Month: July 2022

News

Woolmark Learning Center

Post author By Ann Davies
Post date July 26, 2022

Have you heard of the Woolmark Learning Center?

“Australian Wool Innovation and its subsidiary The Woolmark Company, have been educating and supporting the global wool industry for more than 50 years.

As a not-for-profit organisation, our purpose is to equip the entire industry, from the Australian woolgrowers who produce wool, through to the designers who create with it, with the resources, information and tools to succeed in the industry.”

They have several on-line free learning opportunities that are free. (Wool Appreciation, Sustainability and Wool, and Wool Fibre Science.)

Check them out!

News

Sheep to Shawl Demonstration

Post author By Ann Davies
Post date July 22, 2022

Lorain County Spinners and Weavers Present
A Sheep to Shawl Demonstration
At the Lorain County Fair

Sunday, August 28, 2022 11:00 am to 3:00 pm

Come watch as spinners and weavers demonstrate the process
of taking fleece from sheep and spinning and weaving it into a
beautiful shawl.

Sheep to Shawl Demonstration Goals:
• To demonstrate the art of spinning and producing a project through weaving,
crocheting or knitting
• To collaborate as team members in the steps of starting with a clean fleece, flicking,
carding, combing, spinning, plying and then weaving, crocheting or knitting an item.
Guidelines:
• Teams will consist of up to 6 members.
• Teams must have a name and team appearance (eg. same color t-shirt)
• Fleece will be donated. Teams will need to wash fleece and bring the clean fleece to the
fair.
• Fleece may be dyed by team.
• Demonstration will begin at 11:00 am and end at 3:00 pm. Projects will be put on
display and certificate of participation will be awarded.

This is an educational, entertaining event and is not a contest.

Come sit a spell and watch the magic happen.

Pavilion closest to fair office.

News

One Year One Outfit

Post author By Ann Davies
Post date July 21, 2022

One Year One Outfit

The Rustbelt Fibershed is looking for spinners or weavers to help make fabric (may be paid or volunteer) as part of the One Year One Outfit Project.

Participants of the first One Year, One Outfit Challenge are working as individuals or teams of up to three to design, source, and create one outfit (defined as 3 distinct garments or accessories) within a cohort of other makers. At the close of the season, participants will exhibit their completed outfits at the Praxis Fiber Workshop Gallery in 2023.

The goals of this undertaking are to:

Provide a structure for imaginative, slow fashion to thrive
Celebrate the incredible amount of local talent and production in our fibershed
Connect folks to each other through bi-monthly cohort meetings where we can share projects, progress, hang-ups, connections, etc.
Create a collection of stories and a body of work that will provide a glimpse of our unique region and steward our valuable material and human resources.

If you are interested please contact Sarah Silk (sarahsilk@gmail.com)

“We are creating a collaborative network of regenerative fiber farmers, processors, and designers from the Rust Belt Region to explore the possibilities of working with the resources in our fibershed, in particular sheeps wool, alpaca, flax, and plant dyes, whose work demonstrates a commitment to creating a ‘soil to soil’ fashion and textile system. We also educate consumers about the life-giving need and creative possibilities for a circular textile system.

Rust Belt Fibershed consists of 250 mile radius outside of Cleveland, Ohio including parts of Michigan, southern Ohio, Western Pennsylvania and Western New York. It is our goal to build a community that collaboratively supports locally grown textiles in a way that decrease consumption of fast fashion and works to restore soil health. We aspire to connect everyone in all parts of our local fiber system: farmers, fiber processors–from large mills to home spinners, weavers, dyers and fiber artists–to designers, shop owners, fiber enthusiasts, and all consumers of textiles. Through this project, we hope to increase education of stewardship of our land and resources, foster friendship and creativity, and facilitate conversations that address the challenges of a localized fiber supply chain.” (Rustbelt Fibershed website, 2022)

News

Fabric-creation

Post author By Ann Davies
Post date July 7, 2022

We are officially back up and running with changes made to the website. The goal was to make this website a reflection of what our guild has to offer, to be consistent with our stated mission and to add value to our member’s experience with the guild.

Our missions:

Assist members in the pursuit of spinning, weaving and fiber art through education, discussion and programs
1. Check out the home page. You will find our most recent posts and what’s on our schedule.
2. “Learn with us” on the navigation bar has helpful links in one location, information about our Dye Garden and eventually will have reading resources.
Share crafts through demonstrations in our community
1. The home page will provide a quick link to what is on our schedule.
2. “What’s Happening” on the navigation bar will get you to the calendar which will list demonstrations.
3. It also has a section for demonstrations so if you need to know where to go, you can see the address and a map.
Promote friendship and understanding among members
1. We’ve added other resources to the website including our bylaws, how to join, artist pages (a way to share with others the great work you create) and a member access only site where we will have the directory, the library list and equipment list in addition to archiving newsletters.

We are hoping that the site will be easier to navigate and become a resource for our members and the community. Have fun checking things out!

News

July 2022 Newsletter

Post author By Ann Davies
Post date July 3, 2022

Here is the July 2022 Newsletter. You’ll need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open and read it, which you can find here.

Our next meeting is July12th. We’ll gather at the Carlisle Reservation Visitors’ Center on Nickle Plate Diagonal Road (directions here).

Business Meeting

Show and Tell

Fair Form Collection

Program: Sheep to Shawl Demo
A demonstration by our two teams about how this is all
accomplished. There is cleaning, carding, spinning and more.