2/25/09 in the studio

Right now, in the stuido, we have several pieces in progress. ONe student, Alice just finished her doubleweave.  Hover your cursor over her name, and you can visit her site and see it.  Abrielle is also finishing her double weave.  Amy is doing the twill sampler on page 13 of the MD “A Handweavers Pattern Book”, and Susan has finally woven off all 212 scarves in that broken/reversing twill (no not really 212!).  Nancy is weaving rag runners, Jane has just finished setting up the Lillstina with a beautiful green wool warp (very Monet-ish) and will weave a twill derivitive on it. I’ll just show you:

Oh yes, and I finally have an orchid in the new studio;0)  This is one that has been in my kitchen window for a couple of years.  It was a gift from a spinning student. I adore my students.

Bye for now.

Cherri

Hat felting class – some finished products

I saw the ladies from the hatfelting class again yesterday and they brought pics of the finished product. Thank you; I wanted to share them on the blog.  First, here is one of the hats at an unfinished point. It has been felted, but not shaped and blocked yet.Let me say, I thoroughly enjoyed this group of women.  The smile here is indicitive of the day.  Three of the students signed up for class together.  Great idea! This is frequently the case with felting classes, and it makes for a fun class.  Here is the trio and their finished hats:Great hats, huh?  The one on the far right was made as a gift for someone else. Everyone in the class did a great job, but I especially love the one on the far left.  Let me show you a bit more of this hat.

This hat is perfect for the face shape, coloring and PERSONALITY of the maker/wearer.  We used a beret form, and once the piece was felted, we hardened it and milled it a little, but then we put it on the head of the student, and scrunched until we got this ‘sac’ effect.  Isn’t it lovely?  Now, watch what she did once she got home with it.If yo look at the green sections of the hat, you can see that she stitched around the green to give clarity/definition to these areas, and raised them up off the surface of the felt.  Another thing she did is add a few sequins.  If you look again at the picture of her wearing the hat, the design area to the right of her face has the sequins.  This area has a couple pleats sewn into it to keep the shape we thought was best for the hat.  This is the first hat I’ve ever offered to acquire from a student.  I’m very inspired by it.

OH, and not only did we have a fantastic day at the art center, but these ladies caught a beautiful sunset in the area before leaving.  Mathews is such a beautiful place, and I thoroughly enjoy my teaching there.  Here are pictures of that beautiful sunset, and the “warm, fuzzy” little art center in Mathews.

My next class here is a spinning class on Feb. 7, and I have a rug felting class here on Feb. 14. I hope you will join me.

Cherri

WHAT?! YOU’RE MOVING AGAIN????!!!!

OK, so it’s not final yet, but we have had such joy and success in the new studio, that we are considering moving again.  Granted, it’s just across the corridor, but our 600+ square footage just isn’t enough. Currently, we have about 12 floor looms, and several smaller looms in the studio. Although not every loom is in use today, I have enough potential students contacting me about Feb, and then later classes, that we need more space.  Besides, We need space for the growing sewing classes, and now we have more folks contacting me about spinning than ever before. I just have to find a class time that will suit more than one person at a time.

The new space has water, which should be standard equipment in a fiber arts studio.  We are looking at expanding to a 1200 square foot space within the next few months.  It also has 4-5 rooms which can be specialized for various activities.  I’m excited to see that we are impacting the fiber arts community so positively.

We want to be situated by May, when I begin traveling out of state for teaching, and when my lease expires on my studio in the city.  Could I even possibly give up that wonderful space?

Bye for Now.

Cherri

Hatfelting in Mathews, Va

Yesterday, we had a wonderful hatfelting class in Mathews, Virginia.  A group of girlfriends booked together and consisted 3 of the 6 students.  They enlivened the class TREMENDOUSLY!  The girlfriends brought goodies to share….. hot apple cider, nuts and fruits, crackers, and yummy chocolate chip cookies.  Other class members brought goodies to share.  We had a fiber party.  Thanks. I don’t think I’ve taught such an enthusiastic group before.  Unfortunately, I got so caught up in the class that I forgot to shoot pictures of the finished hats, but here are a few pictures of our progress.

Let me also mention that when I’m in Mathews, I’m at Bay School of the Arts. It’s an art center that I love because of the positive, community spirited people who run the art center, and who make sure that every possible person benefits from all the art center has to offer.  Right across the street from the art center is a wonderful little restaurant, Richardon’s.  When we have classes at the art center, we order delicious and very generous lunches from Richardsons that cost only $7.00.  Their BBQ is great, and they have the best pickled cucumbers I have ever had. When youi visite Mathews, I highly recommend you go to Richardsons, and it may be very busy, but they will take care of you quickly.

Beautiful Bamboo

Today, another bamboo scarf came off the loom.  It’s an 8 harness pinwheel, and the bamboo is “ballin”.

It’s light and airy.  I wetfinished it, and put it on the warping mill to see if it was light enough to go airborn when I spun the mill, and sure enough, it flew.  It’s a fun fiber, and I’ll be weaving with it for a while.

