Our guild met with seven students at the South Valleys Library on Saturday for our first ever learn-to-weave class. With the looms warped in advance, students and mentors alike converged upon the meeting room at 10:00 for five hours of instruction.
Jen de Jung was the primary instructor though both Beryl Moody and Igor Raven taught supplemental sections and also provided a threaded loom for the students to take turns sleying. Suzanne Woodhead introduced weavers to floating selvedges and installed them on all of the student looms.
The over-head illustrations were clear and attractive. Jen did it all with her iPad and a bluetooth keypad. If you remember the old days of slide projectors, we have come a long way baby.
Each weaver was assigned to a student so Igor is assisting Nancy. I think it went a long way to eliminate frustration and provide support and encouragement since the teaching time was so short. The students were making a sampler, weaving an inch and a half of each pattern.
I was assigned to mentor Sheila. Or rather, I was assigned to warp this loom with Sheila's name on it and thus she became my student.
She is already comfortable weaving on a rigid heddle loom so zipped right through the patterns. She did great. All the students did!
And then it was time to clean up and clear out. The students are taking the looms home with them to finish up. They have all the materials they need to complete this project and a booklet of clear instructions. The next class is a month from now when they will learn how to warp the looms. To be continued......
