Fall Color & Natural Dye

My natural dye workshop at Llama Adventures in Arena, Wisconsin was last weekend -- the perfect time to be downstate where there were still leaves on trees and the colors were spectacular.

The colors were great in the workshop, too!

This was a sampling workshop, and the group did an amazing job with the fast pace on Saturday.

On Sunday, they had more time to explore their own interests.

It's always fun to watch people who generally prefer exact measurements and predictable results embrace uncertainty....

...and those who generally roll the other way get into controlled-variable sampling mode.

From time to time "the girls" looked in on what was happening in the studio.

We ended the workshop with a short field trip to look at a stand of wild willow that, I suspect, will be used in dyepots ere long.

Quixote Coiling At Decorah

Over the years, I've spent a fair amount of time carefully watching hands. Hands of students. Hands of instructors. Hands of friends. Jo Campbell-Amsler was my first basketry teacher. I've been watching her hands for almost 20 years. And I've known her mother nearly that long.

But until last week, when her mom was in my coiling class at the Willow Gathering in Decorah, I never saw how much alike their hands are. The way they hold and control their materials, their gestures -- beautiful!

Coilers are such a delightful group. It's a slow, deliberate process. It takes time for things to build and then Shazaam -- something wonderful happens.

Quixote Coiling is my name for a class that uses whole-rod willow as the core element in vessels made with the basketmaker's buttonhole stitch. There's a knot on each stitch, which makes this an incredibly secure structure, great for sculptural work. And students learned a cool crown knot they used to start the base and as a surface embellishment.

Their hands were definitely tired at the end of the class. Willow is lively material. But it's so worth the effort.

Willow Workshops Of The Hybrid Sort

In one of the workshops I taught at last week's Willow Gathering in Decorah, Iowa, students dyed silk fabrics with willow leaves, twigs and bark.

Then they modeled and designed constructed vessels...

...that used those naturally dyed fabrics.

After a busy day of dyeing, we started the second day of the workshop by making simple vessels from the leaves of cupplants growing near the building.

Then my students jumped into modeling for constructed vessels. As usual, I got busy and didn't manage to take pictures of them with their models and fiber phyllo vessels. 

Willow has a reputation as a plant that crosses easily, which sometimes makes it hard to identify the exact species. I guess that applies to me, too: Many ideas have crossed in my head and hybridized.

You could practically see ideas flitting around the room cross-pollinating each other. I certainly came home with notions to nurture until it's time to thin them out.

Luckily for the Canadian contingent, it's easier to carry living ideas across the border than fresh plant materials.

Willow People

Wonderful, inspiring willow people came together last week in Decorah, Iowa, thanks to the efforts of Jo Campbell-Amsler and Lee Zieke Lee. I don't think I can sum up how important and fun this Willow Gathering was. I'll have to break it into several posts while I do laundry and prep class materials for my class at Sievers next week. So stay tuned for more about Decorah (amazing), the coracle launch, the workshops I taught, the other workshops, my new willow brake, and more. In the meantime, I put a photo album on Facebook and others from the conference are posting pictures as well.

International Willow Summit

For now, let me just say the key ingredient in this conference was the people. Generous, knowledgeable people from across the U.S. and Canada came together to learn and share. It was a wonderful mix of old friends, new friends, and people I've only known from online.

Lene Rasmussen of Lakeshore Willows

Katherine Lewis at Willowglen

Joanna Schanz, Sandy Whalen and Karen Tembreull in Katherine Lewis's Scottish Rope Coil class

Pam Talsky and Sandy Whalen

Jo Campbell-Amsler and Lee Zieke Lee

Photo op at Luther College -- a cool moth under the eave

As usual, I meant to take more photos then got busy setting up and teaching classes (and eating -- great food!). I wish I had better pictures of some of these beautiful people, or that you could see the pictures in my head!

More soon.

Burundi Looping, Learning And Laughter

There's a special kind of magic that happens when guild members get together to learn something new. An alchemist might be able to produce a similar effect (like turning lead into gold) from a recipe that combines lovely people, love of learning, and intention to make time for guild activities. When you factor in laughter, show and tell, yummy treats, and good lighting, the result is definitely magical.

The Flambeau Area Fiber Artists invited me to Ladysmith, Wisconsin, to teach Burundi looping last weekend. Eight people signed up for the class, which is a considerable leap of faith for a guild whose members are so geographically dispersed -- especially considering nobody really knew what Burundi looping was!

So here's the short version: "Burundi looping" is the name I use to identify a particular complex looping variation in which each stitch intersects with multiple previous rows. I learned it from Peter Collingwood's book, The Maker's Hand. Peter's example was a bag he collected in the African nation of Burundi. In looping, there's a strong tradition of identifying stitch variations with the places where they're used (or found). So for years, I've called this variation Burundi looping.

