SashWeaver
  • Home
  • About the artist
    • Gallery
  • Store
  • Sprang
  • Fingerweaving
  • Virtual Class Room
  • Contact me
  • Blog

Blog

The end of 2020

12/30/2020

0 Comments

 
It's been a while since I last posted. I've not been idle. I've been working my way through some very different territory.

I last posted about some sprang lace patterns. Work on those continues. I believe I've written over 300 ... but it depends on how you count ... when I write patterns for alphabet letters, does that count as a single large one, or 26 (or is it 52 because there are capital and lower case)? A big Thanks to Ria Hooghiemstra and Debbie McClelland who have made numerous samples, caught countless errors, and made superbe suggestions. And then there's the editorial work of organizing the patterns with some kind of consistency so that others can use them. Big Thanks to Ruth Temple who is helping out on that score.
Picture
Picture
 I've also been exploring ways to teach on-line. I've written out a number of new instruction sheets, and have set up a couple of pilot projects to test out ways to teach by Zoom.
Very important is to figure out how to place cameras, where to sit, where to place the lights .... all necessary to get a good focus on my fingers to communicate to you how to work the stitches.

A long time ago I used to teach knitting. It was a six week course to give a class the basics, develop the skills to start to feel independent with the technique. My instinct is that learning sprang is the same thing. The problem is that guilds invite me to travel to teach in their town. A six week long, once-a week class is just not in the discussions. But now that I'm thinking about teaching on-line ....

And yet another project (after much encouragement from my excellent daughter Claire) has me looking at a subscription based do-a-long. I have heard from many students, yes, they took the class, and yes they felt they learned a great deal in the class, but sitting here with a ball of yarn in one hand, a sprang frame in the other, and an idea in the head, and just can't seem to get to making it all happen. More than one former student has described this state to me. I put it back to the crash course I've always taught ... a class that is extended over weeks,  would give time to absorb information better ... nevertheless what to do for people who had to endure a crash course.

I've been hearing that you can sign up for a year's worth of cross stitch patterns, or knitting patterns, or quilting patterns. My daughter has encouraged me to design a program for those of you interested in exploring sprang.
The key to making something that ends up the size you want is, to start by making a swatch. I'm working on a series of twelve different sprang stitches, each with a swatch.
Picture
Swatch using some handspun silk & merino from my stash
Picture
Mobius strip neck scarf
Membership in my at-present-theoretical sprang subscription would give you support to try a new stitch each month, make a swatch, and then make a neckscarf based on that swatch. Yes, there's a pattern for a Mobius scarf, as well as for a hat, and another pattern for mittens included in the membership.
You could have a whole series of swatches. If you use the same yarn and the same number of stitches, you will have a document of different stitches and their various gauges with that yarn. You could also have a lovely collection of neckscarves of a variety of stitch patterns.
I am thinking I could also add some Zoom meetings for Question and Answer sessions as part of the subscription. I want to get people to use the sprang technique.
For now, my website has a button on the top, allowing you to "login". Just now that puts you on a mailing list, and you'll be sure to hear from me when this subscription thing really happens ... hopefully by mid-January 2021.
If you're interested, login.

And one more thing. As a member of The Braid Society who is also an instructor, I'm offering an on-line tutorial on the subject of sprang starting January 4, 2021. If you're interested, sign in to the discussion group that is braids and bands.io
or https://groups.io/g/braidsandbands/
The tutorial will feature the very basics of sprang ... no frame needed ... and it's free for all those participating in that group.
0 Comments

February, 2020

2/12/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
I'm in Minnesota, teaching classes. The Duluth Art Institute hosted a sprang class, attended by several members of the local handweavers guild.
Picture
Sprang class started on Friday evening, and worked all day Saturday, and then again Sunday morning. Participants had practice with the basic stitch, as well as some variations. Everyone was able to practice setting up, working the piece, and several different finishing techniques. It was a superbe group of students. Thanks so much to Michelle, Louise, and Lynnea, for all the work they did to organize the event. It warms my heart to hear that this group plans to now form a "sprang study group", to maintain skills learned, and to help each other in further explorations of the technique. I'll be happy to skype in occasionally.
Picture
I then went down the road to Grand Marais, Minnesota, to teach at the North House Folk School during their Fiber Week. There were ten people in my fingerweaving class. We started at the beginning, and are progressed through diverse motifs. Another terrific group of students.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
The third day I presented the theory of arrowheads ...
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
... and several lovely arrowheads were made.
Picture

