HWSDA Conference 2008
Theme: Transformed Textiles
May 9-11, 2008
Olds College, Olds, Alberta
If you are planning to come to conference, register right away-the conference is only a few days away!!
Remember: you must have a 2007-2008 membership in order to attend the conference.
Schedule of Events
Supply Lists for seminars/workshops
Conference Statistics
Remember to bring your own bag to the conference. Pick a favorite from previous years or create a new one!
NOTE change: Name tags will be provided.
Volunteers
Volunteers can contact President Elizabeth Ellis-Bassett.
Consider bringing a door prize to the conference! Contact Denice McMechan to let her know you are bringing one.
Conference Committee:
Instructors - Jean Curry and Enid Best
Registrar - Rosemary Harris
Conference booklet - Mary Gillespie
Booklet mailout - Kathy Buse
Vendors - Doug and Linda Wilson
Venue - Judy Klassen
Juried Show - Val Forcese, 4951 Viceroy Dr. N.W. ,Calgary, AB T3A 0C2, (403)288-6292
Door Prizes - Denice McMechan
Name Tags - Edmonton "More than Four" group
Teacher's Show - Donna Faulkes
Scarf Exchange - Lois Larson (see below for more information)
Juried Show ribbons - Marg Steel
Fibre Fair - Jenn Lake
Fashion Show - Elizabeth Ellis-Bassett
Banquet table decorations - Norma Westcott, Barb Mercer, Lorena Vass
Awards
The following awards will be presented at the Transformed Textiles Conference:
HWSDA Awards:
HWSDA Award of Excellence - for spinning, weaving and dyeing $100 each
Juried Show Peope's Choice - $200
Best Use of Theme - $200
Fibre Fair People's Choice - $150
Other Awards:
HGA Award
Handwoven - Weaving for the home
Guild of Canadian Weavers
Complex Weavers
Start planning those projects now!
Scarf Exchange - deadline extended to May 1st
Requirements:
a. woven scarf (or medium of your choice)
b. finished size approximately 10" (no narrower than 5") x 48, 60, 72" long
c. pattern and colours of your choice (could use theme: Transformed Textiles)
d. label each scarf with your name, address, phone number and email address
e. include weaving draft, yarn used, size, sett, etc.
f. describe medium and technique if other than woven
The coordinator for the Scarf Exchange is:
Lois Larson
228 Park Ridge Close
Camrose, AB T4V 4P1
(780) 679-1631 (day)
(780) 672-2551 (eve)
loisl@studioword.com
Mail your scarf to Lois no later than May 1, 2007 in order to do the exchange and have them ready for distribution at the conference. If you submit more than one scarf, you will receive the same number in exchange.
Conference Workshops
Half Day Workshops
Spin Soy Silk & Bamboo Birgit Rasmussen
A variety of different natural sources are being transformed into fibres and yarn. Try you hands on spinning soy bean protein fibres (soy silk) and bamboo fibres into beautiful yarns.
Skill Level: Intermediate to Advanced
Materials fee: $10.00
Spinning wheel or drop spindle and hand cards required
Explore the Use of Colour in Creating Yarn – Birgit Rasmussen
You will use different coloured wooltops to create wonderful yarns. Just by changing the way colours are put together, you can spin completely different yarns. The wooltops will be blended on hand carders. Different plying techniques will also transform the look of the yarn.
Skill Level: Intermediate to Advanced
Materials fee: $8.00
Spinning wheel or drop spindle and hand cards are required.
E-Design for Fibre Artists – Linda Wilson
Join us in our e-design café to learn how to manipulate photo editing software to produce a variety of textile designs. Stripes, textures, tapestry, and clothing design will be emphasized.
No previous computer knowledge is necessary.
Digital Design and Weaving Structure – Linda Wilson
Weavers will learn how to create designs for
- using yarn from your stash
- painted warp
- stripe designs
Digital designs will then be merged using a software program to produce the final design.
Seminar participants are encouraged to bring 12 samples of yarn from their stash and those who have digital cameras and a card reader are welcome to bring them.
NOTE: Seminar participants should have E-Design for Fibre Artists OR basic computer knowledge – opening, saving, and creating new files.
Concept to Reality – Linda Kubik
You’ve designed the perfect garment – mentally. Now how do you translate an idea into an actual garment? What are the steps along the way – from choosing colour, yarn, sett, weaving, fulling, cutting & sewing? What defines a fashion fabric – one suitable for clothing? Explore possibilities and solutions. Bring ideas, drawings, photos, fabric, yarn and any works in progress.
