Learning Opportunities

 

There has been a bit of upheaval in the weaving community since Olds College decided to terminate their master weaver and spinner programs.  I hesitated to comment, but now that the dust has settled somewhat, I thought it might be time to review what is available for teaching/testing programs.

Olds College offered a college level course that provided a certain level of basic to advanced knowledge with an emphasis on learning how to communicate that knowledge.  The assumption being that, by the time a student achieved the 'master' certificate they would have a good background in the craft and would be able to teach it effectively.  Or, at least, write about it, which is just a form of teaching, after all.

Many people are feeling the loss of this teaching program deeply, and it is hoped that another college will see the value in it and - if not take the program over - at least offer something similar.

In the meantime, there are other programs that weavers may find helpful.

If someone is looking for a teaching program, there is the Ontario guild.  When I was looking for programs for myself back in the 1980s, I looked at the Ontario program *because* there was a teaching component.  Unfortunately, I simply did not have the financial resources to travel to Ontario yearly for that teaching.

I looked at the HGA COE, but it was a lot more expensive than the GCW program, and had hard deadlines that I could not meet.

I also had a group of local weavers already taking the GCW program, and they kindly allowed me to attend their 'meetings'.  I learned so much from them that I decided that was the route I would follow.

There are other guilds with similar programs to the GCW - it is my impression that the GCW program might have used the guidelines for the Boston guild as a basis for the GCW program.  One of the founders of the GCW was Mary Sandin, who had, for a time, been a member of the Boston Guild.  She, along with Mary Black (yes, *that* Mary Black) and Ethel Henderson formed the GCW and developed the program still in use today.

Over the years, I've marked levels for GCW and have encouraged people to follow that program.  Even if there is no teaching associated with it, the research I did in order to meet the testing requirements, and the samples I was required to weave to show I knew the weave structures, expanded my knowledge enormously.

It is a self-study program, so you do have to be pretty focused about doing the work and meeting the deadlines.  However, they are not 'hard and fast', but allow one to skip a year (or more) before submitting their next level.  For example, my 'master' level required a lot more years than I expected, in part because of the amount of research I did, but also the weaving of the samples required to illustrate my monograph.

Do I regret it?  Not one bit.

I loved teaching the Olds program, in no small part because I wound up teaching level one for most of the time and level one deals with wool and fulling.  Since I have been thumping the drum about wet finishing for decades (literally, now) that level was just right up my alley.  :D

The lectures I developed during Covid were directly targeted at my Olds students, especially those in the higher levels, itching to keep learning and working toward their certificate.  

Honestly, if a guild hired me to just present those 11 presentations, they would get a 'master' class in weaving.  (A friend told me that if it was true, it wasn't bragging...)

If I can't come to a guild physically, I can and will happily come remotely.

Topics and fees listed on my web site.  

Or buy The Intentional Weaver, which was written based on questions from my Olds students...

Road Trip

 

getting the kitchen stuff for the townhouse ready - cooking utensils, food, etc.  Yes, the stack of plastic bins is full of food and kitchen things

Class supplies and equipment - yes, everything in this photo except the loom and the spool rack is going into the back of the van

Getting ready to teach at Olds takes times and effort.  Quite a lot of effort.  

This year is especially difficult because of Covid.  So I have cut back on a bunch of things I would normally bring, and added in more equipment.  The less the students have to leave the classroom, the 'safer' it will be.  For me.  But also for them.

What isn't in the photo is the room air filter.  We are bringing our personal HEPA filter for the classroom.  I'm hoping to get a large classroom, but with a smaller class (9 as of last email from the college) I expect we will be in one of the smaller rooms.  However, the smaller rooms do have windows that can be opened so we plan on having windows open, door to hallway closed with the filter running 24/7.

In addition, there will be masks for anyone who wants one and we have accumulated some rapid tests if anyone wants to test.

Given my compromised immune system. we will eat in the van, not in a restaurant during the 11 hour drive.  If the weather is nice we can sit outside, but it looks like potential for rain.  At Olds we will not be eating in the dining hall or any of the local restaurants, so we have to make sure to bring cooking pots/pans, utensils, dishes and as much food as we can.  We have a couple of large cooler bags, and Doug will go to the grocery store for things like meat or fresh veggies.

I have my N94 mask which I will be wearing.  Given the lifting of most mitigations I may not feel safe enough to remove my mask - at all.  

Because people keep telling us that we must do our own risk assessment.  Given the close quarters with 10 other people (I have a volunteer teaching assistant), and many of them travelling long distances to get to Olds, I am leery of the students encountering covid during their journey and arriving with an unwelcome passenger.

I had hoped that by now we would be in a trough, but as of this morning the 'trough' was still too high for my comfort.

So this year at Olds is going to be extra stressful for me because I have to meet the needs of my students, but I also feel the need to keep me, AND them, safe as can be.

