April Guild Program Night Meeting
Thursday, April 10
7:00 to 9:00 pm Central Time
See our members-only event calendar or Googlegroup for location and Zoom link.
An Online Workshop Support Group
Fazia Rizvi
In 2021, WSSA member Fazia Rizvi signed up for the MAIWA School of Textiles’ online course, The Natural Dye Workshop. She followed along with the online class, watching videos, reading PDFs, and participating in the student discussion as modules were released. However, time and work responsibilities meant she only managed to complete a handful of the hands-on exercises.
Flash forward to 2024, and Fazia was determined to finished all the exercises and get the full experience of working with these natural dyes. What she needed was something to keep her on track. So she reached out to the guild to see if anyone was willing to also sign up for the workshop and work through it together with her. A handful were, and a support group was born.
Members of this small group worked on their own through the modules as they were released online and then met one Sunday a month at Fazia’s studio to catch up, explore more with other fibers and dyes, share successes and failures, have lunch and socialize. The following spring, several people continued the support group through the Journey Into Indigo workshop.
In this presentation, Fazia will share how the group was organized, how they adapted to changing needs, as well as how they made the most of the monthly in-person meetings and the chat-like environment of Discord. She’ll also share some of the beautiful work that resulted. You’ll learn how you can create a similar kind of support group to supplement your online courses.
Fazia is an actor and web developer with more than thirty years experience in information technology in higher education. Her multicultural family background (Finland, India/Pakistan) and B.A. in anthropology is what inspires her weaving, spinning, and dyeing craft as well as her obsession with vanishing tools and techniques. She currently serves as Vice President and Program Chair for the Weavers and Spinners Society of Austin.
www.faziarizvi.net
First Saturday (read more about this here)
Saturday, April 5th
Noon – 2:00 PM
Sprang Demonstration
Sara Tittizer has been spinning and weaving since she was a child. She first learned of sprang from an old book in her mother’s library and tried to follow the instructions – making a glorious tangled mess. She was more successful in 2011, when gifted a copy of Carol James’ newly published “Sprang Unsprung”. Since then, Sara has taken and taught workshops and developed her technique.
Long misidentified in the archeological record as knitting, sprang dates back to at least the Bronze age and is a finger weaving technique that producing a springy, elastic fabric. It’s a great technique for a stretchy market bag! Come, visit and watch the demo. Up to to about 12 people will be able to weave along with Sara.
In-person at the Northwest Recreation Center
2913 Northland Dr, Austin, TX 78757
Meet-up Night (Formerly Hands-on Night)
Thursday, April 24
7:00-9:00 PM
A weekday night to just come as you are and craft, or meet with our guild Librarian to check out a book or magazine.
In person! at Austin Recreation Center
1301 Shoal Creek Blvd, Austin, TX 78701
Other scheduled meetings in March from our active study groups:
Saturday, April 12 – Spinning Study Group
Thursday, April 17 – Swatch Study Group
Saturday, April 26 – Spinning Group – General Spin-In
See our members-only event calendar, newsletter, or Googlegroup for locations or Zoom links.