Level: All
What’s Wrong with this Fabric? – Linda Kubik
Examine and critique fabrics for garment construction. What are the criteria for “fashion” fabric? Explore what yarns and fibers work best and how to incorporate others. Linda will bring over 10 years of fabric samples from her archives to examine (good & bad).
Skill Level: All
Bring samples of past and present work.
Collapsible Fabrics – Jane Stafford
Collapsible fabrics and fabrics with 3-dimensionality are all the rage these days. These fabrics are achieved either through specific yarn combinations or through weave structures, and are often transformed after they are woven. Using a stunning array of colours in a wide variety of natural fibres, Jane has created a sample collection to illustrate the technical issues around this type of designing. She will also transform a few samples during the seminar.
Skill Level: All
A Good Yarn – Laura Fry
For those of you who enjoyed Laura’s article in Running Threads last fall, it has been expanded into a half day hands-on seminar. In it we will look at fibre
characteristics, spinning, and how weave structure and density affect
the resulting textile.
characteristics, spinning, and how weave structure and density affect
the resulting textile.
Skill Level: All
A materials fee will be charged to cover the extensive handouts and yarn samples.
A materials fee will be charged to cover the extensive handouts and yarn samples.
“Transformations Beyond the Loom”, Sewing Techniques for Handwovens -Valerie Forcese
This seminar will focus on how to transform your woven fabric into an expertly sewn garment. To achieve a professional look, there are many considerations that need to be addressed before you put ‘scissors to cloth’. Through the use of samples and a slide presentation, topics for discussion will include pattern layout and cutting tips, interfacing and underlining choices, seam and hem finishes, button/buttonhole tips, pocket types and much more.
Skill Level: All
Fully Felted Knits – Michelle Boyd
Everything you need to know to get started in creating your own felted knits! Through a Powerpoint slideshow and samples, this seminar will discuss fibre and yarn characteristics to achieve your best results, calculating shrinkage, and the best types of projects for felting.
Skill Level: All
Don’t Throw That Away! Creative Recycling for Handspinners
– Michelle Boyd
What do you do with those little bits of fleece and thread left over after a workshop or project? Make a new yarn! This seminar will inspire you to save and recycle your combing waste, thrums, and even quilting scraps.
Skill Level: All
Structural Transformations - Lyn Pflueger
If we understand the nature of the fibres we are using, we can take further steps towards creating innovative and interesting cloth.
For example, yarns can be chosen with a view to felting the woven (or knitted) cloth, either by combining wool and not-wool, or by treating some of the wool so that it doesn’t felt.
A woven cloth which has both cellulose and wool fibres can be treated with lye (cloque) and a wonderfully textured fabric will be created…
All of these techniques will be demonstrated and sampled in these 2 half days. Simple resist patterns will be taught so that participants can make small pieces which follow their particular interests.
Lyn Pflueger is now a feltmaker, but was initially a biochemist….she loves this kind of stuff, which “let’s the chemist come out again”. Be assured that all chemicals will be used safely.
Morning session
structural transformations….animal fibres
Afternoon session
structural transformations….cellulose fibres
Skill Level: All
Materials fee: TBA
Full Day Workshops
The Esoteric Cloth – Kris Abshire
Do you sometimes wonder if your handwoven cloth, beautiful as it is, could have more ‘depth’, more ‘interest’ or ‘dimension’ or even ‘mystery’? Have you ever wished there was something you could do with a disappointing piece? Surface design techniques applied before, during and after weaving can add elements of interest, intrigue and richness attainable only to the handweaver. From planning ahead in cloth design considerations, to the final application of surface design and emgellishments, or exploring possibilities for transforming already woven pieces, we will open windows of opportunity through the magic of dyes, paints, warp, weft and fabric manipulation.
Skill Level: All
Materials fee: TBA
No Fear Dyeing - Ruth Blazenko
Come and dye with Magic Carpet Dyes which are used with protein fibres.
Are you afraid to dye or even of using dyes? Find out what makes them tick. Why do some colours work and others are mud? We will use these dyes to play. No measuring allowed - just paint, dip or bake, and Have Fun!
Skill level: All
Materials fee: $10.00
You may bring fibre to dye - roving, yarn, warp chains. Only Protein Fibre please.
Using a Long Draft to Speed Up Your Spinning – Gayle Vallance
Every spinner feels frustration when there are so many projects planned, but so little time to spin. Often spinning can be speeded up without sacrificing yarn quality just by using long drafting techniques. This class will teach how to distinguish between the many spinning techniques referred to as the “long draw”. It will clarify terms such as: woolen long draw, double drafting, point of contact, short draw at a distance, long backward worsted draw. It will teach technique and show why it is best for a specific type of yarn.