This structure is much less elastic than simple looping. And at a glance, it would be tough to identify it as single-element construction, let alone as first cousin to the most basic form of knotless netting. It looks more like a woven twill.

This is a workshop I love to teach. It includes a lot of technique, but the progression makes perfect sense and the combination of skills can be applied a lot of different ways, once you know them, and with many different materials.

The most disappointing thing about the workshop was that, once again, I didn't think to take more pictures. Right now, I'm really wishing I could show you a photo of Nancy and the double-weave pick-up coaster fabric she brought for show and tell. She wove as an "in between" project, for Pete's sake!

That's the kind of passion I see all the time in guild members. That's the kind of passion that inspires me.

May And June Workshops

How can spring-like weather arrive so early and it still feels like May snuck up on us? If you've been meaning to register for a class and realize it's just around the corner (that usually happens for me when I flip the calendar from one month to the next) never fear -- you can probably still get into these upcoming workshops.)

May 19 Burundi Looping Workshop for Flambeau Area Fiber Artists, Ladysmith, Wisconsin

But preparing to teach a class is not something I can let sneak up on me. So I've been cutting fabric swatches, winding skeins, prepping image transfers, painting waxed linen, and working on handouts for upcoming workshops. My studio is in the state of chaos that precedes teaching travel. It's not pretty.

Neither are my hands. A little weeding and my hands are rough enough to snag the silk in the Mother's Day gift I'm stitching. I should be better about wearing gloves, but there are times when you just want to get your hands dirty.

Let's see: I need to have that Mother's Day gift in the mail by when?

Night Shifts

My late mother-in-law sometimes used to say she was tired because she had "worked the night shift." On her restless nights she put in long hours of dreamtime serving food, pouring drinks and cleaning up after a full house.

Night Shift by Donna Kallner

This piece incorporates a picture of her behind the counter back in the days when her night shifts were worked awake instead of dreaming. Night Shift is part of the Night Vision collection showing through June 29 at the Ed Gray Gallery in Calumet, Michigan.

Night Shift detail by Donna Kallner

I work the dreamy kind of night shift sometimes, too. My fingers may feel stiff from holding an imaginary needle, but I usually have a clearer image of how to stitch the story I've been working over in my unconscious mind.

That seems to be what happened Saturday morning. After a week in Minneapolis at the Surface Design conference, I was surprised to wake up rested and raring to go at 4:30 a.m. I think my mind had finally finished tidying up a few loose ends.

My post-conference workshop with Lanny Bergner gave me a lot to think about. Going into the workshop, my intention was to learn to integrate wire mesh with the fabrics I use already, thinking the wire would provide greater support for larger mixed media constructed vessels and possibly also to support freeform looping.

On the first day of the three-day workshop, I made the piece below from the brass mesh pictured above.

Despite differences in "seaming" wire mesh versus layers of fabric, the construction concepts were comfortably familiar.

On Day 2 I made two more small vessels.

This one is stainless steel mesh patterned with a propane torch.

This one is brass mesh with a contrasting insert of anodized aluminum mesh.

At the end of Day 2, I asked Lanny for some advice on where to go next. Left to my own devices, I might have veered off to testing seaming alternatives or surface textures I could very well play with on my own. He suggested that on Day 3 I work on a larger vessel. That was a good plan. I also wanted to keep playing with ways to curve the seam lines. That's where I ran into trouble.

I made one choice after another that kept drawing the form in more and more. Creating curved lines in the metal mesh is a great challenge, but doing so shifted my focus away from the form itself.

 
After I get back from teaching in Michigan, I want to model more of these vessels, working more simply and larger and with my focus on producing pieces that work from 360 degrees. I need to resist the seduction of the mesh's transparency until I've done that. I suspect I'll find more clarity in the making. I usually do.

This class was just what I needed when I needed it. Lanny was great to work with, as was everyone in the room. I have tons of ideas to mull.

It's almost bedtime again, and before I lay my head on the pillow I have just one more thing to clarify for myself: Unless I follow through on the work that began in the the workshop, it was just three pleasant days where I played with different materials. It's up to me, now, to work out if or how these ideas fit into my own work. And while some of that gets worked out on the night shift, most of it gets worked out in the studio.

Winter Studio Classes

Thanks for your patience, those of you who have been waiting for me to set the schedule for winter studio classes. I just posted them on the Workshops Page, which you can find on the right end of the tabs under the Two Red Threads header.

I love going other places to teach, but teaching in my own studio is a special treat. Within arm's reach I have my entire fiber stash, samples galore, and extra tools and materials I may not want to schlep in and out of another venue. Best of all, these are really small classes. With a maximum of four students per session and all those materials at hand, it's easy to say, "Good idea: Let's sample that now."

