Ann Arbor Fiberarts Guild

Doin’ Demos

April 29, 2015/0 Comments/in Interesting stuff /by bschutzgruber

I would not be doing what I do today if it were not for demos.

Yes…. I was the kid mom and dad would lose at places like Greenfield Village – part of the Henry Ford museum complex in Dearborn, Michigan, Historic Mystic Seaport in Connecticut, or any of the Mackinac State Historic Parks at the northern tip of Michigan’s lower peninsula. The 5 of us kids would all be there one minute and the next thing they knew… there were only 4. Luckily, it did not take them long to figure out where to find me = simply backtrack to the last place that had demonstrations and there I would be… still watching….. completely spellbound. At all of these places.. and many more…. I saw weavers, spinners, dyers, blacksmiths, woodworkers, glass blowers, ropemakers, coopers…. all plying their trade for everyone to see. Everyday people actually DOING these crafts with skill and artistry – creating magic right before my eyes and I would lose all track of time… and my family as they moved onto the next thing.

Demonstrations are a fabulous way to connect the general public to skills and crafts that are no longer part of our modern everyday life and I love doing them.

I’ve done them at our guild sales and at fairs. My work as a storyteller, along with my fascination with odd bits of off-beat information, certainly helps.

Showing how things are done….

letting people touch the wool and yarns….

and giving them have a chance to throw the shuttle….

create tactile hands-on experiences that can stay with someone their entire life. Telling the stories of the workers in the mills, how fortunes were made and lost, and where the terms and sayings we use today originated brings dry facts of history to life and connects us to our past. This is where cloth comes from….. this is how it’s made…. and these are people who make it today.

One of the fun things about doing demonstrations is that you never know what may come out of the experience. Because I’m talking with people as I work and need to be able to stop at any given moment to answer a question or give a quick recap, I do not attempt to create anything complex – I just play and try out ideas. This was true at the last AAFG Holiday Sale when I made a hat using silk chiffon fabric covered with layers of merino wool and silk fibers as embellishmentto to demonstrate wet felting. Because this hat can be turned inside out, you get to choose which ‘look’ strikes your fancy = more intense color or muted color.

I was pleased with the experiment and continued playing with the idea in different colors.

Not only can doing demonstrations educate and allow for experimentation, they can be a welcome distraction. For the past 12 years members of the Ann Arbor Fiberarts Guild have been weaving at the University of Michigan Medical Center as a form of entertainment and distraction for patients and family members who are waiting to see the doctor. Currently we are in the lobby of the Cancer Center and the cloth woven is made into hats that are given to patients undergoing chemo and other treatments.

“We are so pleased to have this wonderful skill shared with our patients,
not only for the calming affect it has by sitting and observing the weavers,
but also for the lovely hats made for our patients from the weavings.”

Share….. Educate…… Outreach…… Connect…….
all this and more can be found when doin’ demos!

Cartography Chic

March 30, 2015/0 Comments/in garments, Interesting stuff, Projects, weaving /by bschutzgruber

Guilds and associations are great places to connect with other artists, bounce ideas around, get support, feedback, and be challenged to push one’s creativity and art. My fiber guild is the Ann Arbor Fiberarts Guild and back in May 2014, a challenge was issued for the April 2015 meeting:

Recycled and Repurposed Runway

Tablecloths, cassette tape, telephone wire, discarded garments, curtains and draperies, old sweaters, cast off jewelry – any and all of these materials might go into a garment or accessory you create for this creative runway show.
Your object of fashion may be wearable and useable…. or not,
sedate or flamboyant…. or something in between,
fashionable…. or not.
The only criteria is it must be made from used materials.
How creative can Guild members be?
We will learn the answer to that on the runway!

I had already woven a garment using audio cassette tape [see July 2013 post “Recycle… Upcycle…. Fairs… and more…..”] which had been part of our annual spring fashion show in 2014 so I wanted to come up with something new. What to use and what to do? For the next 9 months ideas simmer in the back of my mind…. and then I cleaned out a cabinet. There were the National Geographic maps that had been collecting for over 30 years!