Skill Level: Confident Beginner – Intermediate
Participants will provide their own spinning wheel, extra bobbin, hand cards
Materials fee: $15.00 (materials will include sheep’s wool, camel down, silk & alpaca)
Finishing Techniques for Handweavers – Mackenzie Frere
“…the act of taking the weaving from the loom is not an act of completion. Rather it is the beginning of a further creative process, the finishing process.” (from Finishes in the Ethnic Tradition by Suzanne Baizerman and Karen Searle)
Join your instructor for an exploration of a variety of techniques for finishing your handwovens. In this one day workshop, you will learn methods for plying, braiding, decorative hemstitching and embellishment that will highlight the beauty and uniqueness of your personal creations. A survey of wet finishing and blocking techniques will give you the confidence to create cloth that feels just as good as it looks. Learn creative methods for hanging tapestries, rugs, and other textiles for effective and attractive display. Integrating the finishing of your handwovens into the planning process removes the apprehension and makes the end of every piece as enjoyable as the whir of the shuttle on its first trip across the warp.
Participants may also want to bring in one or more unfinished pieces for finishing advice.
Skill Level: All
Materials fee: included
Beyond the Basics with Fibre Reactive Dye – Jo Anne Ryeburn - This workship is full
Learn a range of advanced techniques that will enable you to create spectacular colors and patterns on cellulose fabric and silk with Procion MX fibre reactive dyes.
1. Mixing Procion MX Fibre Reactive dyes to create 16 different tywo color samples. (This, combined with an afternoon of warp painting, could be offered as a one-day workshop.)
2. Low water immersion dyeing produces unevenly dyed, multicolored fabric.
3. Dyeing evenly, avoiding unwanted blotches, using baggies
4. Simple folding and shibori resist techniques
5. Painting and sponging with unthickened dyes
6. Stenciling designs using thickened Procion MX dye
7. Stenciling designs using discharge paste.
Important Notes:
Regardless of what is covered in the course, time is taken at the beginning to go over the basics of Procion MX dyeing, and these basics are frequently reviewed. Students are required to do some calculation of dye qnd chemical quantities under supervision. The aim is to make them comfortable with using these dyes and techniques at home.
Students will come away with a notebook containing detailed instructions for all techniques used in the workshop.
Note: Participants may bring pre-wound silk or cotton warps to dye.
Skill Level: All
Materials Fee: $10.00 (optional: the student fee can be adjusted to include a pre-dyed silk or cotton scarf for decoration with dying techniques.)
Bookbinding – Gaye Hansen
Join the fun in making a ‘perfect bound” journal and learn the fundamentals of bookbinding techniques: sewing signatures, use of hinges, line tapes, spine stiffeners, spine fatteners, interleaf pages, endpapers and headbands. A wide variety of handmade and commercial papers will be used in the 6” x 7” fabric covered journals.
Skill Level: Beginner and up
Materials fee: $25.00
Creating with Paper Yarn – Pirkko Karvonen
Paper yarn has its own way of behaving. In class we will learn how to prepare it and how to use it for best results. We will also learn through slides how paper was used creatively in the past by weavers and how it is used today. Future project can be planned wit help of the teacher. Finishing touches to the weaving are important. Different ways will be discussed and students will choose a method best suited for their creations.
More information on using paper yarn.
Skill Level: Must provide and be able to warp a 4 shaft loom
Materials fee: TBA
Beaded Kumihimo – Deb Turner
This workshop is suitable for anyone, no matter what exposure to kumihimo they have had. Students will be introduced to basic kumihimo and will be working on a foam disc with fibers and beads. They will work on one method and pattern to start out with. In this braid structure, there are quite a few different coloured patterns that they will be able to choose from. They will learn ways to thread beads onto yarns, beginnings and endings of braids, attaching findings and creating a piece of jewellery – a bracelet in this case.
If there is extra time, I will give anyone/all the opportunity to play with new methods and patterns. There will be samples of different patterns and techniques.
A comprehensive handout for further exploration will be included.
Skill Level: All
Materials fee: A workshop kit will be supplied at reasonable cost.
If students have a disc and a stash of beads, they can bring them to reduce cost of full kit.
Equipment: Good glasses!
Wrapped Silk Brooch - Bonnie Tarses
Create a piece of wearable art. Learn how to make perfect wrappings with custom dyed, space-dyed and ikat dyed fine silk yarn. In a 1-day workshop, student will coplete at least one brooch. In addition to the brooch, as a group we will create an exciting piece of wall art.
Skill Level: All
Materials fee: $30 includes a variety of pre-cut shapes, over 100 shades of 20/2 to 60/2 silk yarn, all adhesives and findings.