My studio is located near the village of White Lake in northeastern Wisconsin. Driving time is just over an hour from Green Bay, and about the same from Wausau. It's a beautiful area in any season.

Here a list of classes I've scheduled for the new year. For complete descriptions go here.

There are two full-day classes scheduled for Martin Luther King Day weekend.
Medium At Large -- Saturday, January 15, 2011 -- 9 am to 5 pm
ABCs of Fabric Printing -- Sunday, January 16, 2011 -- 9 am to 5 pm

Transfer Dye-o-rama -- Saturday, January 29, 2011 -- 9 am to 5 pm*
Sticky Fingers Design -- Sunday, January 30, 2011 -- 9 am to 1 pm

New Age Looping -- Saturday-Sunday, February 12-13, 2011 -- 9am to 5 pm Saturday, 9 am to 1 pm Sunday

There are two full-day classes scheduled for Presidents' Day weekend.
Constructed Vessels -- Saturday, February 19, 2011 -- 9 am to 5 pm
Fiber Mojo -- Sunday, February 20, 2011 --  9 am to 5 pm

Intro To Inkodye -- Saturday, April 9, 2011 -- 9 am to 5 pm
Solar Printing With Fabric Paint -- Sunday, April 10, 2011 -- 9 am to 1 pm

I'm also booking dates for private groups in my studio, and dates for groups that have me travel to their location instead of the other way around. To discuss possibilities or to book your slot in the scheduled studio classes, email me at donnastitches [at] gmail [dot] com.

On The Road To Oz

With so many ideas sprouting in my head these days, I wouldn't be surprised to wake up and find tendrils trailing from my ears. I should have known it would be dangerous to offer Blooming Image Transfers at Bead & Button.

You see, it's early May in northern Wisconsin. Except for a few narcissus, the only things blooming at my house right now are dandelions. And while I love the soft green of new leaves and the white of the trilliums popping out in the woods, I am craving color.

In the midst of this craving, I'm preparing materials for classes and the Meet The Teachers event at the biggest blooming bead event around. Each colorful element I prepare I like even better than the one before. I use my own digital photographs and my stock of scanned leaves and flowers to create transfers that will become jewelry. Some are realistic, some not so much. Even the Bootleg collage exercise I showed you last month is going to make a fun bracelet.

I know I should thin out the selection to make it easier for people to pick. But the riot of color on my computer and on my work table is sure putting a smile on my face. If only these flowers had fragrance.

What's so dangerous about this, you wonder? Well, my pretties, just you remember Dorothy and the poppies on the way to Oz. I get so caught up in this field of flat flowers that I keep losing track of time. And with the hours of daylight growing longer, my sense of time is all out of whack. Supper may be late again tonight.

What kind of work makes you lose track of time?

Behind The Scenes

March has been a month of catching up and looking ahead, planning, plotting and prioritizing things that can come off the back burner now. It scares Bill when he sees my to-do list. It's not realistic, but that's not because I'm too tight on time between events. It's because I have so many ideas to explore, and I want to tackle them all right now. Picture me rubbing my hands together in glee.

Before I head out again on the teaching circuit, I do have prep work to complete so students can show up and have a great experience. And there's a lot more that goes on behind the scenes that I can't take credit for. The folks who manage the venues where I teach do a great job of organizing resources so people like me can just show up and teach, and students can just show up and learn.

Last week, Bead & Button added another section of the class Moving Pictures on Wednesday, June 9. The June 11 section of that class is full, so I'm glad to have another opportunity to present this fun bracelet project, which uses image transfers of ingenues from the era of silent films.

Bead & Button is a huge event. I picture their scheduling process as someting like Cirque du Soleil performers juggling beads instead of balls. They make scheduling look like performance art. Encore!

Two Red Threads – 194 Years In The Making

Haven’t we met before? I’m Donna Kallner. I teach fiber art workshops around the country (and take workshops, too, when I can).

At these events, wonderful, interesting people begin fascinating conversations. And I’m the one who cuts in and breaks the thread of thought. When I’d like to say, “Tell us more!” I have to say, “Excuse me,” so I can do another demo, answer a question, or check on progress around the room.

This blog is a place to continue the conversation, untangle ideas, share stories, and reflect on what we learn by making fiber art. Thanks for coming by and joining in.

I’ll be posting a couple times a week (more some weeks, less others) about topics like looping, stitching, surface design, image transfer, digital fabric, mixed media textiles and vessels, stuff I’m sampling, books and blogs. I’ll post occasional tutorials, creativity exercises, prompts and challenges. And I’ll be asking readers to share work made in response to classes and challenges.

You can make sure you know what’s happening at Two Red Threads by subscribing, using the button in the sidebar.

So why is it called Two Red Threads? Stay tuned, and next time I’ll tell you about an unfinished project that should make you feel better about your own UFOs.