CHHit CHHat Newsletter of the Contemporary Handweavers of Houston Vol. 69 No. 5 December 2017 President's Message During the last two Guild meetings, Tracy asked for help with equipment. She got not just one, but two volunteers. Diane needed helpers for her Girl Scouts. Up went the hands. The sign up sheet for the Christmas party filled up. At every meeting, members scurry about setting up and taking down and make the effort to show up. If you can’t show up, you are making an effort to sign up. The board members work to keep everyone educated, informed, entertained, and out of trouble with the landlord. The subject of volunteering crops up often in my monthly notes: volunteering for community outreach, for the sale, for continuing education. A special nod from me this holiday season to all of you (and often your families) who keep CHH alive and running. - Susan Antrican Sunday, Dec. 10, 2017 2-5pm All members (and one guest) are invited to the Annual Christmas/Holiday CHH Member Party, to be held at our Guild House home 2327 Commerce St. Suite 106 Houston, Tx 77002 Sunday, Dec 10, 2-5 pm. Meat and drinks are provided. Please bring a dish to share. Thank you to those who have signed up at the last two meetings. If you have not signed up, please email me at [email protected]. Let me know you are coming and what dish you plan to bring. You may bring an appetizer, side dish, or dessert. We could use a couple of breads/doz rolls as well. Program News November - Molly Koehn our newest member gave us a wonderful overview of her development as an artist. She is currently a resident at the Houston Contemporary Craft Center as a weaver and recipient of the Tilly Marchwinski Scholarship. Her presentation covered her nascent student days and pursuit of her master in fine arts at Arizona State. Her PowerPoint Presentation described her inspiration from the environment and man-made structures which inform her art. You may find her in her studio at HCCC on Thursdays and Saturdays and other possible days as well. Her slides looked fascinating but it is always better to see the actual work. You will be able to see a piece from her master thesis as well as her current projects. She will be happy to see you! December - Come to the Guild House on December 10 from 2-5 and celebrate Christmas and all the holidays with your weaver friends. See details above. January - This meeting will be on Thursday evening, January 18, 2018 at 7:00pm Jetta Vandermeiden is presenting in conjunction with her workshop on linens. The program title is yet to be determined but it is guaranteed to be good! Weave joy into all you do, Caryn Vukelich, Program Chair Psst, what's the password? Now you don’t need to ask anyone anymore what the Members Only password is for the year. From now on, each member will set their own personal and private password – just like all the other sites you use on the world wide web. Read on for a chance to win a free 2018-2019 CHH membership. On the home page, click on the link under the Forgot Your Passwords? on the sidebar. Enter your email address on the next screen that appears. You will receive an email with your user name and a randomly selected password. Then you select “Your Member Profile” under the Members drop down menu in the navigation bar right below the guild name in the header. A screen will appear where you can enter the user name and the randomly selected password. You will be signed in but it will be with a hard-to-remember password. So select Edit Profile and type in a password that you will remember. Please don’t use “password” that’s just not cool. Write it down if you don’t trust your memory. Don’t use the same password you use for any banking apps. The website will suggest you Log Out (last item on the Member drop down menu) and sign in again with the password you chose because it's easy to remember. The most important part to edit is the gray box. Please pick a good photo and upload it to complete your profile. Everyone wants to get to know new members by name and we want all the new members to be able to recognize long time guild members. Please don’t use a photo of your cat, your loom or your left foot. We want to see your smiling face. After you are happy with the edits to your information, your password and your photo, scroll down and click on “Update.” Very important. Do it. Then you will get a message that your profile has been updates and a link that will allow you to edit again…if it was so much fun, that you want to do it all over again. As an incentive to filling up all those little gray photo boxes, I am going to hold a drawing for a FREE year’s membership for one lucky person. All the names of members who have uploaded a photo by December 31, 2017 will be put in a hat and the winner will be drawn during the meeting in January. Good Luck! Let me know if you have problems with the process. Diane Ferguson Laura Viada to show at Archway Gallery Laura Viada has been accepted for membership at Archway Gallery and will begin showing there as of December 1. Archway is an artist-owned-and-operated Gallery located at 2305 Dunlavy, in the Montrose. For more information, visit www.archwaygallery.com. Guild House News Upcoming classes - We have a full schedule of classes for Winter/Spring 2018, which are listed below More details and how to sign up are on the website at https://www.weavehouston.org/classes/. If you have any topics you would like us to cover, please contact Tracy at [email protected]. Come and Dye Day - Fiber Reactive Dyes with Tracy Kaestner – Jan 9 Bring skeined yarn, a wound warp or fabric, whatever takes your fancy to add a little color to. We will be using Fiber Reactive Dyes, which can be used on both protein (wool, silk, animal fibers) or cellulose fibers (cotton, tencel, bamboo). We will apply the dyes with either a brush or in a ziploc baggie (no immersion dyeing). Come prepared to have fun! Rigid Heddle, Too: Plethora of Pickup with DeeDee Woodbury – Jan. 13 Are you ready to explore what you can do next on the rigid heddle loom? This one-day class requires that you pre-warp your rigid heddle loom with 3/2 cotton (available at the Guild House). Using a pick-up stick allows you to create a variety of lace patterns. The instructor will guide you through a variety of finger manipulated weaves as well. These techniques translate to the floor loom as well. Join us in this intermediate class. Indigo Dye Day with Connie Elliott – Jan. 27 Take the challenge of learning a new method of dyeing! Indigo is a dye unlike most others. A dye that doesn't require heat or a mordant is called a ‘vat dye,’ and indigo is the most famous of them all. Come learn this method of dyeing, one of complex chemical reactions involving the very air itself. We will learn the basics of indigo dyeing, including what chemicals are needed and how to set up and maintain a basic hydrogen hydrosulfite/lye indigo dye pot. We will also have a pot of the newfangled freeze-dried indigo, for comparison. We will work together to set up indigo pots and dye yarn and material. Participants will use the indigo pots as they learn some fun and funky shibori resist techniques with flour sack towels. Seamless Felt Hats with Barbara Kile – Feb. 3-4 Have you ever wanted to make your own hat? Now is your chance to try. Barbara Kile will guide you through the process - students will begin by determining the type/shape of hat they wish to make. Using millinery techniques, they will measure their heads and make a paper pattern for their hat. In order to make a seamless hat the technique of dimensional felting will be taught. This involves using a plastic resist to create seamless hollow forms. The techniques used in creating a resist, laying out the fibers and working the wool create the strong hard shape. This technique is used to make vessels, slippers, boots, hats, bags and clothing. Introduction to Rigid Heddle Weaving with D’Anne Craft Dec. 2, Feb. 10, or Apr. 7 Have you wanted to try out weaving? Knitters and spinners this is a great stash buster. Rigid heddle looms are an easy and inexpensive way to try weaving. Everything including the loom you will use is provided for this class, just come ready to have fun! Students will dress the loom and begin weaving a scarf or table runner in class. Looms will be checked out and weaving will be completed at home. Round Robin – Feb. 24 or 25 This year's Round Robin will focus on Profile Drafts. We will begin the day with a lecture on what Profile Drafts are and how to use them. This is a great opportunity to try your hand at some new weave structures without having to thread a loom! We will have 4 looms threaded and ready to weave with huck lace, diversified plain weave, turned twill and double weave.