Workshop Instructor Biographies
Birgit Rasmussen is a master spinner living in Edmonton. She has taught spinning, weaving and dyeing in Alberta and BC, including teaching in the Master Spinner Certificate Program at Olds College, at ANWG and HWSDA conferences, at the Natural Fibre Festival on Salt Spring Island, BC and to guilds and individuals.
Deb Turner has been weaving since 1986. She studied with both Lyn Pflueger and Bryn Pinchin, to whom she also apprenticed. She has always been highly influenced by the structure in weaving and in recent years has spent a lot of time exploring colour and dyeing all kinds of yarn.
Since selling her spinning wheel, which she rarely used, and acquiring a marudai, she has been exploring kumihimo. The movements necessary to work on the marudai bring calmness to a hectic life. The fun of playing with colour, pattern and structure is easily picked up and invites experimentation. Embellishing her weaving with beads has led to similar play time with beads and kumihimo.
Linda Wilson’s daily life consists of being a team leader at a local college, teaching and weaving as much as she can. She is actively involved in the weaving community in Edmonton, Alberta, and Canada. She loves teaching, whether it be computers or weaving, because she gets to meet so many interesting people. You can learn more about Linda and her work by going to http://jasmineweaver.blogspot.com/
Linda Kubik has been weaving for the past 25 years and sewing forever. She holds a degree in clothing, textiles and art from the University of Washington. Textiles and fiber have always been her passion and she enjoys sharing her enthusiasm and knowledge in her workshops and seminars.
She owns and operates a one-woman manufacturing pland, otherwise known as a weaving studion, formerly known as Twill & Tuck. Linda markets her handwoven yardage to home sewers. Her fabric, garments and patterns have been featured in sewing and weaving magazines, videos and on public television sewing programs. She has taught at several Convergence conferences, travels and teaches throughout the US.
Linda’s first book, Sew Something Special, sewing with handwoven fabrics, detailed innovative techniques for handling handwoven fabric. Now she’s completely revised and updated the material for a new book, Sew Something Special, Fibers, Fabrics, Handwovens & More. Linda developed a line of multisized patterns that are fabulous in handwoven fabrics. There are currently ten “Elements” patterns available.
Her fascination with color and texture has taken her even further into the realms of surface design and artwear creation using handmade fabric and innovative techniques. You can find more about Linda at www.lindakubik.com/
Pirkko Karvonen has exhibited in Canada, United States, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Finland. She has also expanded her visual journey into film making. She has produced five documentaries. In the past five years she has returned to her ethnic roots in all her visual presentation. Pirkko resides in Boyle, Alberta.
Gaye Hansen holds her BHE, 5th year education qualifications and Master Weaver Certificate from the Guild of Canadian Weavers. Since chairing Convergence 2002 for the Handweavers Guild of America, she has studied the art and craft of bookbinding and has been sharing her knowledge in the classroom for over five years. Five Canadian best selling cookbooks are also to her credit.
JoAnne Ryeburn has a fascination with controlling the performance of dyes in order to create unusual surface designs on fabric. She has taught extensively in the fiber world, and is published in Weavers, Handwoven, Heddle, and Complex Weavers Journal to name just a few.
Ruth Blazenko has been a Master Spinner for 6 years and has instructed Levels 1, 3 and 6 of the Master Spinners Program at Olds College. Alberta. She also keeps busy teaching dye workshops for weavers, spinners, rug hookers, and quilters as well as rug braiding, color blending for drum carding and introducing new spinners to the craft. She has taught at Hand Weavers Spinners and Dyers of Alberta (HWSDA) conferences.
Mackenzie Frere lives and works in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. His handwoven, contemplative cloth has been exhibited in Canada, China, Japan and Korea. His writing has appeared in “Artichoke Magazine,” “Craft News" (a publication of the Nova Scotia Designer Craft Council) and recently in Craft Perception & Practice: A Canadian Discourse Vol III.
He received his education at the AlbertaCollege of Art & Design in Calgary (BFA 1998) and the Nova Scotia College of Art and DesignUniversity in Halifax, Nova Scotia (MFA 2005). Presently, Mackenzie is teaching courses in the fibre arts at the Alberta College of Art + Design, weaving in his studio and curating exhibitions for Poplar ArtCraft, an online gallery of emerging visual artists. You can view Mackenzie’s work and CV at www.mackenziefrere.com
Gayle Vallance had her interest in sheep sparked by a three-year stay in Scotland. Her interest in spinning began when, back in Canada, she purchased a small flock of Corriedales. Her interest never lagged as she pursued a Master Spinner Certificate at Olds College, Alberta, and a Certificate of Excellence (Spinning) through the Handweavers Guild of America. She now teaches at OldsCollege and at various workshops and conferences throughout the country.
