Join Manny Hutter of Herculean Woodworks to turn one piece of pine into a finished product you may take home each week! Students will have a hand in Cutting, Glueing, Nailing and more! Students will learn the safety and skills with power tools, getting an introduction to carpentry and woodworking! If you like to work with your hands, this is the class for you!

In this class, participants will make a pair of copper dangle earrings. Students will cut shapes from a sheet of copper, texture the surface, and drill a hole for assembly. The shapes can match or be asymmetrical, giving each pair its own character.

This four-hour class is designed as an approachable introduction to working with metal. No experience is necessary.

In this workshop, students will learn the fundamentals of coil basketry by creating a small hand-stitched basket. We’ll cover how to start a base, shape the sides, and use simple stitching techniques to build structure and pattern. This class is suitable for beginners and anyone who enjoys working with their hands. All materials are provided, but if you have special yarns or fabric you’d like to incorporate, feel free to bring them along.

Many of us have a beloved clothing item with a hole or a stain that we can’t bear to throw away and don’t know how to mend. Many of us also don’t want to create more waste and add to overflowing landfills. In the past, wearing mended clothing was not acceptable but with the right skills mended clothes can be beautiful. This class is for anyone who wants to learn the basics so they can mend their own clothing like jeans or shirts using stitching or patching. Learn to cover a hole or a stain using simple stitch techniques that can be used as the basis to learn Sashiko or Kantha or your own creative stitching.

Learn how to inspect and assess a fabric item that needs repair.

Learn how to select patch fabric, select thread, and tie a knot.Learn and practice stitches used for fabric mending: running stitch, backstitch (sesame seed). (If there is time and interest, chain stitch, stem stitch, split stitch, blanket stitch).

Learn different approaches to patch placement (under, over, quilt).Practice patching a fabric square or own item.

Materials:

Students can bring an item they would like to learn how to mend by stitching or patching.

All other materials included.

Go anywhere in the world and you will find some relationship between people and masks. What they represent depends on place, culture, intention, and the purpose behind its making. The weaver will determine for themselves what their mask is articulating in that moment. 

This is part 4 of a 4-part series that include projects from Susan Barrett Merrill’s The Art of Weaving a Life. Bradie is a Weaving a Life leader having studied with Susan back in 2017.

Weaving experience is not necessary to enjoy this workshop.

This will be a peaceful, powerful, and highly creative weekend workshop. 

Materials:

Looms, yarns, and other materials will be available for use in this class. If you have sticks, driftwood, yarns or other fibers you like, as well as other materials that speak to you and that you might want to consider as an adornment for your mask, please bring them along!

Saturday will be spent weaving your mask. 

Sunday will be spent shaping, adorning, and finishing your mask. 

Come Raku your pots! Bring 2-4 peices of bisqueware that is raku ready.

This class will work with 3 natural indigo vats of varying strengths. Attention to mixing vats with a focus on the final color value will be stressed. Thus we will have one for pale, medium and dark colored yarns. Correct measuring of dye material to the volume water in the vat will be emphasized to ensure successful indigo dyeing. Students will assist in making the vats and running samples on natural colored yarn and as well as  pre-dyed natural dyed yarns to mix for greens and blues and purple shades. Finally, correct finishing of indigo dyed yarns will be demonstrated to minimize crocking. Students will receive a set of 96 samples that we dye in class.

Once a weaver has learned the basics in tapestry weaving, it’s a natural next step to learn how to apply them to designs. Project planning, yarn choice, technique application… all of this and more will be covered in this class.

Each week a different weaving topic will be covered, and each student will have the opportunity to explore their weaving plans with the instructor and their group. In addition, small projects will be suggested for students to practice techniques that will take their weaving to a new level.

This is a class that can be taken as many times as one wants, as new issues and questions arise with any tapestry project a weaver takes on. There is also great camaraderie that forms amongst weavers as we expand into this art form.

Pre-requisite: Introductory to Tapestry Weaving or commensurate experience.

Materials needed for this class:

Tapestry loom
Preferred warp yarn
Preferred weft yarn
Weaving tools

If you are building your supplies stash and would like some suggestions on what to purchase, please reach out to fiber@shelburnecraftschool.org

Borrowing from the studio is also an option depending on availability.

NOTE: For this semester, the group will meet every other week to allow time for weaving in between classes.