The good news yesterday was that my eye continues to heal, but isn't quite there yet.  It's been 5 months of aggressive treatment.  The last thing eye doc said to me was "Don't get worse!" and that she wants to see me again in 8 weeks.

However, she has cut back on my eye drops, which will make teaching a lot easier.  I can now schedule them for non-class times.  

Today Doug will finish packing up the dry goods and we will both work on our personal stuff.  He is picking up a couple of books on hold for me at the library and then I will pause the rest of my holds until we are home again.  I hope to get a lot of reading done on the trip.

Our house minder has the keys to the house and will take care of things while we are gone.  Doug has cut the lawn so it shouldn't need anything until we are back.  Our housing at Olds has been arranged and Doug has a stack of books to read, too.  Fortunately he can entertain himself because I am going to be BUSY and then too exhausted by the end of the day to do much of anything except veg.  I will bring the bin of hemming, just in case I feel able to at least do that.  

This year Olds will be bittersweet.  Sweet to teach.  Bitter at how stressed I feel given my compromised immune system and the risk of covid. 

OTOH, I have some nice things planned for the week after I get home - a friend asked if we could do a Zoom catch up (yes, please!) and a weaver has asked to talk to me about the business end of weaving (yes, of course), plus the guild is trying to get a social organized so we can discuss the future and how we can move forward with events for the members, given the continuing presence of covid.

Living with covid means protecting our vulnerable members, not tossing all mitigations to the wind and telling everyone to just 'get over it'.  

Currently reading Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby van Pelt.  This is her first published novel, the first of many, I hope.  

Onwards.

 

Aware of (ahem) looming deadlines, I checked the Olds College website this morning and levels 1, 2 and 3 of the master weaver program  next month are confirmed.

So now I need to work out how much (more) yarn I have to order.

It has been my practice to take the skeins of wool yarn for the class and turn them into cones to make things easier (more efficient) for the students to do the in-class weaving assignments.

I also wind their first warp for them.

Recently someone was a wee bit shocked that I would go to 'all that work' to make the student experience easier.  More beneficial.

It just made sense to me that I do this because otherwise?  There would be 12 people waiting to use a warping board to wind their warps and a lot of time spent (and frustration)  avoided so that each and every student would be able to jump onto the class work as soon as my initial lecture was complete.

I was a production weaver for 40 or so years.  I have the tools (still) and the expertise to use them.  By doing this pre-class preparation, the students can focus on what they need to learn, not be hanging around waiting, feeling anxious.  Because the five days is heavy duty information and the best way to learn new processes and set the knowledge is to get right at doing the job.

I warn them that it will be 5 days of trying to drink from an information fire hose.  That it is completely expected and normal to feel absolutely overwhelmed the first couple of days.

The class manual has a list of in class exercises for them to work on and given the (usually) wide range of skill levels amongst the class, it just really works 'better' (imho) if the students work through those on their own time while I focus on the stuff I feel is essential to convey, in person.

What this means is that I do not follow the manual from page 1 through to the end but jump around from section to section.  Some students find this disconcerting, but this sort of jumping around is part and parcel of the weaving process, once you start designing your own projects, not just following the directions determined by someone else.

My goal is to help students begin to see how all those disparate pieces begin to link together to get the results they want.

I do at least two major lectures a day, sometimes 3, depending on the schedule and how the days go by.  And then the students are largely left to do the work as outlined in the manual in the order they wish.

The final day there are oral presentations to be done, so during the week I also remind them to read through the parameters of those presentations in order to be prepared to give them.

The program is intense and it's a lot of work.  But it's also one way to really dig into the craft and begin to understand the principles.

OTOH, not everyone wants to spend 5 intense days at a college so I am happily settling into SOS developing content for them.

The SOS classes/lectures are by and large based on the lectures I developed for my Olds students during the pandemic, and some longer form classes with video footage, based on the topics I have been teaching for decades before I started teaching for Olds, many of them rolled into the Olds class(es).

I feel the biggest leg up I can give the level 1 students is the knowledge to analyze their processes and their results.  To think through the principles.  To recognize when something isn't working, and hopefully determine why so they can change their approach, or equipment, or their materials.  To help them be more ergonomic to reduce injury and efficient so as to not waste time.

All of these I have focused on for at least two decades.  It felt right to bring that experience and knowledge with me to the Olds College master weaver program, and now to SOS.

It seems right on this day, which is Mother's Day, even though I am not a 'mother', to reaffirm my commitment to my students to help them as much as I can, for as long as I am able. 

Samples? Check!

 

Single strand of Harrisville yarn

GIST Array woven, up close and personal

Scarf woven from GIST Array

Today was a bitty day.  A bit of this, a bit of that...

One of the things I wanted to do was install my digital microscope onto my new laptop, but the microscope only had a CD and the new laptop didn't have a CD drive.  But, my old laptop had a CD Drive, so I copied the file from the CD to a thumb drive on it and installed the microscope onto the new laptop using the thumb drive.

