This will be the final post to the lansing weavers blog. As social media technologies evolve, the guild has moved to Facebook. The page is Greater Lansing Weavers Guild. Contact email remains lansingweavers@gmail.com.

Happy Weavings.

Last night was the Guild’s pot luck dinner.  All I can say there was great food and a wide variety.  Not only can our group weave, they can cook! 

This was our last formal meeting until September.  Have a great summer. 

I’ve included a few photos of show and tell that our members brought.

 

At our April meeting, we met at the Hen House in Charlotte.  This is where our guild library is housed.  Great meeting, lots of conservations with everyone. 

May was our business meeting where elections were held and reports given.  We did have a special ballot this year concerning our meeting times and place.  The final results of the vote by the entire membership were to continue meeting on Tuesday evenings at St. Matthew Lutheran Church.  It was also decided that we would not meet the months of January and February, but instead would meet in July and August.  Then we had a discussion about “Murphy’s Law” in weaving – we have all had those!  Members also brought their show and tells.

 Here are some photos of the show and tells.

DON'T FORGET................

Come to The Hen House for our April 10th Guild meeting and take a personal look at the library collections and other materials which the Guild owns. Look through your Library Holdings package and possibly think about what book, magazine or DVD you would like to hold in your hands that night. There is lots to choose from.

 Many books in the Guild collection are out of print; some long forgotten, others still very desirable. It could be the Textiles of Highland Guatemala, by Lisa O’Neale, which a few years ago, weaver/author Deborah Chandler contacted us about purchasing. It is out of print and to some, a collectible. At that time it was worth $250.00.  Current Amazon listings show two books available, one for $148.00 and one for $460.00.

 Or maybe Marian Powell’s book titled:  1000 Patterns in 4,6, and 8 harness Shadow Weaves, which one of our members purchased at a weaving store for $50.00.  and it also is out of print and sometimes mentioned in many articles. Current Amazon listings, show two books available, one for $195.00 and one for $285.00.

 

Hope to see you all there.

 

At our February meeting, we talked about all the different shuttles there are and the best uses for them.   Of course along with shuttles, we had all the different bobbins.  It was a great meeting along with being very interesting.

Then at our March meeting we had a discussion about the nuts and bolts of weaving rag rugs.  This presentation was done by our resident rag rug weaver  – Leslie Johnson.  Lots of information and examples very there for all to look at and enjoy.

Here are some of our show and tells.

 

Lynn Hershberger  [aka ColorJoy] was the presenter at our January meeting.  Lynn has been studying the combining of colors for over three decades and teaching for nearly twenty years.   In the presentation she showed combinations of colors and explained why they worked or not.  She broke down the color jargon into concepts that everyone understood.  She also introduced tried and true combination methods that have with stood the test of time.  It was a very interesting and fun evening.

 

 

 

 

After the program, we had our "Show and Tell segment.  Here are a few photographs:

 

 

 

See you next month.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The weather forecast for Tuesday evening hasn’t improved, so in the interest of keeping everyone safe, the guild is canceling the December meeting. Social time and good food are great, but potentially treacherous roads, blowing snow and below-zero wind chills add up to dangerous, especially after dark. So tuck in, stay warm, and we’ll shoot for January, weather permitting.

 

 

 

Today members of the Spinning Group will be getting together at Kathy's to spin and enjoy each others company.  Maybe this should be a new tradition for Black Friday

Cathy McCarthy, our November speaker, loves winding mixed warps for her looms.  She loves getting things done quickly, and winding a mixed warp is much faster using a warping paddle.  At our meeting she showed us a couple of ways to wind mixed warps using 2 methods she is familiar with.  Also she used 2 different warping paddles.

As promised here are a couple photographs of the felted pumpkins.  Aren't they great!

What a fun meeting was had by all.  Kelly was teaching us to make felted pumpkins.  Everyone's pumpkins were still in process by the end of the meeting, so when we get photos they will be posted.  Included here are some of the show and tell items that were shown off proudly by our members.

A great first meeting for the Guild.  We had a wonderful time catching up on what happened over the summer.  Members brought items that they had woven over the summer to share with everyone.  I've included some of the photos here. 

Don't forget the next meeting is October 10th.  Come join us.

Upcoming Guild program guide for this year

September
• There will be two parts: first, the Board is looking for ideas for programs and workshops to work into the schedule for the next two years. Second, “What I did on my summer vacation”. The Board is looking for reports of conferences, workshops, classes and festivals you attended.
o What did you like? ...
o Not like?
o Would you recommend?
o Ballpark costs to attend.

October –
• Our annual felting program with Kelly Brandt. This year will feature fall holiday pumpkins

November –
• Cathy McCarthy will be presenting a lecture on mixed warps.

December –
• The winter holiday potluck. While we eat, we talk about our Murphy’s Law experiences. If something can go wrong, it will.

