When we were younger, going back to school in the fall often included a time for sharing “what you did on your summer vacation” as a way of getting to know one another better, and what better way to start off our Guild Season? Please join us for our first meeting of the year! Bring your recent work, or in-progress study, that thing you started at CNCH or made at another conference and have now finished; and let us share with one another what we have been up to, whether in study groups, or away at workshops and fiber arts gatherings, or on our own in our homes and studios. What’s new? What favorite old thing have you been studying on? What would you like to be working on? Bring it all, and let’s set up a big long table in the middle of the room, and gather around it to see and hear what our fellow guild members are up to. If you’d like, wear something handmade.
November 21, 2019 – The Art of Papermaking with Marilyn Hornor
Marilyn fell in love with paper when living in Japan many years ago. When she retired from teaching, she began experimenting with making paper in the studio she sets up in her back yard each summer. Several years ago she discovered botanical printing and has added that to interests she pursues in her outside studio. She has taught paper making to her calligraphy guild, Pacific Scribes, The Nature Printing Society, and the Sonoma Mycological Association where the paper fiber is mainly fungi. She also enjoys sharing paper making with friends and small groups while working in her back yard.
Several years ago she was fortunate to be able to tour Japanese paper making villages with Hakoni Paper, a paper importer based in Southern California. She was delighted to find the traditional Japanese life still existing in the small rural villages.
CNCH 2020 Burlingame Grant Available!
The Black Sheep Handweavers Guild is pleased to announce that we will be providing a $250 grant to one of our members for the Conference of Northern California 2020 Burlingame Conference.
All members of Black Sheep Handweavers Guild are encouraged to apply for the grant.
- Grant applications are due on September 30, 2019.
- Grant recipient must be a member of good standing as of September 30, 2019 for the 2019-2020 guild year.
- Grant recipient will be announced at the October Guild Meeting.
For more details, please review the Grant Application.
Please send your completed grant application to grant [at] blacksheepguild [dot] org by September 30, 2019.
If you have any questions about the grant, please do not hesitate to ask any of the board members or email grant [at] blacksheepguild [dot] org.
August 15th, 2019 Textile Magicians of Japan
Please join us for a viewing of the 1997 prize winning film, “Textile Magicians of Japan”, featuring the creations of five Japanese contemporary fiber artists in the cedar forests near Kyoto, Japan.
With: Masakazu Kobayashi, Chiyoko Tanaka, Jun Tomita, Naomi Kobayashi, Hiroyuki Shindo
June 13th, 2019 – Annual Raffle, Auction and Sale
Mark the date! The Black Sheep Handweavers Guild is meeting the second Thursday of June for the annual raffle, auction and sale. Your yesterday’s yarn might someone’s dream-come-true!
Reading Weaving Drafts Saturday, April 27th
Are you ever puzzled by – or a little shaky on – reading weaving drafts? Then set aside some time on Saturday, April 27, to focus on drafts.
Our own Kathleen Dickey will be giving a workshop to help you out. It will be at Amazing Yarns, 2559 Woodland Pl, Emerald Hills, CA 94062, from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM.
Please bring along a draft or two that puzzle you. You may also want to bring your copy of Marguerite Davison’s A Handweaver’s Pattern Book, or Mary Black’s New Key to Weaving if you have one.
To get an idea of how many of you will take advantage of this workshop, please let Betsy Blosser (bblosser [at] sfsu [dot] edu) know by email if you plan to be there.
This workshop is the first of some within-guild workshops we’re doing to focus on the interests and needs of our members. Stay tuned for more offerings!
Supriya Pradhan of Sofold May 16th, 2019
Local entrepeneur Supriya Pradhan recently started Sofold, a clothing company with friends and family in India. Their first products are organic cotton dresses, hand spun and woven, naturally dyed and sewn in India. They are made of khadi cotton, made famous by Gandhi and currently promoted by the Indian government. https://www.sofold.com/
Surpriya will talk about starting this business and bring samples of the dresses, as well as shawls Sofold has added to its emerging product line.
Barbara Shapiro Two rich and diversified experiences of Japan April 18th, 2019
Black Sheep member Barbara Shapiro will share images and objects from two recent trips to Japan highlighting textiles and baskets she encountered. On a Longhouse Reserve tour to the Beppu area in Oita Prefecture in the south of Japan, known for thermal baths and hot springs, she visited museum collections, saw artisans working in bamboo and stayed in a tiny mountain village where young people live simple lives working in sustainable textile practices far from the bustle of Tokyo.
On the 11th International Shibori Symposium tour to Yamagata Prefecture in Northern Japan she had amazing experiences exploring bast fibers, sashiko stitching and natural safflower harvesting, processing and the dyeing of four colors from a single plant, which the area is known for.
Workshop and museums completed the experience in this mountainous area with long snowy winters. One highlight was a prehistoric weaving device for a twined bast fiber fabric that predates loom woven cloth.
These two very different tours, led by Yoshiko Wada, explored Japan’s rich cultural textile heritage.
The Pageantry of Japanese Textiles with John Marshall March 21st, 2019
We are delighted to welcome John Marshall to Black Sheep. He will be talking about Japanese textiles and will be bringing some of his own samples to share with us.
John is an internationally known textile artist working with techniques of paste resist dyeing. He produces a wide range of sophisticated and colorful designs, many of which show the influence of his years of study in the Orient.
Round Robin February 21st, 2019
Come join us in a hands-on Round Robin: practice rug finishes, a Nigerian braid, twining, backstrap pebble weave and card-woven selvages.