A couple of film makers came to the studio today (by appointment), and filmed my yarn as I loaded bobbins, shuttles, made yarn balls, wove a tapestry, and worked on a loom-controlled piece.  They came to both studios, and were very nice, and showed such a sweet interest in what I do.  I hope I get to see the finished product, as I am enthralled by art centered around fiber.

Several years ago, I was commissioned to make a plaid to be used for the background in a Welsch print ad.  They were kind enough to send me a copy of the ad, once complete (product name was veiled).  Life as a weaver is just so much fun. Did I share pictures of that piece on the blog?

Anyway, here are some pics of the pinwheel, and several other pics of studio stuff.  Hope you enjoy, and I hope to see you in my class sometime.

Cherri

Learn to sew

OH, we had a wonderful sewing class tonight.  It’s a beginning sewing class. We went over the basic intro to the machine, then We wound bobbins, practiced sewing straight lines, curved lines, zig zags, and more. Although a very small class, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  We made drawstring bags and will return next week to press our patterns, and cut patterns out.

This class is fun;0)

Cherri

catalog for Touchstone Center for Craft

I hope to attach the catalog to this post.  If anyone can help me put a copy on the homepage, that would be wonderful. Let me know.

This is the 2009 catalog of the classes offered at Touchstone Center for Craft in Farmington, PA.  I’m teaching spinning, weaving (on the floor loom), and rigid heddle weaving here.  I hope my Richmond students will consider this fun summer camp weaving experience with me.  I also would enjoy meeting some of my other readers/fellow weavers at Touchstone this summer.  Join us?

Cherri

http://www.touchstonecrafts.com/Graphics2000/catalog.pdf

Learn to Weave in a Weekend Class 3/7/2009

I’m offering a Learn to Weave in a Weekend Class the Weekend of March 7, 2009.  This class is more than 13 hours of instruction.   We will work from 9 am – 4 pm Saturday, students may continue to work through the break as open studio time, but we will return to class at 6:30 pm to begin again. The evening session runs from 6:30 – 9:00 pm, and class is completed the following day from 1-5 pm.  This schedule is very generous for students with a slower pace, as I generally teach the class in 11.5 hour sessions without the open studio opportunities.

Instruction is on floor looms. Class covers planning projects, measuring warp, securing the warp, winding your warp onto the loom, threading the heddles, sleying the reed, tieing-on, and weaving off your warp.  We also cover removal from the loom, and ‘finishing techniques’.  This is a complete weaving intro in a single 2-day weekend.  The class finishes early enough that students have travel time to return home.

Class Description:
This class is an opportunity for busy people to completely immerse themselves in weaving for three days. It’s a great kick-off to joining the ongoing weaving classes, or to begin a personal journey of weaving at home on one’s own equipment. Students will have choices of fibers yarns and projects to choose from. Project recommendations will be made by the instructor to assist each individual to accomplish their own goals in the allotted time.  The class is inspiring, motivating, challenging, fulfilling, and peaceful. Materials fee of $30 payable to the instructor.

Class fee is $150.00

I hope you will join us.

Rigid Heddle Weaving Class – Feb 21 & 22 2009

I’m offering a rigid heddle weaving class Feb. 21-22, 2009.  I’ll be teaching: set up of a single heddle rigid heddle loom, weaving on the rigid heddle, and several design techniques to add some pizazz to your work.  On Sunday afternoon, we will continue our weaving, and learn to remove your work from the loom, and students will learn some “finishing” techniques.

Looms are provided for this class. We use a variety of looms, so students can see the benefits and shortcomings of a variety of looms.  This helps students to determine which rigid heddle loom might be the best fit for themselves.

Class meets from 10-4 on Saturday, and from 1-5 on Sunday. Out-of-town students will find lodging is very close to the studio, with a Springhill Suites just about a quarter mile from the studio (walking distance), a Fairfield Inn is just a bit farther away, as is Holiday Inn Express..  There is a women only gym within walking distanct, as well as a wonderful grocery, a variety of restaurants including: an express asian, Subway, and a Cracker Barrel restaurant. If you want to run out and get more yarn, or if I don’t have what you need, there is a Michaels craft store within a half mile.  So you can come, enjoy the weekend, and time out with other ‘yarnies’ without doing without a thing.  Class is $125 for the weekend and includes use of a loom, yarn, and instruction.

I hope you will join us!

Registration form available upon request. Payment must be received by Feb 14. Sorry, I don’t accept credit cards.

Change of location on the Learn to Weave in a Weekend

Well, there wasn’t sufficient registration for the class at the art center, so it’s at my own studio on Stillman Rd, in Richmond’s lovely West End.  There will be 3-4 of us on floor looms.  That uses all my floor looms, but if you have your own table loom or table top tapestry loom, please feel free to e-mail me up to the last minute to be added to the class.  Fee is $100.00 for the weekend + materials fee.  We will meet from 6:30 – 9 on friday evening, 10-4 on Saturday, and 1-4 on Sunday.

Hope to see you over the weekend.