Q's Classes
Freestyle Weaving for the Creative Spirit
Weave your heart! Learn to weave freestyle and free-spirited on a simple, easy-to-use two-harness floor loom. Experiment with color, texture, and technique, and go home with a unique piece of woven art that reflects your creative spirit (yes, you do have one!).
Students will learn the basic skills of freestyle weaving on a highly approachable, easy-to-use two-harness floor loom. The class will emphasize play and individual exploration of color and texture in the service of personal expression; a few simple weaving techniques will be taught along the way. Students will take home what they weave.
Continuing Your Freestyle Weaving Journey
Weave your joy! So you’ve done a little weaving in the freestyle world, and you find it speaks to your heart. Now you’re ready to learn some new techniques to add to your freespirited toolbox as you continue down your weaving path. Invite this class into your life!
Students will learn various ways to add creativity and personal expression to warp and weft as they weave the fabric of their heart on a highly approachable and easy-to-use two-harness floor loom. Traveling inlay, two-color interlock, rya knots, loops and worms, and more creative choices await! Students will take home what they weave.
Flexible Freestyle
Weave your heart! Add a new approach to your textiles toolbox as you learn to weave freestyle and free-spirited on your rigid-heddle loom. Experiment with color, texture, and technique, and take home a unique piece of woven art that reflects your creative spirit (yes, you do have one!).
Students will learn the basic skills of freestyle weaving on their own simple, easy-to-use rigid-heddle looms. The class will emphasize individual exploration of color and texture in the service of personal expression; a few simple weaving techniques will be taught along the way.
Gettin' Batty with It: Art-Batt Tools & Techniques
Spinners, felters, and fiber artists! Have you ever wondered: What is an art batt? How might you make one? What can you do with it, and why would you want to? How does a dog comb come into the fiber-prep picture? And what in the world is a rolag? If so, come card with Q and learn answers to those questions–and more. Yes, we ARE batty for batts–and we think you will be as well!
Students will leave with the basic skills needed to create art batts, knowledge of some handy creative-carding tools, and fibery clouds of various kinds designed using ingredients from the unique Foldout Cat Batt Buffet and created using hand cards, blending boards, and drum carders.
Electric Sheep: Exploring E-spinners (3 hours)
Tempted by spinning but not sure a regular wheel’s for you? Intrigued by the idea of making just the yarn you want but not sure where you’d put a wheel if you had one? Feet/knees not doing what you want as painlessly as they used to, making the whole treadling part of wheel spinning look less than fun? Take a tour of 12+ e-spinners and even try out a few in this experiential, process-oriented class for folks just starting their spinning journey. E-spinners are small, tabletop-friendly, juiced up and ready to go–you might discover one that’s just right for you!
Students will get acquainted with multiple different e-spinners and be exposed to some bedrock spinning skills. By the end of the class, new spinners should have some sense of whether spinning on an e-spinner is for them and know a bit more about how various e-spinners work and how they compare with one another as well as with acoustic wheels.
Electric Sheep: Exploring E-spinning (6 hours)
Tempted by spinning but not sure a regular wheel’s for you? Intrigued by the idea of making just the yarn you want but not sure where you’d put a wheel if you had one? Feet/knees not doing what you want as painlessly as they used to, making the whole treadling part of wheel spinning look less than fun? Take some e-spinners for, well, a spin! In the first half of this experiential, process-oriented class designed for folks starting their spinning journey, you’ll take a guided tour of at least ten different e-spinners, learning how they resemble and differ from both one another and their acoustic brethren. In the second half, you’ll be exposed to and practice some fundamental spinning skills as you actively try out multiple e-spinners, getting a sense of what does and doesn’t work for you. Electric wheels are tabletop-friendly, juiced up, and ready to go. Who knows–you might discover one that’s just right for your spinning spirit!
Beginning Spinning on the EEW 6.1 E-spinner
Are you ready to dive into the world of spinning fiber? Or have you tried spinning, but found it to be difficult or unrewarding? Try out the Electric Eel Wheel 6.1 from Dreaming Robots and you may just find it’s the spinning wheel for you! This hands-on workshop will cover the basics of learning to spin fiber into yarn with the EEW 6.1, providing real-time feedback on technique. This portable, affordable, and efficient wheel will make you fall in love with spinning or rekindle your love of the hobby. At just five pounds including a battery, the EEW 6.1 goes anywhere you can go. After more than a decade of refinement from Dreaming Robots founder and designer Maurice Ribble, the EEW 6.1 can do almost anything traditional wheels can do at a fraction of the cost. In no time you will see the value of a wheel that can travel with you in a medium-sized project bag and yet be powerful and versatile enough to work for beginner spinners and experts alike.
Small But Mighty: Making Handheld Artworks with Simple Supplies
Looking for ways to create fun fiber artworks that don’t require a ton of time, space, or money? Then come explore with us! You’ll learn how to wrap and wind all sorts of yarn over and under warp threads on prepared embroidery hoops to weave up a Circling, around cardboard squares to make a frameable Winding, and around slender rope to build a coiled basket (call ‘em Coilings–we do). Any makes not finished during class will go home with you to be completed at your leisure. Making art is truly for everyone–and this class will help you prove it to yourself!
Students will learn how to weave freestyle on pre-warped embroidery hoops ready for hanging once finished, how to wind yarn in various patterns around cardboard coasters that can then be framed, and how to use clothesline and yarn to make a small basket useable in a variety of settings. Each of these makes is inexpensive, simple, and portable, giving students a craft they can easily share with others. Each technique can also be used to create larger and more complex works in the future as the student desires.
You Can Dye It: Turning Wool Fun Colors
Ever come across a fiber-arts project you’re longing to make but just never been able to find the perfect skein or braid to knit, crochet, spin, or felt it? Take this class and get started on the path towards dyeing just what you need for whatever you want to create! You’ll learn the basics of dyeing wool yarn and fiber with professional-level acid dyes using mini slow cookers and will take home hand-dyed yarn, fiber, and floof in colors you choose for rinsing, drying, and using in whatever projects you like.
Students will learn how to use acid dyes to dye wool yarn and fiber. They will take home what they dye to be further processed at home by rinsing and drying according to class discussion and instructions.