Jane Stafford discovered her passion for textiles early on in life. In 1981 she traveled from Northern Ontario to Banff to study Textiles and Sculptural form at the Banff Centre School of Fine Arts. After seven marvelous years at the Centre, she moved to SaltSpringIsland in 1989 and opened her own business, Jane Stafford Textiles.
Jane loves to teach, she loves colour and her vivacious personality shines through in all her classes and demonstrations. Jane also works closely with Louet, North America on instructional materials and designs woven fabrics for their yarns. Jane regularly teaches and lectures throughout North America sharing the knowledge she has gained working the field of handwoven textiles for the past 30 years. You can visit Jane’s website at www.janestaffordtextiles.com
Valerie Forcese has a Masters Degree in clothing and textiles from the University of Manitoba. As an instructor of patternmaking and design, Valerie has a special interest in creating garments using a combination of traditional and comtemporary construction techniques.
Laura Fry chose weaving as a career in 1975 and took weaving classes at every opportunity, including study at Banff School of Fine Arts in Alberta and VarpapuuSummerWeavingSchool in Finland. She started her business in 1977 and since 1980 has worked full-time as a professional handweaver. She is extremely generous with her time and knowledge and teaches classes and seminars around the country. Visit her website.
Michelle Boyd is a fibre artist working and living in Fort McMurray, Alberta. Trained as a graphic artist, Michelle worked as a custom handknitter while at home with her small children. As her children grew, so did her passion for fibre and textiles, leading her to explore spinning, dyeing, felting and weaving. She now combines all of these techniques in her work, which has been displayed in the VAAA Gallery in Edmonton and at the Gibson’s Landing Fibre Arts Festival. Michelle has achieved her Master Spinners Certification through OldsCollege and is always on the lookout for exciting new opportunities in the fibre arts.
Lyn Pfleuger was born and raised in Sydney, Australia. She received a science degree from Sydney University, and worked for a number of years as a biochemist. In 1995 Lyn graduated from ACAD with a BFA, and has taught in the Fibre department as a part-time sessional instructor since then. Lyn’s particular interests include feltmaking, the properties of materials, and the structure of surfaces.
Kris Abshire has lived in Alaska for 39 years, increasingly pursuing her creative muse as a self-taught weaver and surface design textile artist over the last 24 years. She has explored and studies the world of fibre art through weaving, dyeing, surface design, surface embellishment, and in more recent years, silk fabrics, yarns and fibers in combination with other media, such as handmade papers, beads, artist canvas, wood and metal in a fiber/mixed media approach to the decorative arts. Inspiration for her work comes from many years of venturing into Alaskas’s wilderness, and from the wildlife and seasonal colors and textures surrounding her studio in the magnificent Matanuska Valley.
Representations of these element are seen in her theme pieces reflecting her advocacy involvement in wildlife and wilderness preservation issues. Her work has been represented at the Anchorage Historical and Fine Arts Museum, Oregon School of Arts 7 Crafts, Museum of Northwest Art (MoNA), and fine galleries in Anchorage and Seattle area. She has received juror’s awards and special recognition for entries in exhibits throughout the Northwest and British Columbia. An active member of the Valley Fiber Guild, she continues to join with other members in public education, awareness and involvement in the fiber arts. In this spirit of advocacy for creative expression, public and personal awareness, she also travels to teach workshops in her methods, encouraging others to find inspiration and means of artistic expression regarding issues of importance in their own natural world.
Bonnie Tarses
is a textile designer specializing in one-of-a-kind and custom handwoven textiles since 1960. From the time she began her weaving journey, she was drawn to the color symbolism in all ethnic textiles. “I continue to be amazed by the fact that weavers of old attached special meaning to the placement of every thread.” In search of a set of personal symbols, Bonnie developed several techniques that have become her trademarks—Color Horoscope Weaving, Words in Color, and Easy Ikat (a twist on a traditional theme).Originally from the East Coast, Bonnie first learned her craft at Rhode Island School of Design. She later moved to Montana where she had a brief stint as a weaving shop owner. Finally in 1980, Bonnie settled in Seattle where she operates her colorful weaving studio. She creates unique blankets, shawls, scarves, wall pieces, and jewelry. Since 1993, Bonnie has been teaching workshops and presenting to various weaving guilds and conferences throughout the US and Canada. Her participation in several craft organizations allows her to weave together people and events in addition to exquisite works of art to adorn a body, bed or wall. Visit Bonnie at her website www.bonnietarses.com/
