Designing with Blocks: Crackle, Overshot, Summer & Winter: November-December

Instructor: 

Jamie Hurlburt

Dates:

This workshop takes place over 5 consecutive Thursday afternoons from 1pm-4pm

November 7-December 5

About this Workshop: 

This workshop is a blend of theory and practice in weaving crackle, overshot, and summer & winter block designs. These are beautiful structures that many weavers want to try after they’ve mastered twill. They look complex, but once you understand how and why they work they are a joy to weave!

We’ll begin by going over how these structures work: what their threading units are, what the ‘rules’ are for building a pattern with them. Then we’ll take turns trying out different treadling, colour, and fibre options on pre-warped table looms, stretching the possibilities of the structures and seeing which variations each of us likes best! 

As we weave, we’ll learn how to document those creative samplers as both Fiberworks drafts and profile drafts. We will close the course by each designing a pattern in one of the structures using the information gained from our explorations.

Weavers will leave this course not only knowing how to follow crackle, overshot, and summer & winter patterns, but how to make their own. We’ll take all the fear out of working with complex cloth and block designs, and open up a world of possibilities for creating exciting new projects. 

We will be covering the following techniques:

• Basics of overshot, crackle, and summer & winter

• How to design using blocks

• Treadling options for block structures: pairs, opposites, and more

• Sampling creatively to explore design options

• How to use Fiberworks

• What profile drafts are: how to interpret them, and how to create them

• Documenting creative samplers

• How to go from sampler to full original design

Workshop Materials & Equipment: 

• Detailed handout with workshop information provided

• All sampler materials are included for this workshop

• Participants can choose to use their own loom or use a studio loom 

• We’ll have a laptop with Fiberworks on it available, but if you have your own copy you’re more than welcome to bring your device!

Experience: This is an intermediate workshop. You don’t need to be an expert, but you should know how to read a draft and be able to weave independently and do basic troubleshooting. No experience in these specific structures required. 

Please see our policy for workshops and FAQ before purchasing. 

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