Mastery

 

GCW Master Weaver Certificate holders and their monograph topics:

 

1955      Mary Black:  Tartans and Mary Sandin:  Linen

 

1958      Nell Steedsman:  Two Frame weaving

 

1959      Grace McDowell:  Box Loom Weaving

 

1973      Adrienne Whitelaw:  Ceinture Fleché

 

 1975      Mary Andrews:  Fundamentals of Weaving

 

1976      Sandra Feenstra:  Double Weaves and Dini Moes:  The use of Colour in Handweaving

 

1979      Judith Rygiel:  Stitched Double Weave

 

1980      Eileen Shannon:  Point Twill Treadling Variations

 

1986      Jane Evans:  Tied Latvian Weave; Linda Heinrich:  Linen; Noreen Rustad:  Beiderwand

 

1989      Anke Keizer-Bles:  Exploring the Moorman Technique for Clothing and Margaret Berg:  Multiple Tabby Weaves and Twills

 

1990      Sandra Fearon:  Shadow Weave Design

 

1991      Patricia Corbett:  Colour and Texture Variation in Knotted Pile; Ruth-Carrol, ; Gaye Hansen:  Twice warped – Twelve Techniques for the Second Warp Beam; Kay Reiber:  Summer and Winter – a System for All Seasons; Frances Timbers:  The Handkerchief.

 

1992      Valerie DePorto:  Design Dynamics of Multishaft Swedish Lace

 

1993      June Bell: Finnweave; and Mabel Verigin:  The Forgotten Weaves

 

1994      Margaret Hahn:  Opphamta

 

1995      Christine Hill:  Wool – Fleece, Fibre and Fabric; and Evelyn Oldroyd:  The Wonder of Weaving Silk

 

1997      Laura Fry – Transformations:  Fulling Handwoven Fabrics

 

1998      Carol Oberg:  Brain-based Learning in the Weaving Studio – process of regeneration

 

2001    Ruth Jarvis:  Ramie

 

2003     Helene Ruel:  La Magie de l’Ikat (The Magic of Ikat)

 

 There may have been more people who have achieved the master level granted by the Guild of Canadian Weavers since 2003, but I have not belonged to the organization for a number of years so no longer get the newsletter where such things are announced.

The program is a testing program, not a teaching one.  It is a way for people who may not have easy access to others to discover if they have enough knowledge about the craft to be considered a 'master' at it.  I chose to do this program in part because it was economical compared to others, and I could do it on my own schedule.  I could set my own goals and deadlines, which was helpful given my work load during the time I was working on the program.

Not everyone wants to take a deep dive into the craft, but for those who do?  This program might be just the thing.

If, however, someone wants an element of teaching of the craft, the Olds College program approaches the craft from that direction.  There are other programs, here and there, that do similar things - either testing or teaching/testing.

However one approaches learning the craft - on their own, taking as many workshops as they can afford, having a teaching program they can follow - I encourage people to look below the surface by reading, watching videos, taking on line classes.

On the other hand, it is also valid to work from kits and/or published patterns.  There is room for all.

With the growth of the internet we now have multiple resources.  Janet Dawson's Craftsy class is a great introduction.  Jane Stafford's on line guild will take students through the craft on a much deeper level.  There are all the videos through Long Thread Media, including my own, available as on line 'workshops'.  

With Covid and self-isolation, the internet has been a god-send and even I have bitten the bullet and begun to learn Zoom.  

But neither should we forget our history - the Margaret Atwaters, the Harriet Tidballs, the Mary Blacks and so on.  

I encourage new weavers to take a look at resources like the GCW library where many of the monographs done by the above are stored and available for guild members to take out and examine, including mine and the copy of Magic in the Water I donated to the guild.

Over the years many of the master weavers have gone on to write books, from Mary Black, to Nell Steedsman, Linda Heinrich, Jane Evans, Mary Andrews, Dini Moes.  Some were published by the authors themselves, others were done via traditional publishing houses.  I took the self-publishing route because I wanted to include actual fabric samples for Magic, then because The Intentional Weaver was a niche topic for a niche market, I didn't even try to find a 'real' publisher.  (I was asked to send a sample of the manuscript to one - they declined saying it wasn't 'right' for their market, which I expected and wasn't actually disappointed about.)  

One of the challenges about being such a small/independent publisher is that the marketing also falls on my shoulders.  OTOH, the book is as I wanted it - nice large text, white space, photos that showed what I felt needed to be seen.  Yes, I could have done better, but after five years of working on the manuscript, off and on, in between Life Happenings, I had to stop.  

It is said that authors never finish writing a book, they just stop writing the book.  I wrote until I felt I had the essentials, then stopped and called on expert assistance to first edit, then publish it on line via Blurb.

 A person can pursue weaving in the way that brings them joy.  Follow the rules or not.  Learn the rules well enough to break them.  Follow a pattern or make up their own.  Or all of the above.  The thing is, the people who hand weave in the 21 century are continuing a tradition that goes back thousands of years.  No one person can know everything there is to know about how to create cloth.  But individuals can 'master' the craft in such a way as to remember the shoulders of the giants we stand on.  And maybe help others along the way.

