I travel in the summer to teach and demonstrate clay and early pottery in Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, New York, Massachusetts, the Carolina's and Connecticut. About 20 years ago, I took up Tape Loom Weaving as a break from doing pottery all day. So now, I travel with my looms and a bunch of yarn and teach folks about weaving on this fun simple loom as I travel.
I have found many weaving enthusiasts along the way and many folks interested in learning this simple technique. It is so much more portable than the inkle looms and the results are the same. The simple ridgid heddle tape or band loom goes back to Medieval times across Europe.
There are so many styles of this beautiful loom too. They are simple and easy to make.
Ok, the loms above are not so easy to make. On a previous blog post, I show you some simple looms make from a pitchure frame.
This past Valentines day, Roger and I taught our first couples class at the Vesterheim Museum in Decorah, IA. Roger taught one of the partners to carve a loom, and I taught the other partner to weave on it. We all had a great time sharing, in the same room, our views on carving and weaving and the results were wonderful.
It went so well, there was a waiting list and the class will be offered again on Valentines day in February 2016 at the Vesterheim in Decorah.
Can't get to Decorah this February? I will be teaching beginners basics and advanced pick-up patterns around New England again this winter. I will be posting dates for classes at my shop in Torrington, Connecticut, but also at Historical Societies, Museums and Libraries. You can learn from my book, Tape Loom Weaving... simplified, available at my web site or Amazon, but coming to a class with others will be fun and I will get to meet some more great people.
If you have a group of 6-8 people, I can come to your setting. You can get information on prices and times at my web site, www.eastknollpottery.com. It is best to contact me through emails. I will be traveling till the first of November and still do not have a cell phone!
Take a class! Folk schools, museums and libraries offer a variety of classes to break up our winter blues!