That makes it sound easy, but it took a while.  Then I tried to figure out how to share my new laptop screen to the classroom smart screen at the Olds College.  Which also took a lot longer than I hoped.

So even though I'd gotten the last two samples woven earlier in the afternoon, it was after 4 before I got two of the samples wet finished and only just now finished giving them a hard press.

The yarn tracked in the plain weave sections, which I had pretty much expected.  And it's fairly stiff at 20 epi, so for maximum drape and softness, weaving this yarn in twill would be my recommendation.  However, if someone wanted to weave garment fabric for a tailored garment, the plain weave would work well, I think.  And the tracking would make the cloth interesting because it tracked consistently, so it looks like a really 'fancy' twill.  

To test the microscope I looked at a single strand of Harrisville which clearly shows that the dark grey colour is made up of mostly dark black with some lighter fibres to give the tweedy appearance.  You can also see how disorganized the fibres are in comparison to the GIST Array in the middle photo.  A function of how the fibres have been prepared and spun,.

I'll be writing up my process of working with the Array for the School of Sweet Georgia, plus I had enough warp to weave them a set of samples for the store.  The samples that I wet finished are drying now and I should be able to get them into the mail next week so they will have them to show their customers.  Nothing like being able to fondl...er, feel the actual cloth.

One thing that did kind of surprise me is that the natural didn't shrink as much as the dyed Array.  You can just see the rippling in the stripe of white yarn across the warp in the weft in the above photo.  Since it's a scarf, I'm not too bothered by it, but I might if the cloth was intended for sewing a garment.  If the white was used not in a solid stripe but mixed in with other colours, it would be fine, but in the stripe it tends to behave as it wishes.

Anyway, I now have enough information to start getting the warp ready for the Olds class.  I'll do that just as soon as I hear from the college.  I'll also place an order for the rest of the yarn needed for the class.  Once it comes, I'll turn the skeins into cones to make it easier to work with.  I don't want my students to be spending the coin of their time wrestling with skeins when I have a cone winder and can make things easier/more efficient so that they have more time for learning.

Last I heard the class was full with a waiting list, but I don't want to spend more money before I've got the confirmation.  Truth be told I should have waited to buy the Array for the class, but I wanted to sample it and I was in the store so it was just too tempting to buy the yarn then and there and save the shipping.  :)

Currently reading Murder with Peacocks by D. Andrews

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.

Spark to a Flame

 

I have always believed that it is better build something than tear something down.  And if you need to tear something down, have a plan to re-build - better than it was before.

The pandemic has required us to shutter so many aspects of our lives.  There has been deep disappointment in having to cancel things - workshops, fibre events, family celebrations.  We have had to find new ways to do things.  New ways to communicate.  New ways to be together - apart.

With the rise in the use of things like Zoom, I saw an opportunity.  Even though I'd never hosted anything via Zoom (I'd participated in exactly one Zoom meeting), I knew hundreds of folk were using Zoom to communicate with groups - sometimes quite large groups - of people.  Even though I didn't know exactly how Zoom worked, I knew it could be made to work.  And I knew a number of fibre folk were initiating Zoom presentations.

And so I decided - if not now, when?  If not me, who?  And started contacting people I knew - or knew of - and asking - would you be interested in doing something via Zoom?

It took just a few weeks to contact people, get an answer yay or nay (because some people have unreliable internet) and move on to the next.  I had a mental list and simply went down the list, checking each one off as we set a date, and moved on to the next.

The guild had other things going on until the end of the year, so I decided to begin in January - a new year, filled with hope.  Seemed about right.

Birthe worked getting the guild website updated, set up payment options, developed spread sheets to keep track of registrations.  My part in this was just the spark.  Hers made it a flame.

A flame of light as the days became darker, colder.  Something to look forward to.  

Registration went live Wednesday night and people have already begun to register for the first three seminars.  As each seminar ends, the next in the queue will go 'live' for registration.

As things get 'worse' here with Covid, I have to accept that our guild room sale may get shut down before it even begins.  But I'm hoping for at least a couple of days where folk can come and buy guild members work.  Time will tell.

In the meantime we have an 'official' covid plan for the sale - and the seminars for those members who either have unreliable internet or don't want to deal with the technology.  All we can do is try.  All we can do it make an effort.  All we can do is hope.  And try to keep that flame alive.

Check out the seminars to see if there are any of interest.  You don't have to be a guild member, although if you want to, you can join as an associate (if you live more than 50 kilometers from town) and you will get the guild member rate and priority registration.

As for me, one tiny bit of  hope for 2021 - I have agreed to teach level one master weaver class for Olds next June.  Let's all wear our masks and beat this virus down so we can get back to in real life classes!

Weaving Police

Craft fair booth

People want definitive answers to technical questions.  It was one of the things I had to accept while learning how to weave - it all depends.

In many cases my weaving instructor was almost as inexperienced as her students, but her approach to teaching was to tell us to go look it up.  Try it and see.  Experiment.  Analyze.

