The weaving groups met last week to discuss inspiration for new projects.  To view more images from the session view the LWSG Weavers Web Blog.

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Charllotte Kwon of the Vancouver-based Maiwa Foundation will present the December program of the Whatcom Weavers Guild on Dec. 8, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. at St. James Presbyterian Church’s lower level meeting room at 910 14^th St. in Bellingham.  Admission is free.

Charllotte will discuss the work the Maiwa Foundation, which ranges from teaching natural dye workshops in Morocco, Ethiopia, Mexico and India to product design and costing workshops throughout India, Turkey, Laos.  The Maiwa Foundation has as its purpose eradicating poverty in rural villages by promoting the economic self-sufficiency of the artisans living in such villages. This lecture is a journey of textiles, processes, projects and inspiration.

Charllotte is the owner of Maiwa Handprints Ltd. and the director of the Maiwa Foundation. Through Maiwa, Charllotte also runs a textile archive and research library located on Granville Island.

Under her direction Maiwa has produced four documentary films and a number of print publications. She also guides Maiwa’s substantial web presence.

Charllotte travels extensively each year to research handcraft and to supplement her extensive natural dye knowledge. She teaches natural dyeing classes to artisans around the world.

For further information about the Whatcom Weavers Guild, visit www.whatcomweaversguild.org or contact Sheri, info@whatcomweaversguild.org or 360-961-4956.

Gender and Weaving on the Northwest Coast
A Public Program with Textile Artist, William White
Saturday December 4, 2010 1:00 – 2:30pm

Bill Reid Gallery

Included with regular Gallery Admission
Adults $10, Seniors/Students $7, Youth/Child $5
Members FREE

Among the many art forms on the Northwest Coast, weaving has been marginalized and viewed as “women’s work”, implying purely decorative and without meaning. This session, led by textile artist, William White, will explore how perceptions of gender contributed to the exclusion of textiles within Northwest Coast art forms.

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This public program is presented as part of the Gallery’s featured exhibition, Time Warp: Contemporary Textiles of the Northwest Coast.   Time Warp celebrates the textile and fibre art of 20 emerging, mid-career and internationally recognized Aboriginal artists from Alaska, Yukon, BC, and Washington State.  The exhibition runs through January 16, 2011.

General Meeting: Tuesday November 16, 7:30pm
Hospitality: Marilyn O.
Goodies: Irma, Alison
Coffee/Tea: Krista , Nancy
Program: TBA
Spin-ins: Evening, November 14 at Linda’s
Crazy Clackers: November 23, 2010 at 7:30pm at Linda D.’s home.
Weaving: November 29 @ 1pm at Lin’s
Mixed Media: November 21, 10 am at Iris’s

Exec Meeting: Christmas Party December 7, Please contact Marine if you are attending
Exec Meetin:January 4, 2011 at Marnie , 7 pm.

Our guild has the opportunity to have Anne Field of New Zealand come to teach us on what may be her last teaching trip to North America. For those of you who don’t recognize the name right away, Anne has written 7 books amongst which are the Ashford Book of Spinning and the Ashford Book of Weaving. She has been teaching both weaving and spinning for 30 years and several of our members recommend her highly.

The Greater Vancouver Guild is bringing Anne in to teach them on the April 29/30 and May 1, 2011 weekend. Anne is available to come and teach our guild immediately after that. The most likely timeframe would be Tuesday May 3 and Wednesday May 4, although if we have enough people for two workshops Anne could stay and also teach on the Saturday/Sunday May 7&8.

Could you please reply ASAP as to whether you will be signing up for one or more workshops (details below). I’ll need to know whether you can attend in the weekdays or whether you are restricted to weekends only. The cost will be approximately $175 plus materials for a 2-day workshop if we have 8 people signed up. If we get more students, the costs will be less. We’ll need a deposit of $100 sent to me ahead of time for the guild to be able to make a firm commitment to bring Anne in to teach.

We’ve chosen two spinning workshops and two weaving workshops for you to pick from. I’ve included a brief description below and more detail may be found on Anne’s website www.annefield.co.nz .

Please let me know by Sunday November 14th if you will be able to attend, as Anne needs to let her next stop, the Oregon guild, know when she will be arriving to teach them. My e-mail is workshops@lwsg.org . Please let me know which workshop(s) are ones you would like to attend. If you like all of them, please rank them in order of preference. Also let me know whether you’d be able to attend in the weekdays (we’ll only be able to offer a workshop on the weekend if we keep Anne here teaching throughout the week). As soon as I’ve gotten the replies tabulated I’ll be in contact with you to confirm which workshops have been chosen, so that you can then send in your $100 deposit. I will need to receive your cheque by December 7.
If you have suggestions for a workshop you would like to take – or teach – please contactMaureen  or Debbie.

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On October 2, a new exhibit will open at Seattle’s Burke Museum, *Weaving Heritage: Textile Masterpieces from the Burke Collection*. This first major exhibition of the museum’s international textile collection will display hand-woven masterpieces from the Americas, Asia, and the Pacific Islands. *Weaving Heritage* will provide museum visitors with a rare opportunity to see outstanding examples of traditional textile arts, to appreciate the skill involved in making them, and to learn about their cultural importance.
http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/event/weaving/

I invite you to share the news of this exhibit with your guild. Stay tuned for more information about a special opening day event on October 2.

Sincerely,

Julia Swan
Public Relations and Outreach Coordinator
Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture
University of Washington | Box 353010
Seattle, WA 98195-3010

Tel: 206-616-7538 | Fax: 206-616-1274

www.burkemuseum.org

*Celebrating 125 years: Inspiring young naturalists then and now*

Visit the Burke Blog <http://burkemuseum.blogspot.com/> | Follow the Burke
on Twitter <http://twitter.com/burkemuseum> or
Facebook<http://www.facebook.com/burkemuseum>

This last month we have been working on weaving with fabric.  For more information on weaving with fabric see our blog over on mixed media.

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At the October meeting this month Carol shared with us her techniques in using power tools to assist with felting.

The first step in the process is to lay out the wool that is too be felted in this case a solid colored roving which is spread out evenly.

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Then a light top coating of  decorative fleece was spread over the solid colored fleece to provide variety in the material.

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The wool was then covered with a window screen material and lightly sprayed with water mixed with soap.

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After spraying the fleece with water a electric sander is used to felt the material.  Don’t have the fleece soaking wet just lightly sprayed,  and be sure to plug into a grounded plug and wear rubber soled shoes while doing this technique.  PS –  LWSG holds no responsibility if you electrocute yourself.

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This technique felts the material together quite quickly.  For more information on felting with electric tools and felting in general contact Carol Funnel for a listing of classes that she is teaching.

A variety of item where presented at the October meeting for show and tell.

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