Workshops at my Studio

I can accomodate up to 6 folks in my studio and teach a wide variety of subjects. The way it works is — you decide how many you want in the workshop, what subject you want, and the number of days you want to spend. From there, we come up with dates that work for both of us and I will tell you what is realistic to learn in the amount of time you have.

The daily fee stays the same — $500 for a 6-hour day. The price is the same whether you choose to have a private class or bring 5 of your friends.

There are lots of places to stay and lots of things to do while you are here.

See the workshop topics to choose what you are most interested in. To schedule a class, please email me at debmenz@tds.net

Workshop topics

• Color Theory using papers and paints
• Drum carding – either multi-colored or thorough blending
• Using combs and hackles for color placement
• Painted rovings
• Painted yarns for knitting

Or choose from the topics and workshop descriptions below.

Lecture topics

Combing for Multi-Colored Yarns
This is a lecture, slide presentation, and demonstration about creating multi-colored fiber preparations using various hand-held combs and hackles. It is a multi-step process, beginning with combing each color alone, blending, and next placing combed colors onto a hackle to arrange the final color placement for the yarn. The last step is to pull the fibers off of the hackle with a diz.

Painted Rovings for Multi-Colored Yarns
Slide presentation and lecture on how to obtain predictable and repeatable multi-colored yarns by using a multi-step process with prepared tops and rovings. Any protein fiber can be used. The dye procedure is discussed as well as some color theories that help you easily make color choices. There are a few tricks to be able to keep the colors clear and bright in the yarn while using more than a dozen colors. Many dye notebooks and samples are brought for display.

Color Works for Everyone
Do you work with more than one medium in textiles? Do you have trouble working with colors in all of the media? This is a lecture/slide presentation about how to make color work for you in all of your art work. It goes with my book "Color Works". It covers some basic color theory, but distills what you need to know to a few basic guidelines. Many samples are brought for display.

Working With Color From Idea to Yarn or Project
Successful yarns or projects do not always have to be mistakes or pleasant surprises. Learn to take an idea (a painting, photo, leaf, textile, etc) and translate it into fibers. Color wheel work is included.

Using Lanaset Dyes
A lecture and slide presentation on how to use the class of dyes made by Ciba-Geigy called Lanaset. It starts with how and why to mix dyestock solutions, safety, terms used in chemical dyeing, what chemicals to add, and why and how to immerse dye fibers or yarns. Painting with the dye is also covered, as well as how to mix your own colors to create your own color palette. There are lots of samples and dye notebooks to see.

Survey of Synthetic Dyes
This is a lecture that covers all of the basics of using synthetic dyes. Really understand how and why different dyes work, why each step is needed, and why dyes work on some fibers, but not on others. Dye terminology is translated into easy to understand terms. Also learn how to mix your own colors from just a few basic ones.

Plying for Color and Design
This is a lecture and demonstration that shows that plying is not an afterthought, but a design choice for spinning yarn. The lecture covers how you can use color principles to choose colors for plying. You will not want to ply yarn on itself again! It also shows how to achieve specific color effects in plying. There will be lots of samples on display. Two, three, and four, as well as Navajo plying are all covered in the talk. This is not about novelty yarns, but about basic yarns created with colors and some forethought.

One-day workshops

Color Works for You
Learn to use color more effectively with any of the media you work with. In this combination hands-on and lecture class, learn to define and understand colors so you can effectively use them. You will learn through a combination of exercises using silk screened papers and water-based paints.

Working With Color From Idea to Project
Successful projects do not always have to be mistakes or pleasant surprises. Learn to take an idea (painting, photo, object, etc) and translate the colors into a finished piece. Color wheel work is included. The format of the workshop is a lecture/demonstration, then hands- on exercises using colored papers, colored pencils, and paints. Students should bring some ideas and materials in the medium they want to work with.

Two- and three-day workshops

Multi-Colors For Handspun Using a Drum Carder
Learn to create unique and wonderful handspun yarns using 6-12 colors in a skein. The yarns are repeatable and the colors don't get muddy because of the multi-step approach using more than one batt in a yarn. The workshop is a combination of lecture, demonstration and hands-on. Basic drum carding, how to choose a drum carder, color principles as they apply to spinning, how to make several types of batts, how to get the batts to a spinnable roving are some of the topics that are covered. Students can expect to go home with several skeins worth of fiber either spun or ready to be spun.