All of this ensured that I became a weaver who wasn't afraid to fail.  Not that failure ever was of much importance to me.  I'm not competitive and I don't mind 'losing' at a game because I'm not playing the game to 'win' but for other reasons.  To pass time.  To challenge myself.  Of course 'winning' is always pleasant, but it is a very minor interlude and not my actual objective anyway, so...

I ran afoul of the weaving 'police' when I bought a dobby loom with fly shuttle and auto cloth advance.  A number of highly respected people in the weaving world informed me that I could no longer call my textiles hand woven.

This attitude puzzled me because I was still designing the cloth, winding the warp, threading it, weaving it, wet finishing it.  After doing some research, I discovered that at the time the government of Canada defined hand woven as 'each and every action of the loom is initiated by the weaver'.  Which I was very much doing.  I could not throw a switch and walk away.

After much thought, I tweaked my public profile and my hang tags read "Laura Fry Weaving Studio".

I called myself a 'weaver'.  And I ignored the naysayers.

As I learned more about how cloth was constructed I began to see the variables.  All the 'it depends' scenarios.  And realized that weavers need to focus on the principles of the craft, not the details - which usually need to change when changes are introduced.

Scaling up from 5 yards to 10 yards to 100 yards meant I had to change how I did what I did.

Scaling up from 12" width, to 60" width meant a fly shuttle or risk injury.

Changing from wool to cotton meant changing my approach and sometimes my tools.  It certainly meant changing the physical action of weaving.

In North American society, weaving (and many of the textile arts) are practiced by women (mostly).  Sometimes the practitioner is doing it for creative fulfillment, intellectual curiosity or creative expression.  Very few try to earn an income from weaving. 

But some do.  And they need to make different decisions from those who don't. 

Rather than 'police' how someone practices their craft, we need (I believe) to respect the fact that weaving (and other textile arts) are - first of all - not 'lost' and not 'dying'.  There is a large number of people who continue to work their looms, needles and hooks making textiles for what can be very intense and personal reasons.

A small core of people need to understand the bones of the crafts so that good patterns can be designed for those who don't have the time or opportunity or interest in taking a deep dive into the principles of the craft they practice.

That core of educated practitioners may need to generate an income and many of them do that by designing patterns or teaching classes. 

There has been much discussion about #fairfiberwage over the years and how people need to 'share' what they know with others.

I have also seen people insist that on line classes are 'cheaper' to run than in person classes so instructors should be paid less.

Um, no.  What is being 'saved' in terms of on line classes might be the cost of bringing the instructor to a venue, the cost of renting the venue, accommodation/food for the instructor.

The instructor is bringing the same knowledge, the same experience, the same information.  While the experience of an on-line class is not the same as an in person class, the amount of prep time it takes to do a good on line class means extra prep time.

Typically that prep time is not paid for, only the actual in-person experience.  So most instructors tend to quote a daily rate that will cover that prep time as well as the in-person time the student is receiving.

Since I live so far away from, well, everywhere, I tended to keep my daily fee low knowing that guilds were going to have to pay a high travel cost.  While I visited various guilds I was able to promote my book (at the time I had only the one) and frequently had a suitcase of tea towels I could sell as well.

The life of an itinerant instructor is a hard one.  You are generally travelling on a very tight schedule, and I can't tell you how many times I missed flights due to weather or other reasons, and arrived in the middle of the night only to have to be up in four hours to teach. 

Because I live in the Pacific Time Zone, I was frequently jet lagged on top of everything else.

Since I have food allergies there was always the worry of being exposed to allergens.  I finally made it a condition of teaching that the class be scent free.  Too many classes where I lost the ability to form a coherent sentence due to an allergy to perfume or hair spray.

I did not always perform to my best and the students suffered for it while I suffered headaches, aphasia and feeling generally ill.

Over the years I had to come to grips with what level of 'standard' I would weave to.  I had to learn when an 'error' or 'not perfect' was important - or not.  Would my customer even notice?  They would not, after all, be closely examining my textiles with an eye to checking for 'perfection' but for usefulness and function.

I have, at times, found myself being the weaving police and learned to rein myself in.  I learned how to accept others, gently give information, mostly encourage and support.

If we want the textile arts to remain viable, especially during this very difficult time of pandemic, we must figure out a way to help those who are struggling.  But I would also like to suggest that people who are requesting more of the pattern designers/teachers understand that they also have a role to play in their learning.  And that is to recognize that they do need to learn.  To seek out the information for themselves - because it is there.

We now have the benefit of the internet where I had the public library and a research librarian who sought out the books I felt I needed to consult.  And found all except two, plus two that were going to cost too much - they each had loan fees that were beyond my budget.

Don't know where to look?  Start with the bibliographies in published books.  Allen Fannin's Handloom Weaving Technology has an excellent one with lots of technical books listed for those who want to do a deep dive.

