In August of this year, I had the rare opportunity to co-teach a workshop with my close friend (and college room mate) Carol Ward. We taught a 2-day: “Inspired by Nature…Weaving Organically”. Then in October, I traveled to Van Nuys, California to teach for the Southern California Handweavers Guild. “Line in Tapestry” with the focus on Soumak techniques.

First, “Weaving Organically”

I continue to be amazed at the size and depth of the guilds I visit and the Mountain Spinners and Weavers Guild is no exception. We met in a meeting room of a church which allowed for lots of space to spread out, with kitchen and rest room facilities on site. Plus picnic table and outdoor space for lunch.

As you can see, Inspiration was high on the list!

We hoped to encourage tapestry weavers to let go and trust their inner instincts. Whatever that might mean or wherever it might lead. Some came with designs in mind, inspiration photos, or special objects. Others with no pre-conceptions whatsoever. We encouraged everyone to stay loose, free to explore, and see where it might lead.

And, of course, we brought plenty of props along, too. It was a workshop loaded with inspirational nudges for those that might need some guidance. Carol and I each brought some personal objects to share and a stack of images to get juices flowing, then we split up the time with some fun exercises and demonstrated techniques as the occasion arose. Color Blending and Soumak were popular!

Carol uses a lot of wrapping in her work, and it was fun to compare our different forms of working with Soumak.

As usual, I tried to snap photos of everyone along with their weavings. It was a great group as you can see from all the smiling faces!

I also received a few images after the workshop below. Plenty of Color Blending and Soumak!

The last workshop I taught this year was with the Southern California Handweaver’s Guild (SCHG) in October at Van Nuys, CA.

We packed a lot in to one and a half days!

As this workshop was shorter than I normally teach, we narrowed in on the Line aspect of Soumak, primarily the traveling vertical and diagonal lines.

This is another large and vibrant guild with much talent and experience in the realm of tapestry. It was fun to see some of their work before the workshop began; judge for yourself! Here’s a glimpse at some of the pieces they brought in to share. I wish I’d kept better notes on who did what.

Click on any of these smaller images for a larger view.

These were all arranged on a long table so most are small. I hope I have them here in the correct orientation. If I have them turned and you recognize it, please don’t hesitate to let me know. And… anyone that wants to claim any of these images as work of their own, let me know that, too, and I will add a credit in the post. I do know the very last image shown above was David Abernethy’s and it is much larger- I’m guessing maybe 30 to 40 inches in width?

Below are progress-on-the-loom shots as the workshop progressed. You see a lot of the moving Soumak lines here- and also a little bit of Double Soumak as well. (I had taken my Tree Spirits which has a lot of Double Soumak as one of the samples to show how much variety can be achieved when playing with the wraps, so some were interested in learning that as well.)

These following images were sent to me after the workshop from (left to right) Annette Reed, Shelly Thompson, Anna Zinsmeister, and Michelle Ross.

Both these workshops were so much fun to teach.

I’ll soon be “retiring” from in-person teaching, but if you’re curious about Soumak, you can still sign up for my online class. And, who knows, with that extra time saved from traveling… I might just add more online classes in the future.

What would you like to learn?