Programs and Workshops

October 9-11, 2024 | "Revelations in Rep" with Kelly Marshall

Guild Workshop

Wed, Oct 9, 1-4pm, Thurs & Fri, Oct 10 & 11, 9am-4pm, First Baptist Church, Garden Room, In person only

This workshop will encompass a lecture covering the unique characteristics of rep weave, color blending and designing, pattern block movement as well as demonstrating weaving technique and material selection. The workshop is for intermediate to experienced weavers, each participant will be expected to bring their own loom, warped according to instructions provided by the instructor. Participants will receive a packet of warping instructions for either a 4 or 8 shaft pattern, to create a 10” wide table runner.

Level of experience: Intermediate

Class Size: 14 students (FULL)

Cost: $165 to WGR, $5 materials fee to instructor

Members can register here only if you are willing to be on a waiting list.

October 16, 2024 | “Resources on the WRG Website and in the Weaving and Fiber Arts Center” with Sharon Hamer and Miranda Howard

Evening Monthly Meeting

6:30pm, Weaving and Fiber Arts Center

 

This session focuses on the resources available through the WRG website and WaFAC facility.  Learn how to access resources such the Holiday Sale vendors’ page, rental and used equipment lists, WaFAC course catalog, WGR operations manual, and other links.  There will be a tour of WaFAC to introduce participants to the advantages the Center has to offer besides classes like the library, weaving software, and warping and other tools.

 

Bring your tablet or other devices for note taking and working along with Sharon and Miranda.

 

November 13, 2024 | “Shoddy: From Devil’s Dust to the Renaissance of Rags” with Hanna Rose Shell

Guild Monthly Meeting

9:30am, First Baptist Church “Zoomed” to at-home members

The history of modern-day old clothes recycling begins with a thing called shoddy. Starting in the early 1800s, shoddy was the name given to a new material made from reclaimed wool, and to one of the earliest forms of industrial recycling. Old rags and leftover fabric clippings were ground to bits by a machine known as “the devil” and then re-used. Usually undisclosed, shoddy–also known as reworked wool–became suit jackets, army blankets, mattress stuffing, and much more. Shoddy is the afterlife of rags. And Shoddy, the book, reveals hidden worlds of textile intrigue.

Shoddy is likely connected to something you are wearing right now. After reading, you will never use the word shoddy or think about your clothes, the environment, sustainability, or the intermingled world around you the same way again.

 

In her book Shoddy: From Devil’s Dust to the Renaissance of Rags, Hanna Rose Shell takes readers on a journey to discover shoddy, from Haiti to the “shoddy towns” of West Yorkshire in England, to the United States, back in time to the British cholera epidemics and the American Civil War, and into agricultural fields, textile labs, and rag-shredding factories. Shell’s narrative is both literary and historical, drawing on an extraordinary range of sources, from court cases to military uniforms, mattress labels to medical textbooks, political cartoons to high art. Shoddy moves between genres, bringing richly drawn characters and unexpected objects to life. Along the way, shoddy becomes equally an evocative object and a portal into another world.

If you have not listened to the Haptic and Hue podcasts, you are missing some very interesting

listening. The woman who does the podcasts, Jo Andrews, is a hand weaver. There is another podcast this year that also mentions Shoddy and recycling of textiles https://hapticandhue.com/secret-life-ofsecond-hand-clothes/

 

Bio:

Hanna Rose Shell is Professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder, where she is Faculty Director of the Brakhage Center for Media Arts, and teaches in the Department of Art & Art History, and the Department of Cinema Studies & Moving Image Arts. She is the author of two scholarly monographs,

the director of two award-winning experimental documentary films about the nexus of science, art, and technology, and the founder of the “Beyond Words” audio-visual series produced for Technology & Culture to push the boundaries of public history and its relationship to the visual arts. Hanna’s passion for textiles and weaving practices is reflected in the subject of both of her books, the first of which is a study of the history of CAMOUFLAGE, and the most recent of which is an interdisciplinary exploration of REWORKED WOOL, otherwise known as “shoddy.” Shell has a PhD in the History of Science from Harvard University, and an MA in Material Culture Studies, and American Studies, as well as graduate-level training in documentary practices and experimental filmmaking.

November 20, 2024 | Ply Splitting Demonstrations by WGR's Study Group

Evening Monthly Meeting

6:30pm, Weaving and Fiber Arts Center

Learn about the ancient technique of ply splitting – joining cords/yarns not by knitting, not by weaving, not by braiding…but by actually pulling one cord through the plies of another.  “This is unlike weaving or many forms of braiding where cloth is formed by threads interlacing in an over-under sequence. The pattern is formed by cord color, and splitting order.”(Ply-split braiding, “Wikipedia”, 28 Jan 2024, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ply-split_braiding)

 

Members of the ply splitting study group will be on hand to share examples, demonstrate various techniques, and answer your questions. 

Description and photo by Terry Kelly.

December 11, 2024 | Holiday Party and Demonstrations with Susan Aiello and Laurie Hunt

Evening Monthly Meeting

6:30pm, Weaving and Fiber Arts Center

A ‘new’ way to spin fiber into yarn?

E-spinners not only offer portability, but they have also become an essential tool for spinners with mobility issues: absolutely no foot or legwork required! All that is needed to operate an e-spinner is a power source, which is often an external battery or just a household outlet. The electric motor takes the place of the foot treadles and large wheel on a traditional spinner.

Join us at the December WGR Evening Meeting where we will have at least three different styles and models on display and a demonstration on how fun they are to use!

 

 

 

Circular knitting machines first gained popularity as a cottage industry during World War I in an effort to supply socks to soldiers, but most of them ended up neglected in basements and attics. Today, innovative manufacturers are building replicas of the original hand-cranked machines and a vibrant community of home knitters has flourished worldwide. Come learn more about these fascinating contraptions and see a 100 year old knitting machine in action at the December evening meeting