Other books have lists as well.  If you belong to a guild, check the guild library.  Consult http://handweaving.net

Pay the very modest fee to subscribe and then you can consult the books that have been uploaded to their site.

Heddlecraft usually has a good bibliography in each issue.

Take an on line class.  Tien Chiu, Janet Dawson, Daryl Lancaster, Jane Stafford and others had been moving to on-line presentations before the pandemic hit.  They had already put systems in place and have been able to provide good quality instruction for a modest price.  Be aware that these people have teams producing their classes.  It isn't just them with a single camera.  They might have several cameras, a couple of people organizing their samples, setting up the next shot, keeping track of what shots/information needs to be filmed, then an editor to edit the footage and create the video.  If they provide captions, that is another expense - time and quite possibly money.  So in reality an on line class might have just as much administration cost as an in person class.

There are also the costs of registration, banking fees, high traffic in terms of mailing lists, the cost of high speed internet - while these things may remain 'hidden' from the customer, they are very much part of doing business and teaching on line.

There are a number of bloggers who routinely provide information including resources. 

The information is available.  But first a person needs to recognize that they need to know something, then figure out where the information currently is available.

In the meantime, I am holding out hope that next year the Olds classes will begin again.  But we all need to survive this time.

So stay home if you possibly can.  If you need to go out, wear a mask.  Wash your hands when you get home.

Survive, my lovelies.  Until we can meet again in person.

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.

Guest Post - Tanya

From time to time I offer students a chance to write a guest post.  Tanya took me up on my offer to share her experience with the Olds program:

“What could I possibly tell people about the Olds Master Weaver Level 1 class that is not already outlined very clearly in the course materials?” This question has been on my mind since Laura so kindly offered me space in her blog to write about my experience.  I could write about how amazing it was to learn from LAURA FRY!   I could tell people about how the homework is exactly as simple as is outlined in the manual and how long it took me to complete (84 hours if anyone is interested).  It would be fun to tell all the things I did wrong and how I fell in love with a new to me edge finish (double twining).  I could probably write a book about all the things I learned.  The longer I thought about it (over a month)  the more I realized that what I really wanted to talk about  was the way my learning happened both in class and in the homework.

 I am a teacher by vocation and by inclination - I teach elementary music, continuing education weaving classes, piano lessons and children’s church classes.  I am also the oldest daughter in a family of four.  You can imagine the incredible potential for not only bossiness but “stick your nose into everyone’s business” edness that those statements imply. On the very first day of class I said to myself “You have spent 800.00 and driven 650 miles to learn from LAURA FRY - not to teach, not to expound your opinions, not to show off what you know - to learn from LAURA FRY!”  That became my mantra.  Don’t get me wrong, I helped when I was asked and participated where I should but I really, really tried hard to be a learner and get whatever information I could from the expert in the room.  When Laura presented her way to wind the warp I tried it.  When she demonstrated craziness with holding 4 threads and threading heddles with a hook - tried it.  

When she only tied one choke tie on the warp  and I figured there was no way in the seven levels of Hades that that would end in anything but disaster - yep, I tried it.  Some things she taught came easy, some shocked me in their simplicity, many were physically awkward and many times I had to remind myself of why I was there - to learn from LAURA FRY!  I was not always successful (there was the disaster when someone asked about overshot and I explained it exactly backwards) but at the end of the week I was full to the brim with things I had learned from LAURA FRY!

I began the homework within days of getting home. As I read through the assignments I made some deliberate choices about what I was interested in learning.  A classmate had stated he didn’t think the homework could possibly take 100 hours - I decided to keep track.  Laura explained over and over that her processes were developed in the context of becoming as efficient as possible “micro seconds people”.  I wanted to know if switching from my method of dressing the loom to hers would cut down on my time so not only did I write down my own process for the assignment, I timed it.  I then warped the loom as close to her way as I could and timed it.

I used color in the swatch assignment because I was interested to see what happened.  I researched end finishes from tapestry weaving books to see if there was something beyond hem stitch and plied fringe.  For my final project I based the plaid I used on the winter coat a second grader wore at Christmas. 

 I molded each assignment to not only complete the requirements but to learn what I wanted to learn from it.  As I boxed it all up to send off I felt like I had had a rich learning experience tailored to my own interests.

The Master Weaver Level 1 class has elevated my weaving process to a very different level. No longer do I see myself as a person who weaves but rather as a learner who is immersed in the craft of weaving.  Thanks Laura!"

While emailing back and forth with Tanya over her post I asked if I could include the numbers she sent re: time spent dressing the loom.  She said yes, but that her efficiency continues to improve so she is even faster now than when she did the original time study.

She used exactly the same parameters for her study a warp of 58 ends, same materials, same length.

Previous method:  124 minutes

New method:  95 minutes

Efficiency is not to be fast as you can, just to be the fastest person around, but to be more productive and get to the 'fun' part - the weaving - with less stress to the body.  

