Workshop and Presentation at New Hampshire Weavers Guild

the carriage house at the Kimball-Jenkins Estate

checking in before the morning programs

sample looms at our morning workshop on warping stripes

Kate presented a slideshow about the school in the afternoon

samples of our work were on display in the gallery

On Wednesday, March 21st a group of us traveled to Concord, NH to the March meeting of the New Hampshire Weavers Guild. It was one of those flukey, ultra-warm sunny days we've been having recently...a great day to get up before dawn and be on the road by sunrise to go on a road trip.

Lynnette and I presented a workshop in the morning about the use of stripes in traditional weaving, with a hands-on portion so everyone could dive right in and try their hand at the technique of warping with multiple strands of yarn to quickly build a striped warp. We brought a couple of sample looms too, one set up with 8/2 cotton stripes and the other with a 5-harness satin weave in a fine 2's/20 worsted, so participants would have the opportunity to try colors with different weave structures and have a taste of the concepts we introduced in our presentation. We had 21 people sign up for this, so it was a busy morning.

After a pleasant lunch break outdoors in the shade, Kate gave an hour-long talk and slideshow about the history of the Marshfield School of Weaving, and her involvement with the early days of the school, through various subsequent incarnations, including a segment on the historical textile research that she has pursued throughout her years as a producer of some of the finest handwoven reproduction textiles in the country.

Afterwards, guild members had opportunity to look at, touch, and examine a large selection of the textiles we produce here at MSW and Eaton Hill Textile Works.

It was such a lovely day...although I'll admit I almost fell asleep driving home...a warm afternoon, the 3-5pm slump that always seems to affect all of us here at the studio, and an early start all contributed to that, I'm sure. We had a great time working as a team to put this whole thing together.