This workshop is designed for beginners who want a practical, encouraging start to spinning on a wheel or electric spinner. Alanna will guide you step-by-step through setup, basic mechanics, and the foundational drafting skills that make spinning feel understandable and repeatable. Throughout the workshop, you will receive supportive coaching and clear troubleshooting so common problems feel solvable instead of frustrating.
We will delve into the basics of crackle weave and the different treadling options. Color is an important part of the crackle weave. There are numerous options for color use in the warp and weft, with the added ability to incorporate even more color with the tabby thread.
Unlock the potential of tied weaves in this immersive workshop for handweavers ready to explore both their structural elegance and creative versatility. Whether you’re new to tied weaves or refining your technique, you’ll engage in hands-on practice, design exploration, and inspiration. You’ll learn foundational principles—including unit weaves, pattern shafts, and tie-downs—explore the logic that makes tied weaves predictable yet endlessly adaptable, and experiment with color, texture, and treadling variations.
Color and Weave effects are like magic! You create patterns that look different from the actual weave structures by using yarns with contrasting color values. There are versions for rigid heddle looms (plain weave or pick-up), 4-shaft and 8-shaft (or more) table or floor looms. Students will leave with a small reference library of color-and-weave designs that can be used for future projects.
The legendary weaver Anni Albers said “our tactile experiences are elemental” and that playful exploration of materials is essential to “regain a faculty that was once so naturally ours.” We will play with a wide variety of materials – paper, cardboard, foil, sticks, buttons, pebbles, seeds, wire, fibers, yarns and more – we will, in Albers words, “group them, cut them, curl them, mix them, finally perhaps paste them, to fix in a certain order.”
Connect with the past and design for the future using this versatile structure. Using one warp, students will begin with traditional pattern treadling and advance to more varied structures, including honeycomb and boundweave.
This workshop introduces weavers to the concept of block design, where two shafts control the color of each block or threading unit. Discussions will focus on color, movement of blocks, skeleton tie-ups, and threading systems. Weavers will learn how to interpret the profile treadling plans for both the thick and thin weft picks.
Students will learn non-traditional techniques in setting up and designing at the reed while working effectively and efficiently with multiple warps and diverse warp elements. We will design personal projects at the reed which create options for a variety of weave structures — plain weave, rib, repp, turned taqueté, twills, double weave — with each single setup.
This class will be a building block kind of class where each skill we learn will set us up for success and ready to move the next step. Proper warping, good plain weave, pick-up, clasped weft and Leno will be covered. This is a step-by-step class with no weaver left behind, and suitable for beginner and intermediate students.
Boundweave is a colorful, graphic weave structure traditionally used for striking wall hangings and durable rugs, pairing sturdy cotton or linen warp with richly colored wool or cotton weft.
In this class, you’ll weave a vibrant boundweave sampler using beautiful wool yarns, discovering how blocks of color come together to form petals, stems, and lively geometric blooms.