Everyone has to find the best practice for themselves because change one thing and everything can change.

Uncertainty

So many things happening all round the world and the level of uncertainty, especially regarding travel, is making life difficult for everyone.  Travel to take that class or stay home?  Chance registering and having the class(es) cancel or not bother and the class fails due to low enrollment?

This is the reality for independent instructors all of the time.

Over the years I have arranged teaching tours months in advance only to have something break the schedule due to insufficient students to pay for the event.  At times I have had to completely re-arrange things because of it.  At times I have heavily promoted an event I was booked to present at, then have my class fail due to lack of students.

Nothing is certain in this life.

I am scheduled to teach in Cape Breton the last week of April, first week of May and level one at Olds in June.  I'm pretty certain level four will go ahead based on students in level three reporting that they are working hard on their homework in anticipation of level four going ahead.  Level two may - or may not - go ahead.  I have no way of knowing if level one will go ahead or not.

But here's the thing.  If no one books until they know the class will go ahead?  It will fail.  The college will refund registration if the class cancels due to lack of enrollment.  So if you want to take one of these classes?  Register now.  Registration for all three events are open now.  They must have minimum number of students (8 or 9, depending on the venue) by one month prior to class starting.  I can't book my airline tickets until I know one way or another if either of the Cape Breton classes will go ahead (I will drive to Olds, with a van load of teaching supplies.)

If the pandemic becomes much worse there may be strong recommendations for people to stay home.  But sensible precautions - wash your hands *with soap*, sneeze into your sleeve, don't touch your face, stay home if you are sick  - will protect most people and stop the spread of the virus.

Right now I see this as a time to remain optimistic but sensible.  

Design Fundamentals

Over the years when people ask for my level of education, I tend to forget that I actually have first year college Design Fundamentals. 

I suppose it is partly because at the time I failed to see that it had much relevance to my desire to be a weaver.  All the exercises were geared towards more traditional 'art' - painting, drawing, printing, and finally sculpture.

I kind of shoved that year of classes to one side and forgot about it, rarely mentioned that I had taken it, even as I remember the two year textile course I took, and even Eng. 101.  Somehow that year of taking English Literature - and even the one year of Creative Writing - seemed more - I don't know, real?  I certainly used those English classes in a very obvious way even though I barely passed the Creative Writing classes.  Any desire I had to write fiction after taking that class evaporated!  However, the exercises did serve to help me gain a facility with using words.  English 12 taught me to analyse for emotional trigger words and editorial bias, not just in prose, but advertising, print and media.  I was aware of using those skills on a much more frequent basis than I ever was the Design Fundamentals. 

Until I had been weaving for years and years and began realizing just how much of those classes I had actually absorbed - line, texture, proportions, colour theory, etc.

With reviewing the level four manual I find myself nodding about the lessons.  I find myself pulling samples out of my bins to illustrate some of the principles.  In fact I have samples that illustrate all of the principles being discussed in level four.  Only now am I seeing my work through the lens of the design fundamentals class I took, lo these many years ago.

I even kept my textbook.  Any time I went to downsize, I would come across the book, hold it in my hand, page through it, and put it back on the shelf. 

And now it will get packed for level four, certainly.  But I've also been bringing it to level two classes when I can - if my suitcase isn't too full, or the box being mailed isn't too heavy already.

Having even a rudimentary grasp of the principles of design will work its way into any creative person's work.  Even if they don't notice.  Even if they don't think it has.  Even if they think they didn't actually learn much at the time.

There it is - line, proportions, texture, colour theory.  All of it.  In my work.  Now that I know to look for it.

Preparation

Yesterday, not feeling that weaving would be in my best interests, I started working on the level four master weaver class.  One of the things I have is a whole bunch of samples.  Many of these were woven for my own information, for published articles, for class examples.

Developing a class is time consuming.  Even when working to a curriculum developed by others, it is still necessary to make sure I have appropriate samples to show that students can learn from.  Because not all of us process information in the same way.  I know that recently this concept has become somewhat controversial, but I have seen it myself - I talk about a concept and some people understand.  I draw diagrams and a few more get it.  I demonstrate and light bulbs go off.  Likewise having an actual sample of the fabric brings understanding.

It was one of the most valuable things I learned as a new weaving teacher - don't just keep saying the same thing over and over again.  As one student put it, 'saying the same thing only louder doesn't help me understand any faster'.  I paraphrase.

Whether or not I am personally developing a topic, and I have developed quite a few between workshops and written publications, it still takes hours of preparation to go through the documentation to determine what I need to have available for teaching aids and a lesson plan to convey the course content.

Level four is all about colour and design.  As I began digging through my bins of samples, I realized that I have done a lot of weaving that could be used as examples for this class.  While my inventory of textiles for sale is dwindling, there are quite a few gamps, which is what the students will be partially working on for their homework. 

These samples are not meant to be copied by the students, but act as tools to understanding.