Photo at the end of the 3-day class. Most students completed several straps, in a variety of designs. Congratulations to the new finger weavers.
Many thanks to Jessa, Ben, and the rest of the North House team for organizing this event.
0 Comments

A good day to dye

9/7/2017

0 Comments

 
Getting ready for another round of teaching, I'm preparing warps. I special-dye them, to ease the learning process. My daughter hosted the dying. We used the leftover dyestuff to color some knitting yarn. It was perfect weather to hang the skeins to dry.
Picture
0 Comments

Intermountain Weavers Conference, Durango

8/3/2017

0 Comments

 
The organizers of the Intermountain Weavers Conference asked me back for this year. I taught three classes: intro to sprang, sprang lace and sprang in S&Z. The students were eager and enthusiastic. The world has a few more practitioners of sprang!
Picture
Single Circular Warp
Picture
Vertical stripes
Picture
Sprang lace
Picture
Pattern writing and pattern reading exercises
Then on to the DC area, to be specific, George Washington’s Mount Vernon. I’ll gave a talk on the subject of sprang. I also handed over another replica of the Braddock sash. This time the beneficiary was Carlyle House. They will soon unveil a mannequin dressed out as Edward Braddock in his military uniform.
Picture
Carol at Mount Vernon
Then on to Ann Arbor, Michigan, and the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology. They have a collection of some 200 pieces of sprang bonnets, some complete, some just little bits.
Picture
Carol at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, in Ann Arbor, Michigan
Researcher Julia Galliker and I had a look at these pieces. We’re intending to compile our findings into a database (Julia has a gift for databases) and we will present this information at the Textiles of the Nile Valley Conference in Antwerp, Belgium, at the end of October.
0 Comments

Regina Shindig

5/20/2017

0 Comments

 
The Saskatchewan Handweavers held a Shindig, and invited me to come, to teach sprang, and to give the Saturday evening keynote address.  The drive across the prairies was a stark contrast to the sights of earlier in the year, the giant redwoods of California, and the Rockies in Colorado.
Picture
The prairies are as difficult to photograph as the mountains and the giant trees.
The Saskatchewan handweavers asked me to teach a sprang class, and to give the Saturday evening Keynote address.
Participants in my class were eager to learn. The organizing committee hired photographer Sparkling Medusa Creative Services, Angela Reddekopp to take photos.

Picture
Thanks to Sparkling Medusa I have a photo of me, teaching. Photo by Sparkling Medusa.
Picture
Student work, the initial project. Photo by Sparkling Medusa.
Picture
Student work, exploring lace patterns, a technique to make holes in the fabric … on purpose. Photo by Sparkling Medusa
Picture
Picture
Carol’s display table, sprang items: shawls, hats, vests, socks … Photo by Sparkling Medusa
And later the next week, Jenny sent me photos of projects completed in the days following the class.
Picture
Jenny’s exploration of sprang ‘cables’
Picture
Jenny’s second sprang bag
Back to the folks in California. Janet recently posted a photo of a sprang vest she made, using her handspun cotton. Well done Janet!!!!
Picture
Janet’s handspun cotton sprang vest
0 Comments

Sprang in Colorado

4/6/2017

0 Comments

 
Here I am, on a 3-city teaching tour of Colorado. Spring weather is living up to it’s reputation, sunshine, rain, snow, sleet, and then sun again.
Picture
mountain view
I am teaching classes in Montrose, Boulder, and Colorado Springs.
Picture
So happy to be teaching individuals who are so adept and eager to learn.
Everyone works on her own frame, creating several sample pieces. In the introductory class, we explore the basic interlinking stitch, and then some variations. You learn the basic stitch, some finishing techniques, and then how to start from ‘scratch’.
My hostesses to date have been lovely. Many thanks to Bobbie, Mary, Janet, Sue, and Cheryl. I’ve been treated to a tour of Black Canyon of the Gunnison Park, and a drive through the Rockies, from Montrose to Boulder. Looking forward to a tour of the Schacht Loom factory.
In-between teaching, I’ve kept myself busy working on some Coptic designs, working out the pattern, and then testing them by making sample pieces.

Picture
Red Coptic bonnet, inspired by a piece in the Kelsey Museum, 13395
0 Comments

New Zealand

3/29/2016

0 Comments

 
So, I’m here in New Zealand. I’ve toured around a bit. Beautiful country. Mountains, valleys, and seaside.
Picture
Picture
Picture
The beach at Piha, near Auckland
Picture
A nature preserve in an old water reservoir near Wellington.
Picture
Some Kiwis are quite serious about their chocolate. I happened upon a shop that claimed to be the Global Home of Chocolate Therapy … they did indeed have some excellent chocolate inside.
I saw the place where they make the Ashford spinning wheels, and met Richard and Elizabeth. Indeed Richard made the sprang frames that students used on my whirlwind teaching tour.