Cartography ~ study and practice of making maps
The premise being that by combining science, aesthetics, and technique,
reality can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively.

I’ve always liked maps. The lines, shapes, colors can be beautiful works of art. We even used them to decorate the nursery when the kids were little. I would weave something out this pile of maps!

But what?

In 1999, I attended my first Association of Guilds of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers summer school taking a course on weaving with bulrushes taught by Linda Lemieux. In the USA, bulrushes are a protected plant but in the UK, they can be cultivated and harvested making this was a unique opportunity for me. We wove braided bands, containers and finished the week with making a hat.

I would use those same techniques to weave a hat & purse out of maps! I made samples weaving on the bias and plain weave to see how pliable the map paper was. It was quickly apparent that the paper on its own was very flimsy and I would have to reinforce it to keep it from tearing and to be firm enough to hold the shape.

Using my notes from a workshop I took in 2000 from Jackie Abrams weaving with painted cotton paper as reference, I used a spray adhesive to attach the map paper to sheets of artist canvas. I made several more tests cutting the map/canvas strips into 1/2″ and 1/4″ widths and used waxed linen thread when twinning was needed. This worked much better and I was ready to start!

I laid out 1/2″ wide map/canvas strips in a plain weave….

and laid that on the bias over a hard foam hat block to weave the crown using pins and clips to keep it in place. I stitched the base of the crown to secure the proper diameter.

I was not able to weave the brim as I had done on the bulrush hat but made it separate and attached it to the crown using hot glue.

Next I trimmed the spokes, used the spay adhesive to attach a map to the underside of the brim, and machine stitched around the edge.

Making the purse was MUCH easier!!! Using 1/2″ map/canvas strips and a styrofoam block for the mold, I wove a 12″ x 5 1/2″ x 1″ clutch bag.

All the pieces were given a coat of matt varnish to provide added strength and protection.

The Cartography Chic Hat & Purse Set is just the ticket
for any explorer with a flair for fashion!

Critic or Critique?

January 26, 2015/7 Comments/in felt, Interesting stuff, Projects /by bschutzgruber

Critic (noun) a person who expresses an unfavorable opinion of something

For many people, including myself, the idea of having your art judged does not bring happy thoughts to mind and can crush creativity. My elementary school did not have an art teacher. A picture from a magazine would be taped to the chalkboard and we were simply told “Draw this.” The results were always graded using letter grades (A to E) one for content and and one for neatness. My work, if I was lucky, might…. just might…. get C-/D and there were no suggestions to help me improve my work. To this day the thought of drawing something sends me into an anxiety attack.

Critique (noun) a detailed analysis and assessment of something

Getting a thoughtful critique can raise art to new levels, broaden perspective and increase creativity. Last year I worked on large felt wall hanging for the annual Ann Arbor Fiberarts Guild show which runs the month of February in the lobby of the Power Center for the Performing Arts here in Ann Arbor, MI.

View From Above
(28″ x 82″- felted wool fibers)

This was one of the largest felt pieces I’ve ever made and felting it was physically demanding. I was pleased with the design – the mix of colors and line movement. It made a statement, especially from a distance. I believed it was good enough, so fingers crossed….. I submitted it.

It was not selected and in my disappointment I suddenly found myself emotionally back in elementary school. But here is where ‘critique’ turned this experience from the negative ‘critic’ into something positive. The jury committee had made comments. Some were positive (it was felted well and it did catch attention from a distance) PLUS there comments about where it still needed work:
1) there is no real change in value (light/dark) within each of the colors used
2) there was nothing new to discover once you stepped closer

So for the next year I thought about what I could do to embellish this piece yet stay true to my desire to only use felting techniques.

Using a barbed needle to punch fibers into place,

I needle felted silk fibers to give a broader range of color value and bring more interest and details, then I repeated the wet felting to blend everything together.

Top detail – before and after

Bottom detail – before and after

I am happy to say that Coastal Waterways was accepted for this year’s Power Center Show.

Critic or Critique? It’s all in how you say it and where the emphasis is placed.

