January

UnFinished Objects

Like most people who make textiles of one sort or another I have UnFinished Objects (UFO's) and I'm sure a great many ‘Onliners’ do too! The start of a new year seems a good time to try and finish your UFO's or at least pick them up again and move them along towards the finishing line. I will be looking at what I've got unfinished in my studio, show you how I get motivated to complete them and I'll be here to help you, too.
At the end of the month we will have:

• sorted through our UFO's,
• looked at what needs doing to complete, undo or re-purpose them,
• placed them in an order that makes the task less daunting and
• finished some of them.

Febuary

India and its Saris

In these talks I hope to share my enthusiasm for Indian textiles and saris in particular. I will combine technical analyses of the construction, dyeing and spinning of particular modern day saris with background information about their use, origins and the part they play in modern day Indian society. Talks are illustrated by photographs from my own trips to India over the last decade.

These presentations are about the making, selling, wearing and ‘recycling’ of saris; about their cultural significance and about people, places and processes who make and use them. Questions such as ‘What is a sari? Who makes them? How are they made? How are they worn? Are there different types of sari?

Where do they come from? What is a typical life cycle of a sari? are addressed. Join me on a journey through towns and villages of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh and meet some of my Indian friends.

Feb/March

Paper making and weaving

This workshop will be divided into two parts:

Papermaking

Paper has been known in the Western world since the Middle Ages. Making your own paper can be great fun and use up lots of waste cotton or linen rags or even used to shred your private documents. Paper is made by the layering of short vegetable fibres to form sheets. Originally made from linen rags, most types of cellulose fibre can be used. These need to be shredded down to the individual fibres and then the pulp mixed with water to be able to form the sheet on the hand mould. Once formed the paper is turned out onto a sheet of felt. This is repeated to form a stack of paper and felts. The water is then squeezed out and the paper put out on a line to dry as slowly as possible (so they don’t crinkle).

Paper as Textiles

This short workshop will look at paper used in textiles. Paper can be woven and spun, providing a challenge to all disciplines we cover – dyeing is not part of the remit of this fortnight. Although I am not recommending it, commercially produced paper can be washed up to 25 times at 40C°, so a much more durable material than might be thought.

Week 1 will cover spinning and will be an opportunity to try various sorts of paper and maybe reach a conclusion about the best to use for a particular project. Week 2 will focus on weaving with paper and exploring how to use its particular qualities to best advantage.

March/April

Fibre Spinning Challenge

In Autumn 2018 Barbara Scott lead a very successful weaving design challenge which pushed many of us outside our comfort zones and encouraged us to learn new techniques. Barbara gave us random colours, techniques and yarns etc to challenge our usual thinking patterns and open new design opportunities. She also wrote about using chance to help with design ideas. The response to her workshop suggested that many of us welcomed thinking in different ways.

Transferring these ideas to spinning made me think about colour, fibres, texture, spinning techniques, diameters of yarns, end use and of course our inspiration. To enable spinners at all levels to participate this challenge would be tiered, with increasingly complex fibres and spin techniques, so whether you are a complete beginner or an experienced spinner there should be something to interest you.

May

Knitted gloves

Knitted gloves, endlessly fascinating, come in many shapes and sizes. This workshop will enable you to explore this variety, to learn some key techniques for glove knitting, and to make plans for a pair to your own design. Depending on available time, you might complete a pair!

The workshop will encourage you to make use of on line resources. You may already be a member of Ravelry, but did you know there are on line videos demonstrating techniques, and on line catalogues and exhibitions? And what about 18 years worth of archived workshops for the On Line Guild? Links will be provided to a selection of these during the workshop.

You do not need to be an expert knitter to join this workshop as there will be chances to practice techniques on a sample.

June/July

Eco dyeing/printing

In this workshop I’ll be introducing you to the magic that is transferring beautiful patterns, shapes and colour onto a range of fabrics using different techniques. We’ll focus mainly on silk but over the 6 weeks we’ll also touch on other fabrics that lend themselves well to these techniques. During the course of the workshop you will have the opportunity to explore a range of materials for simple prints, tools and skills for print-making and you’ll be able to try your hand at overdyeing and a variety of resist techniques. At the end of the workshop you should be able to take your learning forward and experiment to your heart’s content, exploring what nature has to offer!

July

Annual Guild Discussion Week

A time of evaluation for the Online Guild. This week features an open discussion in which all members are encouraged to participate.

September

The Llan-Gors Textile - an early medieval masterpiece

Louise Mumford-Senior Conservator, Archaeology, Museum of Wales, will talk about the Llan-gors textile. This small fragment of fabric was found buried in mud in a welsh lake. It was painstakingly restored to reveal an early medieval masterpiece of weaving and embroidery.

September-October

Iris and echo Weaving

The course is meant for an 8-shaft table- or dobby loom, because there are tie-ups with many treadles. In the course you learn to develop a threading out of a pattern line, with pencil and squared paper. The warp will have 4 colors, that have to be chosen carefully, with support of the teacher. After beaming and threading, at least 6 different weave structures can be woven on this warp. Each time there will be a new explanation and instruction to design the tie-up and/or the treadling.

November

Collage

According to the Tate website “Collage describes both the technique and the resulting work of art in which pieces of paper, photographs, fabric and other ephemera are arranged and stuck down onto a supporting surface”. Artists such as Braque, Miró and Picasso created collages as a distinctive part of modern art.

In this workshop we will be looking at how collage can be used: either as a technical tool, to generate patterns and cartoons for textile crafts from concepts and ideas; or as a design tool using textile pieces to create an original piece of work.

December

Festive Exchange/Greetings - Stars, recycled or from stash

The theme for 2020 is “Stars – recycled or from your stash”. We invite you to be creative and either share a photo of your star with us in the Festive Greetings album or for those of you who enjoy gifting your creation, you may join in the Festive Exchange. The Festive Exchange will begin in October when you can express an interest in joining in. At the beginning of November you will be paired with a likeminded member so that you can swap your stars in early December and then photograph and share with us all the star you have received.