Beautiful wool scarf – by Leela G
I made this freakin’ beautiful wool scarf on my floor loom. First time trying out a different threading than 1234. Favorite piece to date by far. Looks even better in person.
Mary Zicafoose: My work in Ikat
Please join us on March 16 for a presentation by Mary Zicafoose: My Work in Ikat.
Ikat tapestry, 2018
Mary Zicafoose’s tapestries and rugs span the globe from large-scale public installations to the private collections of the United States Embassies on three continents. Her woven pieces blend cultural icons and symbols with a contemporary hand, creating powerful visual statements in fiber. The work and processes are a reflection of the artists’ superb craftsmanship and her ability to speak articulately through the use of color.
Artist Statement
Weaving is my medium, but creating d
ecorative textile art is not my goal. Rather, it is my use of “Ikat,” the complex technique of resist dyeing and over-dyeing fibers, that best defines my intent. The term “Ikat” means to “bind” or “tie” in the Malaysian language. I create contemporary tapestry, pushing the boundary of this ancient art form, to investigate the intricacies of how we, as individuals, are tied to one another. The complexity and uncharted potential of warp and weft – combined with the alchemy of color compositions and archetypal symbols – reference the elaborate and intricate patterns of our lives and my work. Each densely woven and intricately layered textile reflects the infinite and repetitive ways that cultures, rituals and collective memories bind us all together. By evolving and transforming timeless motifs and visual language into a contemporary (con)text, I seek to engage my viewers – as well as myself – in dialogues and discussions that reawaken and tie us all to one another.
2023 Guild Programs
The Programs Committee is happy to announce our 2021-2022 programs. At this time, all guild meetings will be conducted via Zoom until it is safe to meet in person again. Meetings are on 3rd Thursdays of each month, beginning at 7PM. Zoom links are available in the Member’s Calendar.
- January 19 – Daryl Lancaster: Doup Leno
- February 16 – Denise Kovnat: Tactile Art: Collapse Fabrics from 4 to 32 shafts
- March 16 – Mary Zicafoose: My work in Ikat
- April – 20 – Weaving Wizards
- May 18 – A Revue in Review of Guild Study Groups
- June 15 – Let’s Get Together and Share the Weaving Love (In Person)
- July 20 – Informal Summer Program – In Person Craft Night
- August 17 – Informal Summer Program (tbd)
Black Sheep 2023 Towel Exchange!
Black Sheep 2023 Towel Exchange!
We are excited to announce the guidelines for our 2023 towel exchange and look forward to seeing all your beautiful contributions at our June Guild Meeting or alternatively at CNCH in August!
Guidelines for the Black Sheep towel exchange 2023:
Participation: Any member of the Black Sheep Guild can participate in the towel exchange
Due dates: we will collect all participating towels before our June 2023 meeting on June 15
Submission: You can bring your towels to the June 2023 meeting (if we are holding the meeting in person) , drop it off in South San Jose or or send it via mail
Distribution: We are planning to showcase and distribute your towels at the 2023 CNCH in San Luis Obispo. If you cannot participate, we would be happy to send your towels home with a friend or colleague.
Specifications: Towels must be woven from cotton, linen, hemp, or any combination of these fibers. Finished size is to be between 18” and 22″ inches wide, and 25” to 28″ long.
Please plan ahead to address shrinkage and pull-in. Please finish with a hem, either hand-sewn or machine-sewn.
Closer to the due date, we’ll provide you a form to fill out for each towel asking for information on you and your towels, including loom, draft, yarn info, inspiration, etc.
Hang onto your finished towels until the June 2023 meeting; we’ll collect them at the meeting, or if we’re unable to meet, we’ll tell you where to mail your towels.
When you turn in your towels, we’ll be asking you to tell us your color preference: warm colors, cool colors, neutrals or potluck. We’ll do our best to honor your preferences.
You’ll get three towels from three different Black Sheep weavers at the 2023 CNCH meeting in early August. If you are unable to attend CNCH this year,, we’ll arrange another way to get your towels to you.
Want to get back more than 3 towels? Go ahead and turn in more! Please make them in multiples of 3.
You turn in 3 towels, you get 3 towels back. We are only accepting multiples of 3 towels
Questions? Contact 2023 Towel Exchange coordinators:
Stefanie Selck (sselck [at] gmail [dot] com)
Barbie Paulsen (weaverbarbie [at] gmail [dot] com)
Events & Exhibitions
Hidden Villa Sheep Shearing and Fiber Arts Festival
The 2025 Hidden Villa Sheep Shearing and Fiber Arts Festival takes place on Saturday, April
19th. See more information & Eventbrite here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sheep-shearingfiber-arts-festival-2025-tickets-1225571921609
They are also looking for fiber folks to participate in the event. You can show your work in the Maker Gallery and/or demonstrate a fiber technique (spinning, weaving, etc.). You get free admission to the event! — Allie Kraus, Education Committee
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Women’s View 2025!
