Creative Endeavors Study Group - Black Sheep Handweavers Guild

Date/Time: 2nd Saturday of each month, 10 AM – noon
Location: Emerald Hills

This study group is open to all guild members. We experiment with all different fiber arts from spinning, weaving, dyeing, jewelry and paper making.

Plans for 2025 (subject to change):

January 11 – overshot on the rigid heddle loom – Andrea has book
February 8 – pulled warps in tapestry weaving – Andrea has book
March 8 – branch weaving – Gail
April 12 – follow up on overshot (see January)
May 10 – painted warps
June 14 – fabric origami – Gail
July 12 – follow up – overshot (see January & April)
August 9 – natural dying
September 13 – leaf baskets – Joyce; try again to visit goats – Valerie
October 11 – backstrap – Joan
November 8 – pine needle baskets (potentially, class with indigenous woman in Felton; if not, work with available instructions)
December 13 – annual brunch potluck and planning meeting

Plans for 2022 (subject to change):

January 8 – Andrea will give us a guided tour and history of her business, and she will talk about her decisions to purchase from specific vendors.
February 12 – felting with electric sander
March 12 – woven wall hangings (free-form/organic)
April 9 – boro/sashiko
May 14 – natural dying/indigo
June 11 – sharing from CNCH
July 9– small baskets, ornaments (Maggie)
August 13 – fimo/polymer clay (Betsy B.)
September 10 –Theo Moorman – inlay & pictorial weaving (Joan & Andrea)
October 8 – felting with embellishments (knitted, crocheted, woven)
November 12 – notecards
December 10 – holiday brunch (we hope) and planning for 2023

Plans for 2020 (subject to change):

January 11 – dryer balls
January 18 – Textile Arts Council (Betsy C.)
February 8 – sprang
March 14 – twill inlay – p. 136 in Anne Field book
April 11 – dying yarn (cotton) for towels
May 9 – closures – both gluing and Fimo/polymer clay
June 13 – double weave throw – p. 165 in Anne Field book
July 11 – lavender wands
August 8 – bead weaving
September 12 – towels from Handwoven, Nov.-Dec. ’19 – p. 34
October 10 – corn husk dolls
November 14 – fabric necklaces
December 12 – holiday brunch & planning

Plans for 2019 (subject to change):

January 12 – rosepath
February 9 –food color dye workshop (Karolyn)
March 9 – felting with sander
April 13 – felt pictures/needle felting
May 11 – sun dying
June 8 – eco printing
July 13 – basket weaving (pine needles) (Betsy B’s house)
August 10 – silk fusion
September 14 – Kakishibu (Japanese dying with green persimmons)
October 12 – brooms with broom corn (sorghum)
November 9 – weaving with wavy beater
December 7 – holiday brunch & planning

Plans for 2018 (subject to change):

January 6 – crimp weave – NOTE: This is deliberately the FIRST Saturday of the month.
February 10 – needle felting
March 10 – dye and steam January project
April 14 – tapestry (tentative)
May 12 – Inkle weaving with Ruth
June 9 – marbling (dye)
July 14 – paper making – Marilyn (Los Altos)
August 11 – Dorset buttons (Betsy’s house)
September 8 – alcohol ink ornaments (Patt)
October 13 – eco dye
November 10 – transparency/leaf/rose path (Teddie)
December 8 – holiday brunch & planning

2017

January 7* Tapestry weaving
February 11 Felting (bring thrums)
March 11 Silk fusion (bring thrums)
April 8 Ice dying (bring shirts; consider ordering rayon shawls – Dharma)
May 13 Indigo dying and clamping
June 10 Solar printing (on paper? on fabric?)
July 8 Dying with wood chips
August 12 Field trip to Dharma
September 9 Watch videos at Barbara’s
October 14 Mud dying
November 11 Dying with pine cones
December 9 Holiday potluck, show & tell, and planning for 2018

2016

Jan – v-shaped shawl
Feb – silk painting
Mar – dyeing fibers for felting
Apr – felting
May – dyeing with soy wax resist, solar dyeing with resist, sun dyeing with cyrro
Jun – saori weaving, pin weaving
Jul – bring your UFOs to work on – especially those from previous study group sessions – but any will be fine.
Aug – ice dyeing at Betsy’s house
Sept – pin weaving at Betsy’s house
Oct – woven book covers/place mats using items from garden – HW May/Jun 2015
Nov – dyeing warp and weft for weaving project
Dec – planning meeting and potluck

2015

January: We will make small, post-card sized, embellished cards.
February: 1st part of a 3-part activity – combining weaving and knitting in a garment. Maryanne will also show us her method of combining knitting and weaving on a knitting loom.
March: warping with multiple colors, Gloria-method
April: leaf patterning using bleach solution & rust staining/transfer on cloth for garments .
May: 2nd part of combining weaving and knitting – working on project.
June: surface printing techniques.
August: Field trip to Tech. Shop.
September: Meeting cancelled.
October: Spinning – different ways to combine yarns into thicker yarns.
November: 3rd part of combining weaving and knitting – knitting portion.
December: Social potluck and planning for 216.

2014

January : Patt led us in more Kumihimo braiding, including flat braids and a new button closure technique.
February: We will be making bags for the CNCH 2014 guild display.
March: Try out some Anita Mayer techniques.
April: Silk reeling.
May: Time to do some dyeing! Natural dyes.
June: Glass making in Half Moon Bay.
July: Ice dyeing with Sue Hans.
August: Weaving workshop with Teresa Ruch.
September: Time to dye! We will paint yarn/fabric.
October and November: Our topic will be felting.
December: We will have our annual holiday potluck brunch and planning for 2015 activities!