Anchorage Weavers & Spinners Guild

Transcription

1 November 2011 Issue 199 Anchorage Weavers & Spinners Guild NEXT MEETING: Saturday, November 12, 2011 at 10:00 At the Anchorage Museum in the Reynolds Classroom President s Message by Beverly Bronner Winter is fast approaching, one of the longest of our seasons, for some the weather signifies a major change, for others it s a time for a new fiber project. I don t want to jump the gun but soon fall will give way to the holiday season. It s right around the corner and with it comes the opportunity to share our fiber passion with our loved ones and community. So let s teach someone something new, invite a friend to a guild meeting, participate in the new guild challenge and bring show and tell to help inspire everyone. Beverly From Our Librarian by Mary Janis, Librarian I'm back from my travels and ready to open the Guild Library once again for "take-out". Please your requests to me at afmkj@uaa.alaska.edu and I will have your books for you at the November meeting. Or if you wish to drive up to Stuckagain to peruse the actual books, magazines and videos/cds, please give me a call at for an appointment. I'll also be bringing some unrequested materials to the November Guild meeting. Program for November by Christine Dittrich Renowned Shibori artist Wendy Smith-Wood will be presenting our November program. Wendy has specialized in Arashi shibori, the ancient Japanese art of folding and tying silk on poles and dying it, to create intricate patterns and textures. She has now added two other styles, ori nui, sewn shibori, and itajime, block resist shibori, to her repertoire as well. Wendy will teach us about these Japanese fiber art forms and show us some of her work. She will also have some items available for purchase after the meeting. In her words, "Seeing the final piece unfold from the wrap, as if from a cocoon, revealing the wonder and mystery of the alchemy within, is awe-inspiring to me - every day." Join us for an inspiring discovery of this ancient and beautiful art. 1 Pictures (more on Pg. 5) are taken from Wendy s beautiful website with her permission.

2 October s Intro to Spinning Class By Kathryn Young Our annual "Intro to Spinning" class on October 8 went very well, if a little hectic. We had 16 folks signed up, all of them came and another 4 people showed up! We had a total of 20 students! We lucked out and had enough mentors for our usual 2 students to 1 mentor ratio. I'd like to thank the mentors. While I may stand up in front and give the starting lecture, it's the mentors who really make this class the success it is. Besides bring their wheel to share with someone else, mentors work directly with one or two students. Mentors - Thank you! Julie Carter Sandra Cook Pam Grefsrud Tobi Harvey Franny Junge Jeanette Kent Marty Quimby Sherry Rogers Rosemarie Rotunno Jean Truscott I'd also like to thank Nancy Boardman, who came just to take money. A special thank you goes to Julie Carter who assisted with getting the guild spinning wheels ready, transported wheels to class and handled wheel rental. Again, all five guild wheels were rented to students! Thanks everyone! Arts & Craft Emporium Sale By Sherry Rogers Attention All Guild Members: Everyone please remember to bring your completed sale items for the November sale to the November guild meeting. Your items must be labeled, tagged and listed on your inventory sheet which will accompany your sale items. The tags will list all the pertinent information about your handmade item for the customer. For more detailed directions on labeling and tagging please refer to the October and November newsletters on our guild website. Our guild will be participating in the annual Arts & Crafts Emporium at the Anchorage Dena ina Center Saturday, November 19 from 10:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. and Sunday, November 20 from 11:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. The signup sheet for booth volunteers during the sale will be available at the November guild meeting. We still need booth volunteers for four of the shifts. Join in the fun at the booth and plan to do some of your Christmas shopping early. If you have questions concerning the sale, volunteering in the booth or to make special arrangements for sale item pickup please contact Sherry Rogers sherryweaves@aol.com or Clydene Fitch jcfitch@gmail.com Tips for Fair Entries by Myler Almandinger Do not put your items together with a safety pin! The item may be snagged before the judges even get to see and judge it. Use a needle and thread and put your paper work or items as one unit. This year one shawl was snagged, and some items we couldn't even get the safety pins out for judging. Next year I will work with the entry people so that this problems does not happen again.. 2

