Category: Guild Program

January, 13 @ 10:00 a.m.
Sue Balascio
Sue loves textiles. For many years she was a seamstress/dressmaker. And then she wanted to create the fabric as well as sew with it. Since 2013, weaving has added to her passion for working with textiles.
Sue has not only focused on weaving and the fiber arts, she has also worked in jewelry design, painting, stained glass, collage and ceramics. But throughout her career color has tied it all together.
Her emphasis lately has been fine threads and woven wall art with traditional and non traditional materials. She will share her journey as well as an overview of her techniques and process.
Join us on Zoom to hear more from a very talented weaver, artist, and best of all, a fellow member of Harmony Weavers Guild.
Please send photos of your Show & Tell weavings for the January meeting to Sue Balascio before the day of the meeting.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://udel.zoom.us/j/7526617738
Password: weave

Sally Orgren has been an active member of the weaving community since before I met her in 2004 at Convergence in Denver. My experience is that she is continually trying new techniques and materials to see what happens — and it’s usually a pretty good outcome. I have found her to be energetic and willing to share her tips and knowledge of the craft — even following up to unanswered questions. (Yes, she did that for me.)
Sally will be presenting a talk at our April meeting about stripes – “Putting the Pizzazz! into your Stripes”. This virtual, interactive program will discuss various ways to enliven and energize stripes in your warp patterns by using examples of handwoven samples. Among the topics will be planning and envisioning your stripe patterns (especially if you don’t have access to weaving software) and how-to tips for winding on a multicolored warp.
Participants will be invited to share photos or projects with stripe patterns they find inspiring and the group will analyze how these sequences might be created and if they are more or less successful, attractive, or produce surprising results.

March Zoom Program
March 11 @ 10:00 a.m.
This month’s program will be presented by Robyn Spady, who is well known to us because she has previously presented a workshop to our guild and many of us have taken her workshops at MAFA Conferences over the years.
The title of her program is “The Devil’s in the Details.” Robyn will present “a variety of fiber techniques for adding a little detail to create exceptional results. Sometimes adding the most understated detail or accent can make the difference between something ordinary and something extraordinary.”
When planning a project, we spend a lot of time and effort picking out that special yarn and weave structure. Aren’t we always looking for a way to make our project unique? With that in mind, I am sure that we are all looking forward to hearing Robyn’s ideas.
“Robyn was introduced to handweaving as a baby with her handwoven baby blanket woven by her great-grandmother. Inspired by her blankie, she learned to weave at a young age and has been weaving for over 50 years. She completed HGA’s Certificate of Excellence in Handweaving (COE-W) in 2004 with the specialized study, Loom-controlled Stitched Double Cloth. Robyn is fascinated by the infinite possibilities of crossing threads and loves coming up with new ideas to create fabric and transform it into something new and exciting. She is committed to turning the weaving world on to double-faced fabrics, four-shaft weaves, uncommon and advanced weave structures, and passementerie techniques. She is the founder and editor of Heddlecraft® magazine.”
The Program Committee

Our program this month will be presented by Daryl Lancaster, who is well known to us having presented several programs and workshops to our guild and at MAFA conferences over the years.
We will “explore and experience creative ways to use every precious bit of hand-woven scrap. Some techniques require sewing, some a hot glue gun. Some ideas become great garments; some can be sent through the mail! We will learn how to use some of the fusibles and stabilizers available and learn to look at everything from old work, to the smallest scrap as an exciting new raw material.” This is a regularly discussed issue for many hand weavers and I know that we are looking forward to seeing what Daryl suggests.
Daryl is a hand-weaver and fiber artist known for her award-winning hand-woven fabric and garments, has been constructing garments for more than half a century. She gives lectures and workshops to guilds, conferences, and craft centers all over the United States. The former Features Editor for Handwoven Magazine, she has written more than 100 articles and digital content. She frequently contributes to various weaving and sewing publications including Threads Magazine. She now has a YouTube Channel, The Weaver Sews, where she shares her extensive experience sewing handwoven garments. Daryl maintains a
blog at www.weaversew.com/wordblog. You can also find her atwww.Daryllancaster.com.

Our Program will be presented by Marilyn Romatka on the topic of Uzbek Ikat. This is a technique that many of us have been intrigued with over the years. We will be able to
experience the exotic from our own homes; traveling to Central Asia in this multi-media presentation. Uzbekistan isn’t just bluetiled monuments. We have been enchanted by Uzbek Ikat in museums and on the runways in New York and London. We will accompany Marilyn to see the Uzbek artisans weave the bold patterns into this fabric. Each thread is manipulated, dyed and woven into exquisite cloth – truly hand-crafted.
Marilyn says that her “…focus is living folk art crafts. I teach a wide variety of crafts from painting techniques to weaving. The common thread being that the techniques are all deep-rooted in a culture from around the world. You might say the techniques that I teach have all survived the ‘test of time.’ I have the best job in the world. I travel to various countries gathering folk art techniques, then I return to the US to teach enthusiastic students.”
You are encouraged to visit Marilyn’s web page to learn more about her and to see the large
selection of international folk ar ts that she is available to teach at marilyn@taprootfolkarts.com.

OCTOBER 8 , 2020

Exploring Unconventional Materials is a presentation that examines the work of several fiber artists who have challenged the concept of what a textile is or have incorporated unusual or nontraditional materials in their work. The presentation is designed to encourage weavers to think “outside the box” and perhaps embark on their own material exploration. As weavers we often become complacent with traditional materials and all of the pre-determined constraints associated with them. Essentially, our creativity becomes confined to working “inside the box”. Undertaking an unconventional material exploration can free us to work without pre-conceived ideas or restraints, reinforce the creative process and spark new creativity in our approach to using traditional yarns and materials.

Kathleen Remsa is a member of Harmony Weavers Guild and South Jersey Weavers Guild. She is a fiber artist currently living in Mount Laurel, New Jersey. She attained a Bachelor of Science from Cook College, Rutgers University in Plant Science and a Master of Science in Textile Design from Philadelphia University. After recently concluding a fifteen-year career designing and styling jacquard woven fabrics and collections for the residential and outdoor markets for Sunbury Textile Mill and Glen Raven Corporation, Kathleen now devotes her full attention to creating fiber art and instructing others in the design process and textile explorations.

NOTE: Guild members who would like Kathleen to consider particular unconventional materials they are interested in are invited to send her their ideas in advance of the meeting. They can email her at kbremsa@aol.com.

You can join the program beginning at 9:45 am.
The presentation will begin at 10, and will be followed by the business meeting.

February Guild Meeting
ST. ELIZABETH ANN SETON CHURCH
345 BEAR-CHRISTIANA RD (RT. 7)
BEAR, DE
Thursday, February 13, 2020

Color is usually the first thing one sees. It is a very powerful and influential element of design. Color can be symbolic, subjective, emotionally evocative and very complicated. Using color successfully in woven textile design can be an especially daunting challenge. This presentation examines the basic principles of color theory, addresses what makes a color palette sophisticated and offers tips and techniques to developing a more discerning color sense and the confidence to design with color.

Kathleen Remsa is a fiber artist currently living in Mount Laurel, New Jersey. She attained a Bachelor of Science from Cook College, Rutgers University in Plant Science and a Master of Science in Textile Design from Philadelphia University. After recently concluding a fifteen year career designing and styling jacquard woven fabrics and collections for the residential and outdoor markets for Sunbury Textile Mill and Glen Raven Corporation, Kathleen now devotes her full attention to creating fiber art and instructing others in the design process and textile explorations.

To learn more about Kathleen Remsa, please visit her website https://kbrwovens.com