Picture
Ashford Village, home of the Ashford spinning wheel
I’ve taught classes in several cities, including Wellington, Mosgiel, Ashburton, and Christchurch. Spinner / weavers I’ve met here are quite interested in finger weaving and sprang, and quick to learn.
Picture
Sprang class at Gear Homestead, in the Wellington area,
Picture
Sprang Class in the Christchurch area.
Picture
Finger weaving students mastered several motifs
Picture
a stippled diagonal stripe, the saw tooth, and the chevron
Thanks to Rosanne & Paul for a delightful tour of Wellington. Many thanks to my Creative Fibre hosts, Robyn, Marilyn, Anne, and a special thanks to Sue Giller, Education Co-ordinator for Creative Fibre, New Zealand.
Over the next few weeks I’ll travel to Whakatane and Taurange, and I’ll visit the good folks at Majacraft. At the end of April I’ll participate in the national fibre conference that will take place in Auckland.

0 Comments

February 2016

2/19/2016

0 Comments

 
The Red River is frozen solid, and as usual the plows have cleared a track, so people can skate on the river.
Picture
Public skating arena on the Red River, below the Norwood Bridge.
But I’m in California. At the invitation of Jules Kliot, I taught a sprang class at the Lacis Museum of Lace and Textiles in Berkeley, California. The weather was markedly different from what we were having in Winnipeg.
Picture
Adeline Street, just outside the Lacis Lace Museum in Berkeley.
Many thanks to Jules and to Erin for making this class happen.
Then on to speak to a gathering of the Santa Cruz Handweavers. The place where they meet is in a park.

Picture
again a stark contrast from Manitoba weather for February.
I then taught two classes to the Santa Cruz Handweavers, one on sprang
Picture
We explored flat warp & circular warp, as well as interlinking, lace holes, interlacing, and twining.
And then I taught a second class on the subject of finger weaving.
Picture
Students were invited to explore the chevron pattern …
Picture
… as well as the sawtooth pattern. Put these two together, and you have the arrowhead.
Thanks to Mibs, Yonat, Barbara, and Ruth, for the work they did to make these workshops a pleasant experience for all.
Looking forward to returning to California again sometime.
But now I’m in New Zealand. Here’s the view from my window

Picture
Taupo, New Zealand
I will be teaching in Wellington, Mosgiel, Ashburton, Halswell, and Taupo, and then attending the national Creative Fibre Conference in Auckland at the end of April.
0 Comments

St Paul to Durango

8/14/2015

0 Comments

 
I’ve been busy teaching. The Midwest Handweavers Conference was held at St Thomas College in St Paul, Minnesota. I taught a finger weaving class and then a sprang class. On the way to Minnesota I stopped in Fargo to visit. Kim Baird said I should look up another instructor while there, Donna Kallner. Arriving at St Thomas College, I was assigned a roommate … none other than Donna Kallner.
Picture
Finger Weaving students in St Paul, Minnesota use a coat rack to suspend the warps.
What a lovely campus, and terrific vendor’s hall. I found just the yarn I was looking for, the right size yarn to work a more authentic version of that Coptic sprang turban.
Back home, I’m working on yet another pair of sprang leggings. These will hopefully be more accurate to that portrait of a Venetian gondolier.

Picture
leggings in progress, diamonds at the thigh
Not quite sufficient time to finish those leggings, and I’m off to Colorado and the Intermountain Weavers Conference in Durango where I taught a three-day sprang workshop. Great to catch up with former students.

Picture
Carolyn Wise showed me her most recent sprang work, an interlaced neckscarf.
And there was a batch of new sprang students
Picture
Sprang class in Durango at the Intermountain Weavers Conference
The lovely thing about a three-day workshop is that students are supported through the learning process. By the third day some really creative things can happen. After the initial bag, and a circular warp lace sampler, and some exploration of twining, some students were ready to explore.
Picture
A funky 3-d braided piece by Sally
We were looking at images on the internet of wildly braided sprang pieces. Sally offered to use her piece to explore this method. We began the process in class. Recently she sent me this image of the completed piece. You see, sprang is so much more than ugly bags and hats.
After the conference I had the opportunity to tour Mesa Verde, Canyon de Chelly, and Bandelier National Monument, sites of ancient cliff dwellings. One room was clearly set up for weaving, a place for the upper beam in the ceiling, loops to hold the lower beam in the floor. Thanks to Laurie Webster and Glenna Dean for being my tour guides.
In other news, I’ve been working on a collection of sprang lace patterns.

