Creative Endeavors – Sat., Aug. 13, 2016

Show and Tell

We gathered at the home of Betsy for Show and Tell, and an experience with ice-dying. We have pictures only of tubs of fabrics covered with ice, and sprinkled with dye – since the tubs had to be taken home to cure for 24 hours before rinsing, washing and drying to reveal our creations. Catch our results on subsequent posts!  First, Show and Tell:

Patt:

icePatt1 icePatt2 icePatt3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

white-on-white, unfinished samples of saori weaving

 

icePatt4 icePatt5

 

 

felted

scarf

held

vertically

 

 

icePatt6revreverse of scarf, finished with lavender edge

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gloria and guests

iceGloria iceGloriaSis4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Betsy

Displayed several articles of interest obtained on travels. The item pictured is an animal horn decoredated with tiny glass beads.

iceBetsy1JPG

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kaaren

Showed us one of six large cotton napkins begun recently with wax resist and elements from nature. She added drawing with pointed permanent markers.

 

iceKaaren1rev

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elizabeth

Constructed from a recent two-meeting project in which we (step 1) dyed nine different fibers with personally chosen colors, and (step 2) displayed them on felt of our choice, thus creating in most cases scarves. The photo shows a simple sampler, embellished with found and created objects, resulting in a wall hanging.

E2SunandSea

 

and of course – some tubs:

icedye1 icedye2 Icedye3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In this, a silk scarf has been placed on TOP of the ice-and-dye

layers, in order to see whether some or all colors would seep upward, as well as trickling downward with the melting ice.

July 21, 2016 – “Bring to Analyze” Program

Show and Tell

This program plan was for each attendee to bring several samples of weaving “around the house”, anything from a mass-produced dish cloth to souvenir craft weaving from another country. We divided into two manageable groups, passed them around, and shared our individual understandings. The results were interesting, surprising and sometimes mysterious to the max, so for fun we are posting some photos from that evening:

angeR
Scarf by Ange
AnnMcDR
Resale skirt inspiring plans to alter, by Ann
Gloria
Scraps from fabric handwoven and sewn by Gloria
Gudrun
Studies for Table Placemats by Gudrun

 

 

Melanie?
Antique lace cloth
Tien2
Self-portrait by Tien
Tien3
Experimental design by Tien
Vancouver1
Scarf from Artists’ Coop, Vancouver Bay purchased by Barbara O’

First Fall Program – Tien’s New Book and Signing! – Sept 15, 2016

Past Programs, Programs

Our web mistress has published a new book, Master Your Craft: Strategies for Designing, Making and Selling Artisan Work. This book helps beginning and intermediate crafters create award-winning work by outlining a powerful creative process, then offering advice through each step. It also provides an introduction to design – visual, functional, and practical – to jumpstart you on your journey to mastery.

Insights from 22 master artisans appear throughout the book, across a broad range of media: glassworking, metalworking and jewelrymaking, woodworking, and of course textiles! Textile artisans include surface design artists John Marshall and Ana Lisa Hedstrom; tapestry weavers Archie Brennan, Susan Martin Maffei, and Tommye Scanlin; felter Andrea Graham; and milliner Wayne Wichern. Many of these artisans have also been Black Sheep program speakers!

Tien will show and tell us about it at our first meeting, Sept. 15, as well as have plenty of copies for purchase and signing. (If you can’t wait until Sept. 15, you can order the book from her at http://www.creatingcraft.com/books/masteryourcraft/ .)

Master Your Craft - Strategies for Designing, Making, and Selling Artisan Work

Reservations will be made at Buck’s Restaurant for dinner at 5:30 pm and you can come unannounced, Buck’s is happy to accommodate us. (We have “our own waiter”!)

The meeting will be held IN THE CHAPEL, to the east of the community room we usually use at Woodside Community Church on Woodside Rd. Door opens at 7 pm, program runs 7:30-8:30 pm, followed by refreshments and a short business meeting. Y’all come!

 

Fabric CSI – July 21, 2016

Past Programs, Programs

Summer programs are simple, home-grown and laid-back. Reservations for dinner at Buck’s Restaurant on Woodside Road will be made for 5:30p.m. The usual meeting site at Woodside Community Church down the road will be opened at 7 pm. We are giving Melanie a break for the summer, so bring something light to share, or a carton of lemonade.

Tonight’s program will feature Ann McDonough sharing with us a fascinating class she took at CNCH this spring from Cameron Taylor-Brown.

We will have a round table program for which everyone brings in various pieces of woven cloth collected from their travels, or even “cheap” dish towels from World Market — something interesting. In small groups, we’ll examine these fabrics for weave structure, what makes this cloth interesting (or not), fiber type, etc.

For example, in the study group at CNCH there was a cloth that was warp+weft ikat, another which was some sort of inlay. There was also a stitched double cloth. Try looking at Cameron’s website (www.CameronTaylor-Brown.com ) for ideas, if you want to bring something challenging (discussing any one of the fabrics on her site would take all night). You get the idea.
weave families

Indigo – “Blue Alchemy” – Aug. 18, 2016

Past Programs, Programs

Dinner reservations will be made at Buck’s Restaurant on Woodside Road at 5:30 as usual. Do come and enjoy our chats there.

The meeting room at Woodside Community Church, just past the library, will be opened at 7 pm for set up by early comers. We’ll watch a documentary video owned and shown by Barbara Shapiro about the worldwide history and development of Indigo. Our taste was whetted during the May meeting by seeing part of it; now we get to see it all.

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There will be no business meeting. If you have cookies or snacks to share, please bring them. Melanie is away.

DIFFERENT VENUE – CNCH Retrospective, and “Blue Alchemy” – May 19, 2016

Past Programs, Programs

Our meeting will be held in the Goldstar Room at the Veterans’ Memorial Senior Center in Redwood City, located at 1455 Madison Ave., Redwood City. The room will be opened for us from 7 pm until 10pm. We’ll begin with CNCH Show and Tell, as well as whatever anyone else has to bring of their own, and show in the remaining time a DVD, “Blue Alchemy: Stories of Indigo”, owned by Barbara Shapiro. The DVD lasts 79 minutes, so the current idea is to show the whole video at one of our summer meetings (that leaves one other summer meeting to bring in an idea for!).

BlueAlchemy

 

BlueAlchemy2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reservations for dinner will be made for 5:30 pm at Galeotti’s Pizza, at 3121 Jefferson Ave., Redwood City.

We will have refreshments in the Goldstar Room room, and a short business meeting afterwards.

April 23, 2016 – Michael Rohde, Tapestry

Past Workshops, Workshops

Michael Rohde, renowned tapestry weaver, has plied and taught his art for more than 40 years (see his website www.michaelrohde.com). He will teach “Four Selvedge” and “Wedge Weaving” techniques.

WedgeWeavePin

The location will be the studio of Barbara Shapiro, 510 Darrell Road, Hillsborough, CA 94010. (Please park ON the sidewalk, and DO NOT block the mailbox!)

The workshop is full. Please bring a small (tapestry or rigid heddle or bead type) loom – unwarped. If you ordered a loom from Micael, he will bring it.

Bring also:  scissors, tapestry or Navaho beater or an old kitchen fork, note taking materials.

Optional equipment: tapestry or blunt needles, small shuttles or tapestry bobbins, small bits of colorful tapestry weight yarn, 900-1200 yds/lb.

Barbara will have tea and hot water. Bring bottled water if you like, instant coffee if you like, snacks if you want something other than trail-mixes. And bring a lunch since there is nothing close by. It will be Passover.