I will also (if there are sufficient students) be teaching level two.  For those samples I need go no further than my samples for the Guild of Canadian Weavers, because I had to weave samples of twill, overshot and double weave for those tests.

But I also need to sit down with the manuals and develop a lesson plan for both classes.  I'm focusing on level four first because I have not taught it before.  I have taught level two and have a pretty good idea of what needs to happen when and an hour or so of review will likely be sufficient.  But level four is going to take a lot longer.

Like most teachers, I only get paid for the hours I am teaching in the classroom, not for the many hours that will be needed prior to ever stepping into the classroom.  I'm not complaining, just saying.

People who have never taught really do not know how much work goes into what happens when they arrive. 

I am feeling 'better' enough today that I am going to weave a towel.  And use that shuttle throwing time to think about the level four class and how I might best shape the experience for the students.  And then start gathering the art supplies and samples, check my yarn supply for the group warps (because there will be two for level four) and then hopefully mail early enough for everything to arrive before I do.

To fly out to Cape Breton I have been taking the red eye from Vancouver to Toronto, then to Sydney where a local meets me at the airport.  We then go shopping for food (because the college is isolated and I will not have transportation) and then I fall into bed and Sunday spend the day getting the classroom and studio ready. 

And then the fire hose of information will begin bright and early on Monday morning - and keep flowing until Friday. 

Last I heard, we should have enough people for level four to run, level two, we won't know until one month prior to that class starting.  But I still have to be prepared and ready to send the materials so that they will also arrive in time for class.  Time that may or may not be required, depending on if the class goes ahead or not.

Just one of the realities of offering instruction for weaving (or any craft) - you do your best to offer valuable information, then wait and see if enough people are interested enough to invest in the time and effort to take it.  

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.

Done and Dusted!

Well, we wrapped up the second Intro to Weaving class this afternoon.  As usual, I forgot to take any photos, so you'll have to take my word for it.  :)

We had 6 people last week, had an oopsie with the 6th loom so that person was invited to return this weekend to make it 5 (one person had to cancel). 

This weekend we had one person from out of town, the rest were all local, three of them guild members already, the fifth is local but had not been a member of the guild previously.  She signed up by the end of the day.  :)

They stopped weaving by 3:15 or so, did their hemstitching, cut their samples off and then we started the final lecture on wet finishing.  We finished at 4:29 - not because I didn't have more to say, but because we were all tired and it was good to go home in the daylight, which is now lingering until around 5:30.

As usual, several people cleaned up our mess and helped me carry my bins out to the van and we were gone by 5.

Doug is tearing Puff apart with his helper and they are determined to complete the job and move out tonight.  They ate when it was convenient for them, and I had left overs when I finally pulled myself together.

Overall, I have to say my pain levels are responding positively to the treatment - I get the next one on Tuesday.  I'm still fighting feeling tired all the time, and I ache when I stand for 'too long', but I feel hopeful that I will be able to deal with the 5 day Olds classes ok.  I may not hang out in the weaving studio or class room for very long in the evenings but leave them to it.

Speaking of which, now that I'm done with these workshops, I will be digging into the level four manual and beginning my lesson plan, then reviewing level two.  I have to be ready to mail the class materials as soon as I get the go ahead, which should be March 27, and level two go ahead which should be April 4.  I expect to send two boxes so that I can get four into the mail as soon as possible.

It looks good for level four to go ahead, level two, we don't know yet. 

The Gaelic College has a fully loaded weaving studio - you don't have to bring a loom or reeds, etc.  You might want to bring a favourite shuttle, a notebook, art supplies (pencil crayons, water colours) and so on.  The housing is basic but comfortable for all that, and the cafeteria accommodates my allergy diet.  If you have never been before, bring layers, warm woolies, and wet weather gear - the wind barely pauses to take breath and it can rain at any time.  But we will be snug in the weaving studio and that is just a short walk from the classroom - enough time outside to take a breath and clear heads.

Register at the college - you can do it on line or phone.  Sign up for housing/food with the Gaelic College.

It Depends

Thinking about things like drape, stability, wearability - all the variables that go into the creation of cloth.

I belong to a few groups and as the membership changes and new weavers join (which is great, love to see new practitioners!) the same sorts of questions come up.

New weavers want to have perfect results and are anxious about 'failing'.  First of all, get the notion of 'perfection' out of your head. 

Weaving is a skilled technology (as are other crafts) and it takes time to understand your materials, equipment and gain the physical skills necessary to obtain good results.  (Note - I did not say perfect results.)

It is really hard sometimes to get across to new weavers that I cannot tell them what to do.  I can only give them guidelines. 

So how do they learn?  They have to do the work. 

They can read.  They can buy kits and follow the instructions to the letter.  They can weave samples.  But doing these things will mean little if they don't also engage their analytical thinking and take a good long hard look at what their results are.  Then think about what needs to change if they want different results.

Doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results won't actually achieve anything different. 