Creating New Colors - Thorough Blending on a Drum Carder
Learn to create the color yarn you want by carding 2 or more colors together. The more you understand color, the more control you have with the yarns you create. Some of the topics the workshop will cover include color concepts that affect how to choose colors, how to use the color wheel to make color choices, how to use value to create predictable yarns, how to obtain smooth and even blends, how to use your carder efficiently, and how to create a palette of colors that work together. There will be time to have a lot of hands-on experience. Students should be able to leave with many blended colors and an understanding of how to get any color they want with blending.

Multi-Colors With Hand-held Combs and Hackles
Learn to create multi-colored top using 6-15 colors of wool in a yarn. Topics that will be covered include basic color concepts and how they apply to yarn and spinning, basic combing with hand held combs, color blending with combs, how to use a hackle and how to pull fibers from the hackle with a diz. Different combinations of techniques can be combined to obtain different color effects. Students will leave with lots of fibers spun or top ready to spin.

Color Works For Everyone
This class starts at the beginning. No matter what your medium is, the topics that are covered will work for you. The class is a combination of lecture and hands-on. The topics covered are describing color, how to see and to use values effectively, creating your own palette, how to make colors seem brighter or duller, how to make color seem to be lighter or darker, and easy ways to put colors together that are successful. The hands on exercises will use silk screened papers, or paints, or colored pencils. Students will leave with a knowledge of how to use color in their mediums.

Color Effects Using Plying
Plying and color can be the design element of a yarn. There are many possible effects using colors and contrasts and number of plies. Students will explore the possibilities through a combination of lecture and hands-on. Two-, 3- and 4-ply yarns are used, as well as exploring cabled yarns. How to choose the colors to obtain the desired final color effects is practiced. All of the yarns used are multi-colored. Students can bring as assortment of "non set" multi-colored singles to use with the fibers provided. Students spin and ply in class for several series of exercises to see the many possibilities of plying different colors together. Plying a yarn on itself will never have the same appeal again.

Paint a Roving Rainbox - 3 Day Only
Learn to paint rovings using Lanaset dyes and then spin them into repeatable multi-colored yarns. Starting with a talk about Lanaset dyes and how and why they work so well, then a talk about color theory as it applies to mixing dye colors and as it applies to putting colors together on rovings, then together in a yarn. At least 10 rovings are painted by each student and shared with the class. On the last day, the rovings are split and shared and the many possible ways to spin them will be covered. There is time to spin and experiment with the possibilities.

ABC's of Color Using Lanaset Dyes - 3 Day Only
Learn the basics of color theory and how to mix and use Lanaset dyes. You will mix many dye formulas using the dyes, then paint them on fibers or yarns (can be wool or silk) for your own repeatable dye formula notebook. Each color theory will be covered through lecture, then translated into using dyes. You will end up with a notebook of hundreds of dye formulas that can be used for your reference, as well as the knowledge of how to mix your own colors when you want them.

Survey of Synthetic Dyes - 3 Day Only
Spend three days working with and really understanding how and why to use different dyes through lecture and hands-on. It starts by explaining how dyes work on the fibers, and why some dyes work on some fibers and not on others. Dye terminology will be translated into easy-to-understand terms. You will also learn how to mix dyes to get the colors you want. Country classic acid dye, Lanaset, and Cibacron F fiber reactive dyes are used. The class works with each of these dyes separately, dyeing a range of colors on a variety of fibers, and sharing the results with each other. The fibers to be dyed are wool fleece, wool top, alpaca, bombyx silk, tussah silk, and cotton. This is a hands-on workshop that provides you with lots of dyed samples for a dye notebook and a foundation of dye experience.

Spin a Tapestry - 3 Day Only
Spin the yarn and learn to weave a small tapestry. The workshop begins with a photograph or picture that you like, and simplifying it for a tapestry. Choosing the colors desired for the tapestry, then learning to blend to get those colors on a drum carder, hand carder or combs is the next step. The yarn will need to be spun next. The looms that you will use are very simple ones using foam core board and pins that are provided. The rest of the workshop will focus on simple tapestry techniques to achieve your design. You will be able to complete a postcard size tapestry during the workshop, and learn to adapt a design for a tapestry that has four selvage edges. There is lots of studio time to work at your own pace.