golf or after getting my Baccalaureate….no, I’m working on the Master Weavers
Certificate Program. The program comes from Olds College in Alberta but I’m
able to get instruction at the Gaelic College (GC). Last June, eight otherwise
experienced weavers took the leap into the 5 year program being held in Cape
Breton for the first time. We lived for one week at the GC with our instructor,
Laura Fry. Most of us had experience with Laura as an instructor before – her
tour de force called Magic in the Water and a workshop about Lace Weaves – so her
style of practical tips and in depth instructing was not new but, as always,
welcome.
busy summer classes demand an efficiency of style not unlike Laura’s. I’ve
incorporated several of her techniques in my practice (using a weaving
trapeze/valet, using my hand as a ‘claw’ to thread and sley). The Master Weavers
program would, I assumed, test my proficiency to a new level. It didn’t fail.
The week at the GC was jam packed with weaving exercises, lecture time,
practice communicating with others, weaving samples, group discussions, weaving
colour value samples and, of course, wet finishing.
other better. Five of us came from the island of Cape Breton, one from the
Annapolis Valley on the “mainland†of NS, one from the west side of
Newfoundland and one from southern Ontario.
it wasn’t crucial to take the course. Indeed, the way the course is set up, a
nearly new weaver would gain yards of practical knowledge. You need to know a
loom, you need to have dressed looms in the past, you need to be able to work
within a time constraint getting those samples done. It was fun, a bit
challenging, while reinforcing skills.
bit weary, inspired, focused and ready to take on the homework. Homework! For
the next while, the “homework†was frequently on my mind while I did my
usual….teaching at the college, preparing for my guild’s fibre festival,
attending a workshop on tapestry, selling at market, preparing for Christmas
and then finally…..the time slot was there for the homework.
The homework is laid out in a way that takes you step by step through the
entire process of making one handwoven piece: tell us how you dress your loom,
which of these authors books is good for what you are doing, show a study of
colour and your skill at plotting to get what you want when you weave, take a
yarn and weave it at several setts to see how it works, look at plain weave and
straight twill and how they respond to different finishing techniques, make a
scarf or shawl to show how well you have learned all these lessons.
It’s trial and error, it’s stimulating, it’s frustrating, it’s running out of
the one yarn you thought would do the job, it’s challenging, it means you have
to communicate in writing what you do without thought after years of weaving,
it means you have to stay focused….watch every weft shot, make it fit just
like all the other weft shots, drive the family a bit off the rails while you
natter on and on about tiny incidentals of your work, it makes you want to do
the absolute best, it’s disheartening when the washing machine won’t open at 10
minutes, it’s exciting when the samples and records are all gathered together
ready to send for marking….it’s even a bit fearful when the package goes into
the mail – did I remember everything, did I do it well enough? And then you
wait to hear – did I pass??
down and 4 to go…..I’m aiming for my Masters!
