Our head weaver, Josephine is heading to Guatemala to weave with the locals and YOU CAN TOO! Harrisville Designs out of Nashua New Hamphire not only sells locally produced yarns and teaches top notch weaving classes, but is also offering a "Guatemalan Weaving Adventure" this coming July including a guided tour by weaver/author Deborah
Chandler.
As the flyer reads: This textile trip of a lifetime includes a ten day tour including five days of instruction in a variety of traditional weaving techniques at Indigo Artes followed by fours days of travel into the beautiful Guatemalan Highlands, visiting groups of Mayan weavers in their villages, as well as textile markets, textile museums, and more.
Learn more, visit the following websites: harrisville.com/classes.htm, mayanhands.org and indigoartestextiles.com
Or download more FAQ here.
These women are incredible: from gorgeous colors of natural hand dyes, to making their own looms from scratch, to taking fibers and spinning them into their own yarn. And their Ikats... sigh... Can't wait to see what will come from this trip!
(photos from past weaving tours http://www.indigoartestextiles.com)
Norwegian textiles are unique and have a distinct textile style defined by bold colors, shapes and whimsical imagery of kings, queens and prancing horses. What more to love?
Below are some highlights from, African Textiles by John Gillow, an amazing book that showcases some of the most beautiful weaving, dyeing, and embroidery techniques used in textile history. In addition, writes about the many influences on textile production- religion, culture, trade, tradition and fashion.
If you thought the technical side of handweaving was complicated and tedious, check out what some refer to as 3D weaving, or Deflection, Differential Shrinkage and Doubleweave. In the exploration of 3D weaving, you not only have to be advanced in handweaving, but then you add on the elements of color, yarn texture, fiber content, yarn gauge, weave structure and finishing technique. All these elements have an effect on the outcome of the final product. If you change one element, the final product is different every time. It's like a science experiment.
If you are interested in learning this technique, pro-weaver and teacher Ruby Leslie is coming to the Fruitlands Museum in Harvard MA from Sept 11-13. But make sure you apply early because there are very limited spots available and they fill up quickly! Click here to download more information on how to register.
FutureCraft Studio will be showing a summer preview of our brightly colored hand dyed scarves at Rollstone Studio in my hometown of Fitchburg Massachusetts on Thursday June 4th, 6pm.
Rollstone Studio has gathered artists and craftsmen around Worcester County to present their work in a building across the library in the heart of the town where many interesting new places and renovations are popping up including boutiques, antique shops and right around the bend you will find the newly restored Fitchburg State campus. Fitchburg is the small town where I grew up west of Boston and it's so exciting to see the group of talented artists and craftsmen that are flourishing in this area.
Kim Harris, Matt Moore and I went on an inspirational journey last weekend. Kim's blog Alwaysonthegrind.com
couldn't have explained it better. From rummaging through her parents
antique museum to stumbling across the Worumbo Mills, our creative
energy was on an all time high. The most amazing part of the trip was
being able to shoot ideas back and forth with my friends as well as
Kim's mother, Kathy whom happens to be an amazing craftsperson.. from
rug hooking, to glass blowing, her talents and were endless. Women like
her inspired me to create FutureCraft.. to make sure my generation keeps traditional crafts alive for years to come.
Check out more photos here.
My mother and I went to the Hands Across the Valley Quilters Guild Show
in Amherst MA this weekend to get inspired for an upcoming project for
next season. The work there was just amazing. Quilting has been an
obsession of ours for a long time. My favorite is Amish quilting. The
colors and geometric patterns are so modern, yet they live in such a simple world compared to ours.
Thanks Groove Magazine for showcasing FutureCraft in your latest issue!
The weaver shown in this picture is threading the heddles on the foot powered loom. Although weaving looms today have advanced technology features, we still have to thread each warp thread through each heddle one by one!
Two nomads from the Zoreh valle in central-southern Iran busily at work weaving a kilim. Carpet weaving and knotting is still one of the main economic activities of the nomadic tribes of Iran.
