My mother and I both headed down to Tampa Florida for the weaving convention brought to you by the Handweaver's Guild of America HGA. If you do not belong to HGA, I recommend you join. Even if you don't personally weave, you will receive their magazine, Shuttle Spindle and Dyepot which is amazing and very inspirational for any type of designer or art enthusiast.
The Convergence Conference was filled with exciting and inspirational workshops, seminars, exhibits, tours, special events and vendors.
My first 3 day workshop was taught by Jannie Taylor. Her beautiful weavings can be found below. Jannie also teaches workshops at AVL, and I was excited to spend the time learning from her and improving my Weavepoint skills.
Weaving and braiding enthusiast, and author Anne Dixon also enjoyed the workshop and was kind enough to do a show and tell of her woven and braided work.
We've been experimenting with the idea of trying to get numerous
different scarves on the same threading. We tried a simple pointed
threading combined with a more complicated treadling. Thanks to our AVL
loom and Weavepoint, we are able to play around with the position of
patterns and colors. This allows us to create an illusion of patterns
morphing into one another. For the warp, we chose a 5/2 Cotton and for
the weft Bamboo. The colors are very natural. When worn against the
skin, it complements any skintone very elegently. I am loving wearing
these scarves around town.. With a mix of Bamboo/Cotton, they are
perfect for the cool Spring nights.
Here is what a weaving pattern looks like for the top left scarf. By
changing the weft colors, we were able to match up the pattern and the
colors to create interesting stripes filled with patterns.
Thanks to writer Letizia Rossi at Coolhunting.com for posting about the
Future Craft Studio. See full write up here.
Textile Designer Josephine Rivers shows off her beautiful handwoven scarves and apparel at the Westford Museum along with other talented weavers at the Nashoba Valley Weaving Guild. Josephine was also interviewed on camera, where she explains her work and new business venture with her daughter.
The second picture is an inkle loom woven by weaver Dorothy Solbrig. She states: This simple loom is used to weave bands of fabric like guitar strap and belts. The pattern in made by alternately raising and lowering the warp threads.
The spinning machine shown here was made in Lowell in the 1830s. A spinning machine is used to convert fiber into yarn. Many different types of yarn can be created by varying the tension and technique being used. The small machine on the right hand side is powered by foot. It is what people used before machines came into play. Many people still use the foot powered machine to spin luxurious and innovative yarns. It's also an amazing form of meditation believe it or not.
FutureCraft has been weaving up some beautiful pinwheel patterned scarves made with Bamboo yarn. Our signature black and white yarns really bring out the bold pattern on this design. We are also testing different yarn colors to substitute the black.. chocolate brown anyone?
The Future Craft Studio teaches the art of weaving to children at an elementary school in Western Massachusetts.
It was such a great experience sharing weaving with a young generation and seeing their excitement as they turned scraps of yarn into beautiful works of art. The young lady on the right is creating a weaving similar to a tapestry, where an assortment of yarns and fibers create an image, like a landscape.
Before we decide to weave a lot of yardage on the loom, we design a weaving sample. This is a very fun process. We get to experiment with different types of yarn fibers and sizes. It's amazing how quickly the textiles change depending on the color, size and texture of the yarn. Sometimes there's too many great options!
The Future Craft Weaving Loom is a 16-harness AVL Loom. The more harnesses you have, the more detailed of a textile pattern you can weave. Here we are weaving a star pattern using all 16 harnesses with bamboo and cotton yarn. Bamboo is a silky, sustainable fiber that is breathable as well as luxurious. The star pattern was then cut and sewn into the Bamboo Star Hat, the Bamboo Star Cropped Jacket and the Bamboo Star Jacket.
Last weekend we exhibited at our first show ever with Artrider Productions in New York City. Artrider has 3 shows every year showcasing 150 of the top American Craft Designers. I had an amazing time getting feedback from customers and other designers showing.
Some great friends I made were handbag designer Ellen Eichel of E.D.E. Studio and jewelry designer Louise Fischer Cozzi.
Welcome to the FutureCraft Studio blog. Any questions you have, feel free to post them on the blog or send us a private email. The blog is designed to showcase work and educate others interested in the process of sewing, art, craft, design and business.
The label is named FutureCraft because the products we create use traditional craft techniques in a modern fashion. We are focused on sustaining hand craft in a mass produced world.
Hand weaving happens to be our main focus. Our choice of color palette allows the design and quality of materials to speak for themselves. We focus on the highest quality materials we can find; sustainable yarns- bamboo and organic cotton, as well as luxurious yarns- silk, cashmere and alpaca.
Check back often, as we will be sure to highlight our current works, design events, and the history of craft.
