Friday, December 27, 2013

Inkle Workshop in February 2014

I am excited about Inkle, and about the Staten Island Makerspace. In February I will be teaching a workshop: Build your own Inkle Loom + Learn to weave on it!

Two 3-hour session workshops Sundays February 16 and 23

1 to 4 pm

SI MakerSpace Members $85* Non-members $115
Materials fee: $15
Ages 12 and up. Children under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.
No fee for children with a paid adult, but parent/child team must work on one loom together. Class size is limited to 12 students (or parent/child teams). Minimum 4 students.

Session one: Intro to weaving/Build a loom/Setting up the warp and heddles

Session two: 3 hour weaving intensive; creating patterns and designs, how to cut off and remove a finished piece.

Inkle weaving is a type of warp-faced weaving where the shed is created by manually raising or lowering the warp yarns, some of which are held in place by fixed heddles on a loom known as an inkle loom. Inkle weaving was referred to in Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost. It was brought to the United States in the 1930s, but predates this by many centuries in other countries. The term "Inkle" simply means "ribbon" or "tape" and probably refers to a similarly structured woven good that could have been made on different types of looms, such as a box-loom.

Inkle weaving is commonly used for narrow work such as trims, straps and belts.

Class Goals:

Our first goal will be to learn about weaving in general; different types of weaving, types of looms, weaving vocabulary (ex: what the heck is a heddle?) and the processes involved in a simple weaving project. Then we will build looms out of wood. This is a very easy woodworking project and you will take home your own loom which would easily cost $75 to $100 to buy. After the looms are built, we will learn how to set up the warp and heddle yarns and practice making our own straps or belts.

LINK TO SIGN UP

*Members use promotional code inkle25 to get the discount.

Any questions please email db@simakerspace.com or call (718) 273-3951.

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