The San Mateo County’s Office of Arts and Culture and the Commission
on the Status of Women is sponsoring the 19th annual exhibition, in
celebration of Women’s History Month.
The exhibition will be on view from March 5 – March 30, 2025, at Twin
Pines Art Center in Belmont.
Show and Tell February 2023
Barbara Shapiro – Troubled Waters
My work Troubled Waters 2019, 14 x 14 x 14″, has been chosen for The Color of Water at
the Sebastopol Center for the Arts, February 11 to March 26, 2023.
The Reception is on February 11, 2 to 4 PM. The hexagonally plaited sedori cane globe supports a swirl of soiled papers and cloth with a pool of debris inside the globe as well.
Featured Textiles – Sheep-to-Shawl Benefit
In response to the mass shooting in Half Moon Bay, involving some of the area’s farmworkers, one of our members – Kitty Thorsen – offered to donate a shawl produced by one of the Guild’s sheep-to-shawl teams, to the farmworkers. After consulting the board, we decided that auctioning off the shawl and donating the proceeds to ALAS, a non-profit working with the local farmworkers, would be a better idea.
So . . . we held an auction on January 28th by email. Member Barbara O’Connor had the high bid and won the shawl. We are still waiting for funds to come in to know what the auction netted. Regardless, Black Sheep members are pleased that we could contribute in a small way toward bettering conditions for the local farmworkers.
Denise Kovnat: Tactile Art: Collapse Fabrics from 4 to 32 Shafts
Note: Meeting starts at 6:30 PM on Feb 16, 2023
This lecture explores the many techniques and possibilities for creating dimensional fabrics. The three basic elements for these fabrics are structure, active and inactive yarns, and finishing techniques. The results make the most of an often-overlooked aspect of weaving: that of texture and depth. Add color and form, and weavers can maximize the potential of our craft to create imaginative fabrics with great visual and tactile appeal.
Denise is a hand weaver and teacher who lives in Rochester, NY. Her weaving interesting include extended parallel threadings, fine yarns, hand-painted warps, Deflected Double Weave and collapse techniques. She says she loves yarn and chocolate, not necessarily in that order.
Note: Meeting starts at 6:30 PM on Feb 16, 2023
Barbara Shapiro Introduces the New World Shibori Network Foundation
Barbara Shapiro Introduces the New World Shibori Network Foundation
Artist, author, scholar, and friend Yoshiko Wada has presented several times at Black Sheep
meetings. In1975, she taught the first Shibori class in the US. In the 1990s Wada and Japanese colleagues held the First International Shibori Symposium (ISS) in Nagoya, Japan, seeking to promote shibori textiles in Japan and beyond by preserving this century-old technique from disappearing. The World Shibori Network (WSN) aims to share information and inspiration and to preserve Japanese shibori and similar heritage techniques across the globe by creating a bridge between the ancient and the contemporary in textile technologies with an emphasis on sustainability. In 2022, WSN became a non-profit foundation.
Slow Fiber Studios (SFS) https://shibori.org/slow-fiber-studios/ is now the official
educational arm of WSN and will continue to offer in-person and online lectures and workshops on a variety of textile subjects. The Shop https://shop.slowfiberstudios.com/ offers excellent sustainable indigo and other dyes, Shibori tools and products, and a range of pertinent books and videos, etc. Newly developed Slow Fiber TV https://shibori.org/slow-fiber-tv/ offers subscription-based access to uncut versions of the various SFS workshops and other content.
Trips and tours https://shibori.org/international-tours/ are in the planning stages. Join our
mailing list for updates on our programs and consider become a member of WSN
https://shibori.org/membership/. Full disclosure, I am a founding board member of the new WSN Foundation.
— Barbara Shapiro
It’s Doup Leno with Daryl Lancaster!
January, 19, 2023 19:00 – 21:00 PST BSHG Guild Meeting
Let the loom do all the work! Beautiful lace effects can be achieved by creating half heddles or doups and with the press of a treadle, or lift of a lever, threads magically cross themselves in the warp. This technique is possible on four shafts and with eight shafts the possibilities are even better! Learn how to create doups, thread for doup leno, and how to treadle some wonderful lace fabrics. Based on the lengthy article featured in the January/February 2019 issue of Heddlecraft Magazine.
Daryl Lancaster, a hand-weaver and fiber artist known for her award-winning hand-woven fabric and garments, has been constructing garments for more than half a century. She has given lectures and workshops to guilds, conferences, and craft centers all over the United States. The former Features Editor for Handwoven Magazine, she has written more than 100 articles and published digital content, still frequently contributing to various weaving and sewing publications. She now has a YouTube channel, The Weaver Sews where she shares her extensive experience sewing handwoven garments. Daryl offers a complete line of digital sewing patterns for handweavers. https://www.weaversew.com/shop/sewing-patterns.html She maintains a blog at www.weaversew.com/wordblog Find her at www.Daryllancaster.com