RITA BUCHANAN WORKSHOP: FINAL REPORT ON FINANCES
| Income: |
|
| |
|
| PPA Grant |
$500.00 |
| Tuition + materials fee |
$1960.00 |
| |
|
| Total income: |
$2460.00 |
| |
|
| Expenses: |
|
| |
|
| Rita's airfare* |
$155.25 |
| Rita's parking at airport |
$15.00 |
| Rita's lodging |
$143.10 |
| Rita's meals |
$36.43 |
| Tuition |
$1000.00 |
| Speaker's fee |
$150.00 |
| Materials fee |
$240.00 |
| Hall rental |
$90.00 |
| Refreshments |
$65.66 |
| Copying |
$14.34 |
| Postage |
$59.06 |
| Envelopes |
$1.05 |
| |
|
| Total expenses: |
$1969.89 |
| |
|
| *The amount listed is half of Rita's total airfare; the other
half was paid by the Butler guild. |
| |
| NET PROFIT TO GUILD: |
$490.11 |
-Submitted by Ann Sheffield
MINUTES OF THE JUNE MEETING
Treasurer's report:
| Checking balance: |
$1436.63 |
| Savings balance: |
$1480.94 |
Sue Spencer discussed plans for the Forest Fiber Festival in September and
called for volunteers to help with various activities. Friday will be a social
affair at the Farmhouse featuring a pot-luck dinner. Anyone can stay at the
farmhouse or camp overnight for $10; call Sue Spencer to reserve a spot. (People
are welcome to come for dinner even if they aren't staying the night). Joanna
McDermot agreed to teach sock-knitting on Friday afternoon starting at 3:00.
A question about the availability of food on Saturday was raised. Commercial
food vendors will be on-site, but Barb Lodge also agreed to run a table that
would provide coffee and cookies (cookie donations from members are requested!).
Bonnie Crtyzer reported on the fleece-to-shawl demonstration at the Edinboro
Highland Games (details elsewhere in the Hub). She displayed the finished
shawl, which came out beautifully despite the rash decision of the spinners
not to ply the weft.
Ann Sheffield gave a financial report on the Rita Buchanan workshop (published
above). She also noted that the deadline to apply again for the grant that
supported the workshop was fast approaching. We agreed to seek funding for
a Bobbie Irwin weaving workshop (and her "Ode to Woad" lecture),
and Barb Lodge volunteered to prepare and submit the application. We also
agreed that, in light of the financial cushion provided by the profit from
Rita's workshop, we would go ahead with the Bobbie Irwin workshop even if
we do not receive outside funding. Ann also discussed the Pennsylvania Council
on the Arts Fellowship and Apprenticeship programs, which provide support
for individual artists. Sue Spencer has the forms if anyone is interested
in applying to these programs.
Sue Spencer confirmed that the Tuesday Spin will meet throughout the summer,
and she again raised the possibility of getting the Saturday group going again
(anyone interested, please contact Sue). The question of whether we are having
a dye day this year was raised, and people seemed to think this was a good
idea. Sue then discussed the August meeting, which will be held at her house.
There will be a pot-luck picnic lunch followed by a felting workshop with
Judy Hanninen.
In light of the fact that at least five members have gone or will go abroad
this year, it was suggested that our annual holiday party at the December
meeting have an "international" theme this year. People could bring
foods from the places they've visited, and the travelers could talk about
textiles in the lands they toured.
Karen Fry asked if the Guild wants to do a fleece-to-shawl demonstration
for the Oil Creek and Titusville Railroad, which has requested a demo. At
the Titusville Station. After some discussion, we decided that July 25 was
the only possible date out of those suggested. Karen will weave, and Barb,
Sue, and Bonnie agreed to spin. More spinners would be most appreciated -
please call Karen to volunteer.
Various people described items for sale. Bonnie had photographs and information
from a Murraysville woman selling antique (and functional) wheels and fiber
tools. Sharon Reiland has a friend selling a Leclerc-Nilus four-harness loom.
Ruth Walker-Daniels is selling roving for $3.25 per half-pound. Karen suggested
that the Guild buy a shuttle and bobbins for the Guild loom; Ruth offered
to donate a boat shuttle with bobbins. Sue offered to donate a warping board.
A new member, Sandy Volpe, was introduced. She raises alpacas, and she brought
some fiber samples for us to fondle.
Barb Lodge asked if someone going to MAFA would represent the Guild at a
buffet dinner at the conference. Joyce Rose volunteered. Joyce noted that
the first week in October in National Spinning and Weaving Week and that we
should do something to mark the event. Various ideas for displays in area
libraries and other public spaces were suggested.
Dorothy Maynard reported on her trip to the Great Lakes Fiber Festival in
Wooster, which she described as "a good experience". She and Nancy
Washok saw a host of sheep, llamas, and alpacas as well as a herding demonstration.
On behalf of Nancy's mother, Dorothy also expressed appreciation for the cards
and good wishes received from Guild members on the recent passing of Nancy's
father.
Show-and-Tell: Sue Spencer showed a purple-and-black batik vest she bought
at the Highland Games and a "yak back" that was a Christmas gift
from Joanna; Joanna's son bought it in India. Blanche Hall showed a scarf
that she wove from tussah silk and quiviut. Helen McCartney gave Blanche the
quiviut shortly before her death, and Blanche spun it up and used it as the
weft in the soft and beautiful scarf. Blanche also showed the fruits of a
class she took in name-drafting with Sigrid Piroch: a sample of the draft
based on the name "Butler Weavers Guild" woven in pink and white.
Laura Fry showed her first-ever completed quilt. Karen Fry showed a nine-patch
sample quilt with a border design of cabins and trees; Karen insists the quilt
"designed itself."