January – Lynn H (aka ColorJoy) will present “Color: Losing the Fear”.
• Program description:
o Do you hold yourself back when you consider new color combinations? Does the process of weaving make you happy, but your yarn choices perhaps don't look the way you anticipated after weaving? Michigan Traditional Arts/MTAAP Master Artist Lynn Hershberger has been studying the combining of colors for over three decades, and teaching about it for nearly twenty years.
o In this presentation, Lynn will cover a table with yarns of different colors, and show combinations hands on while explaining why they work or not. She will break down color jargon into concepts for everyone. She will introduce tried-and-true combination methods which have stood the test of time, and which do not have to be boring to succeed.
o You will surely return to your loom with more confidence.

February – to be determined

March – to be determined

April – to be determined

May –
• Annual Business Meeting:
o annual election, group reports: community outreach, study group, early weavers, spinners, portable looms

June – End of Year pot luck

The GLWG Weaving Study Group has been a Guild activity for years. The group membership has fluctuated from 12 members or more to 3 or 4. The group participants discuss their interests, someone suggests a topic and thru consensus, the group decides on their study topic for the next year. Over the years, this group has studied twills, crackle and borders among some possibilities.

This year, the suggestion for studying Freeform Design came from a couple of guild members. Over the past few years these members have been discussing putting motifs and/or borders on their weavings. Not having multiple harness looms they were looking for some other simpler techniques. A few years ago, they had participated in a workshop with Su Butler: "Easy Pickup" with the Ontario Guild, for 4 harness looms, but it didn't quite fill the bill as to what they were seeking. You can check out Su Butler's web site for her course description, etc: Su based a lot of her instruction on Erica de Ruiter's work: "Weaving on Three Shafts" and "Easy Pick-up Patterning On Two, Three & Four Shafts". Su Butler: http://www.subudesigns.com/currentworkshops.cfm.

These same guild members already own Nancy Searles book: The Technique of Freeform Design" as Searles provides instruction for 4 shaft looms, and this year it was suggested to try this out and work with it...and so they are. They have continued to work with it and thus their suggestion to the study group to join them in this endeavor.

Our first meeting of the season is next Tuesday, September 12^th at St. Matthew Lutheran Church.  Mingling starts at 6:30pm and the meeting will start at 7:00pm.

We have a lot going on this year and lots to catch up on, so we hope to see everyone there.

Here are some photographs from the Spinning Group's meeting today.  The next meeting is scheduled for September 29th, 1pm at Louise's house.  Fun was had by all.

Just a quick note, the Spinning Group is getting together tomorrow [August 25th] at 1:00 pm at Diedra's  house.  Come join the fun.

 

 

Weaving and spinning demonstrations by members of the Greater Lansing Weavers Guild will be part of the annual celebration of Delhi Township this Saturday. Demonstrations will run from noon until 6 p.m. in a tent near the Holt Junior High School (1784 Aurelius Road). The demonstrators will explain what they’re doing and gladly answer questions about how yarn is made and cloth is woven. Samples of finished items will be on display, also.

A parade beginning at 11 a.m. at the junior high, an old car show, a kid’s area, a variety of vendors and a fireworks show will also be part of the fun.

 

See you there

Please join us for our "Welcome back meeting", Tuesday, September 13th.

***Location for this meeting only: Fellowship Room***

Remember your “Show and Tell”

Location: St. Matthew Lutheran Church

2418 N Aurelius Road, Holt

Mingle starts at 6:30 --- Meeting starts at 7:00

Please arrive before 7 p.m.

Aneesa from Capital Area District Libraries presents "Accessing Weaving (and other) resources."

Change of location for April Meeting ~ The Hen House, 211 S Cochran Ave, Charlotte MI
Meeting date - 4/12/2016
Hidden treasures – The Handwoven Sample Sets in the Guild Library. This program and meeting will be held at the guild library (Hen House in Charlotte). The guild has a collection of samples woven by members over the last 50 years. Want to see how a structure looks woven in cloth? Peggy Adams will take us on a tour of this collection.
Amidst the many sample books in the Guild Library, Peggy will be sharing information for only two of them:
1) Harrisville Designs "The Fabric Book". [1980]The Fabric Book was conceived at Harrisville Designs as an educational tool which would make available a collection of ideas illustrated by actual handwoven fabric samples. Since many Guilds could not afford the book, Harrisville made available information and drafts for Guilds to weave their own samples and eventually have an entire "Fabric Book" of their own. The book is divided into four sections, each of which focuses on a particular aspect of fabric design and weaving technique: 1. Setts - single ply, 2, ply, homespun, Designer, Mixed Weight; 2) Finishing: single ply, 2, ply, homespun, Designer, Mixed Weight; 3. Four Harness Idea Fabrics - Eight warps; 4) Multi-Harness Idea Fabrics - 8 Harness Twills; Warp brocade; Twill Blocks; Double Weave Blocks.
Each sample shows the name of the GLWG Weaver and an explanation of the samples.
2) Michigan Sesquicentennial Study Group [1987]. The Michigan Sesquicentennial Study Group began s a celebration of our heritage and our 150 years of statehood. Each member studied the history and weaving of an ethnic group that was a major part of Michigan's population during the first 50 years of statehood.