags for mechanical AVL dobbies, and more. Note, you do not have to have a 3D printer to print designs, I’ll talk about that as well.

There are 7 spots left available in this seminar, so if you’re intrigued, I’d recommend signing up soon. If you register by April 15th, you can get early bird pricing.

Inventive Weaving on a Rigid Heddle Loom

If you’ve read my book, Inventive Weaving on a Rigid Heddle Loom, and wanted to touch the samples, or ask a question. This is your chance.

If you haven’t read my book, prepare to have your ideas about what’s possible on a rigid-heddle loom expanded. This book was my four-year exploration into applying everything I knew about weaving onto the rigid-heddle loom. And you know what? Most of it worked! Simple looms can do complex things.

There are 9 spots available in this talk, and if you register by April 15th… you guessed it, early bird pricing! It’ll save you $55 on the conference and/or $30 on workshops so it’s worth repeating. 🙂

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