Monday, April 25, 2016

I Love Learning!

What a weekend!! I love taking classes and learning new ideas. I may have been weaving for a long time but every class that I take introduces new ideas to add to my knowledge and work.
Thursday and Friday I took a weaving class with Kathrin Weber. Barb had arranged it, spending a couple of years organizing the class. Her hard work paid off with us spending three days in a wonderful, huge, brightly lit venue. The space was fantastic. I wish Tuesday Weavers had a space like this. We would make good use of it! 
So this was a class on Not Your Grandmothers Warp. It certainly wasn't.
Lots of time was spent picking out 2 pre dyed warps, looking for contrast in the colors so the weave structure would show.
Most of our time was spent spent putting the warps on our looms. We'd come to class with dummy warps on our looms so we "just" had to tie the new ones on, wind them onto the back beam and begin to weave.
Learning how to hold everything just so allowed for the color blocks to stay in line. Kathrin got us going nicely. That's the two warps, lined up properly, being wound onto the loom.
I think this was LaDonna's warp. She got carried away designing stripes with her 3 warps! There were 5 of us Tuesday Weavers taking the class. I'm glad that we were able to participate in the class.
Because it was 2 days of class, I was able to finish my warp. I still need to deal with the fringe but I wove a 90 inch scarf. We'll see how it washes and settles into. My 2 warps were 2 different weights of cotton so it should be interesting once I wash it. I used bamboo for weft. I'm hoping that will make it a bit drapey.

The 2 days of information filled our heads but we still had Saturday. We dyed.
Kathryn's system of dyeing is rather different from ours and we were excited to see how she does it. I know I'm going to use some of her methods to add to my dye days! We've got 3 days scheduled to dye in May and I certainly will be using some of these techniques!!
The rainbow warp she dyed was cool. Using just a few dye colors, she mixed what she needed. I don't have an artist's background so it's more difficult for me but the concept is very good.
Each of us had half a table to work on. These were nice 8 foot tables, too!
Here's Barb, our fearless leader!
And Christy who let loose from her meticulous dye techniques to try Kathrin's way. I'll bet she adds some of her ideas to her next dye day as well.
Three days of intense thinking and ideas being added to the brain plus a concrete floor made for a bunch of very tired people!
I highly recommend anyone that weaves to take a class with Kathrin. You'll have more fun and learn more in a relaxed atmosphere than you'd have thought!
So now I need to get down to the studio and back to my production. I've got 3 days to make up for down there!
Until next week, keep weaving!
Carol

1 comment:

Bonnie said...

Wow, sound like so much fun. Wish I could have joined you. Excited to see how you scarf does after washing.