Coastal Waterways
(26″ x 79″ – felted wool & silk fibers)

Waulking and Art Fair and more…. oh my!

July 21, 2014/2 Comments/in Interesting stuff, weaving /by bschutzgruber

July has been a month filled with one event after another!

Starting with demonstrating in the Textiles Tent at the Saline Celtic Festival which combines my 2 artistic loves…. stories and weaving.

The weather was sunny and relatively cool for a Michigan summer so attendance was good for the festival. Mary Underwood and CJ Kohoyda-Inglis organized the Textile Tent filling it with fabulous fiber folk so besides my weaving demonstration, there were members of The Spinners Flock demonstrating different forms of spinning and knitting.

One of highlights of our tent is ‘Waulking the Tweed’ with Frances Acar leading us in song. ‘Waulking’ is the Scottish Gaelic word for fulling. Woven woolen fabric needs to be ‘fulled’ when it comes off the loom. Pressure, warmth and moisture creates tiny pockets of air that lift up the woolen fibers making the surface softer, thicker and more weather resistant. Before the days of machines this was done by hand with friends and family in a community event – each bringing fabric that needed to be fulled. If there was not a table long enough for the fabric, doors were often taken off hinges and set on the ground or saw horses for the work surface. Songs were sung to set the pace, rhythm and coordinate movement. By measuring the woolen fabric after every 2 or 3 songs controlled shrinkage can be achieved. The songs are call-and-response with the leader singing the verses and everyone else singing the refrain. Many of the songs were about how wonderful, intelligent or handsome a husband/lover is OR how that husband/lover is a no good rogue and lowlife. (Some things haven’t changed over the centuries!)

Right on the heels of Celtic Festival came the Ann Arbor Art Fairs.
For 4 days more than 1,000 artists sprawl over 27 blocks of Ann Arbor as 4 separate nationally recognised art fairs are going on simultaneously. The weather was fantastic and nearly 500,000 people came over the 4 days. My work, along with 15 other guild members, was part of the Ann Arbor Fiberarts Guild booth in the State Street Area Art Fair. It certainly ‘took a village’ or in this case a guild (16 sellers and 20 volunteers) – to build, man, and take down our booth.

And finally…. the month closes out with the National Storytelling Network Conference in Mesa, Arizona filled with master classes, keynotes, workshops, storytelling concerts and swaps. Here I’ll connect with storytellers from across the country and help with the 8th season of the Fringe Performances.

The Saga of the Green Man comes to an end

February 4, 2014/0 Comments/in Projects, tapestry, weaving /by bschutzgruber

The weaving completed, I cut the Green Man off the loom on January 13, 2014
…only 1 year later than planned.

Now the finishing work began: all the warp threads knotted and secured, the long gap in the center forehead leaf sewn shut, clean up the back (weave in/sink the weft ends), plus there was a lot of rippling in the tapestry because my warp tension had become very uneven.

Crossing my fingers that blocking would eliminate the rippling, I put him onto the shower floor to wet down then I pinned him facedown onto a piece of foam board to block, squaring up the 4 sides. I stood him up in the bathtub to drain over night then moved the board near the floor register for the next 4 days to dry.

Once he was throughly dry, I unpinned him and turned him over. To my joy…. the blocking had eliminated the rippling = whew!!! Twill tape was sewn to the top and bottom, turned to the back and sewn down. Finished tapestry dimensions: 18″ x 18″. I used velcro to mount him onto black matboard and made a simple black frame. Final dimensions: 25″ x 25″. I packed him up and dropped him off to be juried.

The Green Man was accepted for the AAFG 2014 exhibit at the Power Center for the Performing Arts in Ann Arbor, MI. We hung the exhibit on Tuesday, February 4th and it runs through the month of February.

He is nicely positioned so he can check out everyone as they enter the theater from the lobby…. and is watching to make sure no food or drink is brought inside!

My daughter Andrea, who did the orignal painting, announced the other day, “Hey, Mom…. I’ve got an idea for our next painting/tapestry collaboration….. “

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