3 Guild Challenge: The Eye of the Beholder by Cathy Gillis This year's challenge, for both spinners and weavers, is fun and sure to inspire! It will hopefully allow for a lot of creative thinking and fun. Come to November's guild meeting prepared - bring items as listed below. All members who participate in the challenge will submit their envelope at November's meeting and receive a different envelope in return. If you have a manila envelope, fantastic. If not, rest assured we'll have some on hand. During the meeting we'll present the challenge parameters. Don't miss out! Please collect 3 items that can fit in a manila envelope that YOU FIND INSPIRING. Examples? Could be a poem! A photograph! A piece of an old favorite quilt. Anything that you find inspiring. We need three items from each participant, placed in an 8.5" by 11" envelope. Inside the envelope, please enclose the following information: 1. Your Name 2. Your Contact Information - phone, 3. Your Inventory of Items. (for example: 1. piece of sheet, blue and green; 2. photograph of Aurora Borealis; 3. A group of thrums) All people who participate in the challenge will submit their envelope at November's meeting and receive a different envelope in return. The object of this year's challenge is to take an envelope at random from those submitted. When you open it, you'll find your project foundation - those inspirational items from someone else. Use one, two, or all three of these items to think creatively and implement a project based on those items. There are no real parameters for the finished product. Weavers and Spinners- anything goes. Woven, knitted, felted, fulled, sewn, dyed...let your creative juices flow and make something really wonderful! It could be a bookmark or a bedspread. A felted wall hanging or a knitted rug. A skein of yarn. A plain-weave towel. Anything that you can create, to reflect WHAT YOU FOUND inspiring in your chosen envelope. Please keep records as you progress. Photos, journals, samples...what worked? What didn't? We can all learn from each other's process of creating. Plan to present your finished object and the records you kept at the April 14 Guild meeting. At the April 14 guild meeting, we'll share our projects and what was learned along the way. Then, participants will return the envelope to the owner, along with the finished item. Reminder: Spinning with Sarah Anderson December 2 4 by Karen Williams Sarah Anderson will be here the first weekend in December to teach 3 days of classes: Soft Core Yarns - Fri evening, Dec 2nd (5:30 8:30 pm) Drafting Techniques - Sat, Dec 3rd (9 am 4 pm) Plying Technique - Sun, Dec 4th (9 am 4 pm) Class registration forms are on our website: Guild member Carin Bassler s handspun 3

4 Rosalie Neilson s Rep Weaving Submitted by Marilyn Barker I (Rosalie Neilson) taught a rep workshop for the Anchorage Guild some years back. I recently published a book on braiding, and would appreciate it if you would let other members of your Guild know about the introductory offer. Thank you so much. Last week, I received my new book from the printers called The Twenty-Four Interlacements of Edo Yatsu Gumi illustrating with diagrams and layouts the 24 unique designs of the 8-element round braid. The book is a companion to The Thirty-Seven Interlacements of Hira Kara Gumi published thirteen years ago. It is limited to a signed and numbered edition of 500. (Hira Kara Gumi is almost sold out with 50 copies remaining of the original 500). The Edo Yatsu Gumi book will retail for $25 once it s listed on Amazon.com. As a way of introducing the book to braiders, I am offering the book for $20 (including shipping within the U.S.) for the month of October. You can read more about the book and see a sample page at the link below: Below is a sampling of the designs made in silk using the diagrams in the book. One way to create even more unique braids is to substitute two different weights of elements following the same layout as the two color braids. Or you might want to adapt the layout of the 8-strands to a favorite 16-strand braid, doubling the number of elements or bobbins. As an example, for every element color A, make it two A s; for every element color B, make it two B s. An example of the Edo Yatsu braid on the book cover is shown below. The 2-color green and black braid uses the same weight elements. The purple and gold braid uses two different weights of elements. The redviolet and light green braids show designs in Kongo and Naiki when the layout is doubled. If you are interested in getting a copy of the book, please me with your name, address and phone number. (I ve had a couple of s bounce back.) I can accept checks, VISA, Mastercard, or PayPal. Happy Braiding! Rosalie Neilson SE Walta Vista Drive Milwaukie OR USA "Ripped" about Rep rosalie@rosalieneilson.com 4

5 More of Wendy s Art From Wendy s website Classifieds Classified ads are free for all paid members. Fleece For Sale: We have a flock of about 35 sheep...half of them being Southdown (meat) sheep. We have two Southdown rams as well. The rest of the flock are fiber sheep of various lineages...shetland, Shetland crosses, Tim is a 1/4 Lincoln and 3/4 Romney...Nibbles is a Romney...Fancy is 1/2 Suffolk and 1/2 Romney, Lily Valentine is a Tunis cross of some sort...from white, cream to red/brown, gray and black. So I do have lots of raw fleeces for sale, different colors. $7 pound. Spread the word! or jane_conway@hotmail (Soldotna) 5

6 IN THIS ISSUE... President s Message... 1 From Our Librarian... 1 Program for November... 1 October s Intro to Spinning Class... 2 Arts & Craft Emporium Sale... 2 Tips for Fair Entries Guild Challenge... 3 Spinning with Sarah Anderson... 3 Rosalie Neilson s Rep Weaving... 4 More Samples of Wendy s Art... 5 CLASSIFIEDS... 5 AWSG Board President: Beverly Bronner, , bjt@gci.net President-Elect: Clydene Fitch, , jcfitch@jinga1.com Secretary: Wendy Craytor, , wcraytor@gci.net Treasurer: Nancy Boardman, , nmb@acsalaska.net Member-at-Large: Dolores Roguszka, , dande80@alaska.net Programs: Christine Dittrich, , christined@gci.net Workshops: Karen Williams, , kew@pobox.alaska.net Kathryn Young, , sweetenergy@gci.net Marilyn Barker, , afmhb@uaa.alaska.edu Julie Carter, , jacyanne@yahoo.com Historian: Jean Truscott, , jtruscott@mtaonline.net Librarian: Mary Janis, , afmkj@uaa.alaska.edu Newsletter Editor: Karen Jensen, , tieken2@yahoo.com Webmaster: Linda Conover, , conover@mtaonline.net HGA/ANWG Rep: Pamela Grefsrud, , pgrefsrud@alaska.com Anchorage Weavers & Spinners Guild PO Box Anchorage, AK