HIGHLAND GAMES REPORT
Once again this year, our Guild presented a fleece-to-shawl demonstration
at the annual Highland Games in on Saturday, May 22. Karen Fry wove, and Bonnie
Crytzer, Cheryl Geist-Brozell, Ann Sheffield, and Sue-Spencer were the spinners.
The woven shawl was delivered to Barb Lodge afterwards for washing and finishing.
Ilene Elliston and her husband ran the Guild sale booth, which brought in
$14.90. We also raffled off the shawl we made at last year's Games, and the
pot amounted to $56.00. Finally, the event organizers paid us $50.00 for demonstrating.
So, the Guild made a total of $120.90 and had a good time doing it (it was
nice and dry under our tent, even if it did pour at times...)
RARE BREED PROFILE: NORTH RONALDSEY
As my July trip to the UK will include a sojourn in the Orkneys, I thought
I would cover their native sheep this month.
From Rare Breeds: Endangered Farm Animals in Photographs: "About 150
years ago, a tall wall was built on the island of North Ronaldsey, the northernmost
island of the Orkney archipelago, to separate the shore from the cultivated
fields. The native sheep were thus excluded from the fields by the wall, and
in the intervening period have become totally adapted to an exclusive diet
of seaweed. This has caused significant physiological changes in the sheep.
Otherwise, the North Ronaldsey is a typical primitive breed of the north-western
fringes of Europe. The wool may be a variety of colours, ranging though white,
grey and black to brown, and the rams carry impressive spiral horns which
are distinctively ridged and often grow in alternate bands of pale and dark
colour.
"Because the total population of this breed was located on one island,
it was very vulnerable, both to disease and to oil slick pollution from the
oilfields in the North Sea. The Rare Breeds Survival Trust has purchased another
island, Linga Holm, and a group of breeding sheep to create a reserve population."
From In Sheep's Clothing: "This tough, hardy breed… is considered
to be characteristic of Iron Age domestic sheep and to represent the ancestral
stock from which the modern Shetland breed evolved… Although sometimes
contaminated with sand if the sheep have been grazing at the seashore, the
fleece is good quality and used for specialty knitted garments." This
book also reports a fiber diameter of 26-31 microns and a staple length of
1 ½ - 3 inches for the breed.
FOREST FIBER FESTIVAL
This year's Forest Fiber Festival is planned for Friday, Sept. 10, and Saturday,
Sept. 11, at Two Mile Run Park in Venango County. Friday will be a low-key,
fun day. By popular demand, Joanna McDermot will teach sock-knitting beginning
at 3:00. Dinner will be pot luck, and everyone is invited. We have a farmhouse
on the site reserved; beds, floor space, and camping area are available for
anyone who would like to stay overnight on Friday. The cost is $10 per person
for lodging of all kinds; first-come, first-served on the beds! To reserve
a spot, call Sue Spencer at work at Christ Episcopal Church; while Sue is
on vacation, Joanna McDermot will able to take your reservation.
On Saturday, the site will be open to the public, a wide range of classes
and demonstrations are planned, and a number of vendors will be selling their
wares. From 10 a.m. to noon, Marilyn Merbach will teach a class on spinning
cashmere, and Winni LaBraque will teach a class on pocket card weaving. Demonstrations
of sheep-shearing, spindle spinning, natural dyeing, lacemaking, and woolcombing
will be featured. There will be handspinner's fleece competition judged by
Joanna McDermot and a "popular choice" award in which the public
will vote for their favorite handspun items.
To find out more about the festival, sign up for a class, or volunteer to
help (we still need someone to staff the Guild sale table), please contact
Bonnie Crytzer (email stumphillacres@usachoice.net)
or Sue Spencer.
FROM SIGRID
In August, Sigrid Piroch will present some exciting classes at the Sawmill
Center for the Arts. On Friday, August 27th, she will present an evening slide
show on "Slovak Textiles". She writes that the presentation will
focus on "East & Central European *gorgeous* folk dress, blue printing,
embellished textiles; handspinning & equipment/methods; weaving &
equipment/methods. I will have a large display of authentic textiles and will
wear an authentic folk dress from Cicmany, Slovakia (a little mountain village)."
The presentation is $5 (free to those taking Sig's workshop on the following
days) - a great price for a talk that has been given at Convergence and also
on three continents.
On August 28th and 29th, Sigrid will teach a class on "Creating Worsted
Handspun Yarns" based on her travels in Slovakia, Tasmania, and New Zealand.
The class includes: "various folk methods of preparing and spinning worsted
and semi-worsted yarns with hackles, paddle combs, English wool combs, hybrid
combs, hand combs, and more… There is a reason that this was the method
used most often by folk people to produce most of the thread for the many
functional textiles, among them durability and beauty." No equipment
is required, though participants who own wheels, spindles, and/pr combs are
encouraged to bring them. For more information, contact Sig.
TUESDAY SPIN; SATURDAY SPIN???
The Tuesday Spinning group continues to meet the third Tuesday of the month
at Christ Episcopal Church on Diamond Park in Meadville, 10 am - 2 pm. The
next meetings will be on July 20 and August 17. As always, all are welcome
to attend, with beginners especially encouraged. Bring a project, a wheel
or handspindle, and a bag lunch. Beverages are provided; bring a treat to
share if you wish.
Is anyone interested in getting the Saturday spin or knit groups going again?
In the past, these met once month. The knit group was actually a study group,
and we worked our way through a gansey sampler and a study of knitting techniques.
If you're interested in a Saturday fiber group, please contact Sue Spencer.
FOR SALE
Leclerc-Nilus 4-harness loom and bench. Contact Sharon
Reiland (it's actually Sharon's friend who is selling).