I've posted before about the variables involved in the creation of cloth.  I won't repeat them again today.  But there are many people who teach the same things as I do.  Because they are principles of the craft, not because we are some martinets or weaving police.

I am not trying to stifle anyone's creativity when I point out how density affects the nature of the cloth.  If someone wants to make fabric that has great drape but may not wear well, that is their choice.  (See the above photo - a prime example of a loosely woven cloth for a shawl - I wanted excellent drape but because it was intended for a shawl, it did not have to be constructed as densely as, say, a place mat.)

So, we get to make choices.  It just helps if we understand the impact our choices will make on our cloth before we set up for a big project.

If someone is new to the craft, does not have access to local teachers/weaving guild/resources, I highly recommend Jane Stafford's on line guild   She is currently doing a module on twill but once you join you can access all the previous lessons.

You can come to Olds and take level one with me in June.  

You can buy my books where I set out many of the variables that need to be considered.

It depends.  

Looking Ahead

Yesterday I agreed to teach Level Four and Two at Cape Breton the end of April, beginning of May.

It is a great privilege for me to see the group that I taught level one and two to now reaching their level four.  It feels like a nice way to wrap up the cycle. 

Level four is a bit of a stretch for me and I have just now downloaded and printed out the level four manual.  I'll do the level two later - it has been upgraded so I need to be working from the most recent version.  But since I've already taught that level twice, I have a better idea of what needs to be done in order to prepare. 

But level four is going to challenge me.  It mostly addresses colour and design and I feel the least confident about those topics, even though I made a profession of designing and selling my textiles.

The biggest boost to my confidence was taking a workshop on colour with Jack Lenor Larsen.

His teaching style was more European in that he would set challenges, then critique our results.   He had no idea who had done what because mostly he would be outside smoking or chatting with others, not hovering over the students in the classroom. 

He set the challenge, then let us do with it what we would.

For me the approach was helpful.  It was even more helpful when his critiques of my results were generally positive - much to my surprise.  Over the course of the workshop I began to realize that I knew more about colour than I thought and I was able to take that new found confidence home and really let loose in my own design work.  Listening in to the critiques of all of the work was also helpful as I began to see what he was talking about through the use of the actual samples woven in response to his challenges.

Weaving some of the samples for Tien's colour class also helped train my eye as I worked through what she wanted illustrated for her students.

Talking to a couple of friends, I realized that once again I probably know more than I think I do.  So I am going to study the level four manual, learn as much from it as I can, then hopefully share that with the students.  (Some of them are already very accomplished designer/weavers - they are likely already quite comfortable with the course content!)

I have been a big supporter of the Olds College master weaving program.  Quite frankly, if all anyone does is level one, they will get a good grounding in the basics.  I know several people who took level one and said they'd got what they needed and were going to go home and put level one principles into practice. 

Personally I am delighted at how many 'young' people I am seeing in the level one classes.  I am also delighted to be teaching level one at Olds in June.

So far two boxes of homework have arrived and been marked from the classes last year.  I hear rumours of others in the works with one - at least - promised for the end of March..  The college has been making some changes and you must now have passed one level before you can take the next.  I am interested in how many from last years classes will send their home work in.  Regardless of whether or not they continue, I feel honoured to have met them and hope they continue to weave.  We need more people to ensure the craft continues and that good information gets passed on to the next generation.

The Dust Settles

The workshop is over and Mary is winging her way homewards.

We had plans - so many plans!  And barely scratched the surface.  Now I'm sitting, working on a jigsaw puzzle (because it needs to be finished so I can clear the table and fringe twist the silk scarf, so...) and thinking about what needs to be done 'next'.

The article, I suppose.  That deadline is coming up quickly.  I do know where my notes are, just need to open Word and start putting them into some kind of cohesive order.

The warps for the weaving workshops.  I wound the last of them yesterday, but now I need to go up to the guild room and start extracting floor looms from the corral they were put in to make space for the dye workshop.

Weave the tea towels on the Megado.

Dress the Leclerc with another place mat warp.

And sometime, soon, sort through the bins and get all the fibres in one place, and all the teaching samples in another place so that I don't have to keep shifting bins of the one thing to get at the bins of the other.  Mary and I did manage to empty three more boxes of 'stuff', but didn't touch the bins.  She has taken the samples home to share with other weavers and study them.

I have been in communication with Olds College and they are working on the satellite programs so word should soon be available on those.  I may not go to the Sunshine Coast, I may not go to Cape Breton, but I may.  They haven't finished crunching the numbers yet.

I can say that I am confirmed for level one at Fibre Week at Olds College in June.  Feel free to share.

OTOH, I did buy my tickets to head to TN in July where Mary and I will take a road trip to Knoxville and I will hang out in the vendor hall and the exhibit areas.  Should anyone want to meet for coffee or a meal...

Too many 'short' nights this week and I'm tired.  So I'm not pushing too hard today.