Hello!
I have two pieces of news for the Fiber Arts guild in January. Firstly, we will be having two meetings this coming month. First meeting is January 13th, 7:00 PM at T’see’va’s house, 5167 Rosecrest Drive, Pittsburgh, PA. Jasmine will be teaching hand spinning, but you can also do your own crafts. Materials and drop spindles are provided, feel free to bring your own if you want. The quiet room will be open for people who just want to drop in and eat cookies in the ambiance :).
The second meeting will be at the BMDL twelfth night, at 2 pm. We will try to hold it upstairs near the Bartertown area, but will move downstairs if there isn’t enough room.
Finally, I’m extending an invitation to everyone to join the Fiber Arts Guild in participating in Fun-A-Day this January. Fun-A-Day is a daily commitment to fun through art, every day in January, and share via social media.
Details on participation are available on the fun-a-day website, where you can officially register if you’d like. At the end, there’s an art show you can also participate in as well! I hope you’ll consider joining us and starting off the new year with some creative energy!
https://funadaypgh.com/
Happy New Year!
Rei
Author: Rei
Fiber Arts Guild November Meeting
The next fiber arts guild meeting will be on Monday, November 4th, from 7-9 pm. We will meet at our usual place, 5167 Rosecrest Drive, Pittsburgh PA.
The next two meetings will be cozy and relaxed meetings to get together and work on projects and gifts for the holidays. For this meeting, fall teas and pumpkin baked goods will be served.
Fall Dye Day
The BMDL Fiber Arts Guild is having a fall dye day on October 6th, 2024.
We will meet from 11-3 PM at our usual place, 5167 Rosecrest Drive. It is a $10 suggested donation to help me cover the cost of dyes. Any extra goes to the next dye day.
In addition to the usual indigo, we will dye with seasonal fall dye sources, black walnut and kakishibu (persimmon tannin). Some synthetic cellulose dyes in red will also be available for those who want to make some fall purples. I will bring stencils and brushes for those who want to do indigo surizome again; I have learned some new tricks.
While the indigo and synthetic red baths will accept larger amounts of cloth and fiber, the kakishibu and walnut are limited in quantity. Please be courteous and bring smaller projects (=< 1 lb fiber) to dye for these dyes.
Please scour your fibers and wash any fabrics in a ph neutral detergent (like synthraprol) before coming so the dye will take. Message me if you need help with that. None of these dyes require mordants, and some will have color shifts if you do, so please don’t mordant unless you understand what you are doing and what the color change will be.
You are welcome to bring food to share if you like, but please eat a meal if you need to beforehand, as it is difficult to dye and eat at the same time. Light refreshments will be available.
Wear some clothes that you don’t mind messing up. I will have disposable gloves available, but you may want long rubber ones if you’re going to seriously dunk stuff in the indigo or red.
Finally, loose (unspun) fiber must be secured with a laundry mesh bag in the dye bath for the sake of the plumbing. Please bring a mesh bag or something to keep your loose fiber from floating freely in the bath and going down the drain.
Fiber Guild September Meeting
The next fiber guild meeting will be Monday, September 16th from 7-9 PM at our usual place, 5167 Rosecrest Dr, Pittsburgh PA.
Since there were requests for a fall dye day, I will be bringing madder dyed samples and my indigo shibori books so we can discuss and plan for a day in October before it gets too cold.
Zoom link will be sent out closer to the date.
Fiber Guild July Meeting
Looking for some camaraderie while you prepare for Pennsic? The Fiber Guild is having a laid back July meet up to keep each other company while we work on our Pennsic projects. Please bring a fiber project if you have one, and your smiling face if you don’t. If you are already perfectly prepared or just prefer procrastinating, our Arts & Sciences minister has mentioned that the largesse gift basket for Pennsic needs to be filled.
Our meeting will be on July 15th at 7:30 PM at 5167 Rosecrest Dr, Pittsburgh, PA. This meeting will not be virtual, just this once (I will be out of town and so will my laptop), so please come in person.
Zhang Xuan / 907
Fiber Guild March Meeting
The fiber guild will be hosting a fiber movie night, showcasing fiber art techniques from around the world.
It will be on Monday, March 18th from 7-9 PM at our usual place, 5167 Rosecrest Dr, Pittsburgh PA.
As per usual, please be courteous and stay home and join us on zoom if you are not feeling well. If you have been exposed to large groups of people or other high risk situations, please test yourself for covid as we have several vulnerable folks in the group. I will post the zoom links on discord and facebook as we get closer to the event, please email me at friendlyfirerabbit@gmail.com if you need the link sooner.
This activity was closely tied with the fiber swap, so we’ll do that next month as the weather warms up. Please start digging through your stashes and make a pile – if you have things you wish to swap. It’s perfectly alright to be in love with everything you have.
If you have any movies you like please send me links to them, otherwise I will draw from my sources and find some more European and international ones!
Fiber Guild February Meeting
As spring starts to approach, it’s time for this month’s Fiber Guild. We will be meeting on February 12 from 7-9 PM at 5167 Rosecrest Dr, Pittsburgh PA. There are four parking spots in the driveway, and the rest is overflow parking on the street.
We will be having a small ceremony for our broken needles and tools, as is traditional for this time of year. We will not be having a formal buddhist or shinto ceremony, but a respectful secular variation. Please bring broken wooden or metal tools to this month’s meeting. Turlough will melt them for us, and hopefully they can be made anew into something beautiful.
I will be bringing soft cakes that are appropriate for this ceremony to enjoy. If you have special dietary restrictions beyond Vegan or Gluten Free, please let me know if I am not aware of them.
Additionally, please bring your favorite non-broken fiber tool that is portable to share with the group. Part of our time we will devote to gratitude for our tools and sharing and learning about how other fiber artists work.
Other than that, bring your favorite fiber project to work on once we finish our treats. Last minute sewing projects for an event are still working with fiber, and there will be no judgement, but a variety is encouraged!
I have purchased a large variety of seeds for dyeing, and will bringing my excess. Nobody needs 600 weld plants. I will have murasaki, madder, weld, woad, indigo, dyer’s coreopsis, dyer’s chamomile, and also some japanese herbs (shiso). If you would like some of these for your own garden, they will be available.
Most importantly, please test yourself for Covid before you attend, and please attend virtually if you feel unwell. We will be eating food together in a small area, and transmission levels are high right now; we have several vulnerable people in our group. If you need a test and do not have one, please contact me directly.
I will post the zoom link in the discord and on facebook, but you can also email me for the zoom link (friendlyfirerabbit at gmail dot com) if you are not on either of those platforms.
– Morikawa Rei