Picture
Lace sample from the Museum of Art and History in Brussels, Belgium
I’m looking for individuals interested in trying out my lace patterns, giving me feed-back on the readability of the patterns. Any takers out there? Send me a note, carol at sash weaver dot com.
0 Comments

European Travels April 2015

4/23/2015

0 Comments

 
Travelling again, teaching and researching in Europe.
First stop Lyon where I stayed opposite the train station

Picture
view of Lyon
In Lyon I had a look at the turban on the head of a mummie at the Confluence Museum.
Picture
This is an earlier attempt at replicating that mummie’s turban. I wanting to make a more exact replica.
Then I went for a walk in the city park
Picture
I hear it was snowing back in Winnipeg.
Off to Belgium, where my friend was waiting for me at the train station.

Picture
Frieda has taken to finger weaving like a duck to water.
Frieda hosted me for the better part of a week. Together we visited the lace museum in Calais, France, the Gemeentemuseum in TheHague, and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. We saw lots of sprang. Many of the items in these collections were made by Elizabeth VanReesema. Photos of these pieces are in books, but photos just do not do justice to them.
Taught classes in Sint-Job-in-‘t-Goor, fingerweaving one day, sprang the next. Such a pleasure to share these techniques with people who are eager to learn.

Picture
Sprang class in Sint-Job-in-‘t-Goor
Picture
Finger weaving students admire their work.
Picture
An arrow pattern, created by a keen student
Many thanks to Ina and Frieda who organized these workshops, and made everything possible.
0 Comments
<<Previous
    Carol's blog archive

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Arizona Openwork Shirt
    Art
    Book Reviews
    Books
    Braddock Sash
    Ceinture Fleche
    Clothing
    Demonstration
    Dying
    Easily Transported Work
    Exhibit
    Exploration
    Fashion Show
    Fashion Sow
    Finger Weaving
    Inspiration
    Instruction
    Loom Weaving
    Media
    Military Sash
    Museum Replica
    Museum Visit
    No Frame Sprang
    No-frame Sprang
    Patterns
    Privite Commissinons
    Publications
    Research
    S And Z
    Sash Dance
    Sprang
    Sprang Clothing
    Sprang Frame
    Sprang History
    Sprang Lace
    Sprang Leggings
    Sprang Patterns
    Sprang Twining
    Student Pieces
    Tablet Weaving
    Tips-and-tricks
    Travel
    Weaving
    Website
    Workshops

    Archives

    August 2022
    June 2022
    July 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    August 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    November 2016
    August 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    February 2011
    November 2010
    October 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    August 2009
    July 2009
    May 2009
    April 2009
    February 2009
    January 2009
    December 2008
    November 2008
    October 2008
    September 2008
    August 2008
    July 2008
    June 2008
    May 2008
    March 2008

    Categories

    All
    Arizona Openwork Shirt
    Art
    Book Reviews
    Books
    Braddock Sash
    Ceinture Fleche
    Clothing
    Demonstration
    Dying
    Easily Transported Work
    Exhibit
    Exploration
    Fashion Show
    Fashion Sow
    Finger Weaving
    Inspiration
    Instruction
    Loom Weaving
    Media
    Military Sash
    Museum Replica
    Museum Visit
    No Frame Sprang
    No-frame Sprang
    Patterns
    Privite Commissinons
    Publications
    Research
    S And Z
    Sash Dance
    Sprang
    Sprang Clothing
    Sprang Frame
    Sprang History
    Sprang Lace
    Sprang Leggings
    Sprang Patterns
    Sprang Twining
    Student Pieces
    Tablet Weaving
    Tips-and-tricks
    Travel
    Weaving
    Website
    Workshops

Contact Carol

Store

FAQ

Privacy policy
Carol acknowledges that we are on Treaty 1 territory, the traditional gathering place of the Anishinaabe, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota and Dene people and the traditional homeland of the Métis people. Carol also acknowledges that sprang is part a meany indigenous tradition and fuond in various forms all over the world. Let us re-discover this tecking together.
© COPYRIGHT 2022. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Home
  • About the artist
    • Gallery
  • Store
  • Sprang
  • Fingerweaving
  • Virtual Class Room
  • Contact me
  • Blog