Options

With the pandemic continuing, especially in some parts of the world, things like classes or other gatherings are being put on hold.

It is very upsetting for a lot of people as their course of study, be it elementary/high school or college/university or other avenues of learning are so completely up in the air.  Many teachers are being forced by circumstance to convert their classes to on-line, with all the upheaval that entails.

If someone has never taught a course of study, there is little understanding of the kind of preparation that is required.  To then pivot and put that class on-line requires a further investment of time, expertise and technology that might be completely beyond an individual, never mind an institution that might have tech support but is overwhelmed with ALL the teachers needing to do the same at the same time.

Do teachers invest perhaps a hundred hours of prep time creating an on-line class that then becomes redundant in a year because the pandemic is over?  Or do they sit tight and hope that things will be able to return to some semblance of normality?

On the other hand, in the textile community a number of people had begun the shift to on-line learning, so they were already prepared with camera crews, appropriate physical space and on-line presence.

Others, like myself,  had produced DVDs and with the break up of Interweave and the creation of Long Thread Media, those DVDs were turned into on-line 'workshops'.

As for classes like the Olds master weaving/spinning classes, much of the value of those classes are the in person aspect where the instructor can view how the student is working (ergonomically) and give in person 'correction' plus answer questions in real time from which the entire class benefits.

There are other instructors who are presently working on on-line resources.  Some are beginning to roll out on-line data bases and classes.  Others are working on them and will launch as soon as they finish their production.

Some have Patreon accounts and may have on-line mini-classes for subscribers.

I can recommend the following:
Jane Stafford's on-line guild
Tien Chiu Warp and Weave classes
Janet Dawson - Craftsy class, turned into bluprint, now bought out by another company
Long Thread Media's catalogue of DVDs now on-line workshops
Daryl Lancaster

As other efforts go live I will announce/share the info as it comes available.

For myself, there are still the level two and four Olds classes scheduled for Nova Scotia in September.  Whether or not it will be advisable for people to travel to Cape Breton remains to be seen.

Lesson Planning

And so it begins.

This will be my first time teaching level four so I printed out the file the college sent and am now going through it to see what all is necessary, both in terms of my bringing appropriate teaching aids and a group warp.  For level one and two, the instructor sets up a group warp for the class to use in turn, and I need to find out what the level four group warp entails.

However this morning I woke up with an eye-watering muscle spasm between spine and shoulder blade.  Pain killers are barely making a dent in the pain and I doubt I'm going to be able to weave so paging through the manual seems like a mighty fine idea.

The more I teach this program, the more I appreciate what the course designers have built into it.  I remember filling out a very lengthy questionnaire when they were first working on it and of course I stuck my oar in about wet finishing.  It was years later when I applied for and was accepted to teach the program and was very pleased when I read through the manuals to see what all had been included.

Level one begins with wool as the yarn, plain weave, basket, and twill as the main focus.  (Other variations are included but they all build on those initial weave structures.)

Level two works with cotton, twill, overshot and double weave.

Level three addresses unit weaves and expands to linen and silk.

Level four has a focus mainly on colour and design.

In addition to all that, exercises push students to explore other aspects of weaving, especially in terms of communication - so written work, documentation, photography, and in level four building a portfolio.

There is much, much more - these are just a taste of what is included.

Students sometimes don't understand that all the exercises, yes, even the paper weaving, have been included for very specific instructional reasons.  They all, even the photography, are there to further the students in learning about the broader aspect of being a weaver - in the broadest context - in the 21st century.

It is also a program that is pushing people to learn the basics, yes, but also the principles of the craft.  The sorts of things that rarely get addressed in a seminar or a two day workshop, because there simply isn't time.

Level one also addresses ergonomics.  Me being me, I love this part of the class because I get to tell people in depth about how to protect their body from repetitive stress injuries as best they can.  I love digging into things like how density affects the finished cloth, and the wet finishing.

This year I am teaching level four and two in Cape Breton and level one at Olds College Fibre Week.  Even if someone isn't interested in taking the entire program, I would like to encourage people to at least take level one.  It is the foundation upon which the rest sits.

If someone can't take the class, then I recommend Jane Stafford's on line guild.

If you sign up now, you get all the previous lessons as well as joining the current content.  Jane and I do some things differently, we have had different experiences and different teachers.  But she will give good information and I suggest that if you want a good solid foundation of weaving knowledge you won't go wrong taking her on line classes.  Some of the things she does may resonate better than what I do.   Choose your expert.  Learn enough to become your own expert.

Someone asked me if I was going to teach on line now that I'm retired.  The answer is no.  Jane is doing a fabulous job and there is no need for me to join in with one.  If someone wants to learn from me there are resources - my books, the DVDs I did for Interweave which are now available from Long Threads Media as on line 'workshops' and my humble attempt at short video clips on You Tube.

Or Olds College.  This year in Cape Breton for level four and two, or level one at Olds Fibre Week.