Mommy and me Saori weaving class , and a Learn to Spin class

Meet Nikki and Zara enjoying a mommy and me  Learn to Weave together class at Saori Santa Cruz

They were soooo happy and had so much fun!

 Zara weaving " Big rock candy mountains" from a song she just learned in 2nd grade.

Happy first time ever weavers! They love it!

SOOOO SWEET, what a wonderful class!

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 Antoinette and  Lara came up to lean how to spin yarn from wool fleece top. Laura raises angora goats so she wants  to learn  to card  her own  mohair fiber too so she brought  some of it  with her. CLASSES HERE

 We start out with drop spindles  THESE ARE MY FAVORITES turkish drop spindle

Once they have spun two small  balls of yarn they can ply 

 With turkish spindles you simply remove the arms form the spindle shaft and you have a ball!

 Laura brought her two home schooled daughters along .Here she is hand carding her angora fleece from her own goats  and she will spin it.

  Two balls spun a dark and a light now they are learning  to ply  them together .Made eaiser with the spindle weights  for the turkish spindle saori santa cruz spindle weights here

  first ball of yarn for Laura

Antoinette's first  little skein

Laura came back today to buy two more drop spindles because her girls were learning to spin  too and they were arguing over who's turn it was next! In the mean time she carded and washed her fiber and spun a ball then  some green BFL top and plied it with her own mohair .  check out more fiber here I love her  chunky large skein!! it is so soft!
Next class is  learning to spin on the wheel …… until then….

Peaceful weaving and spinning in the redwoods

JILL NICKOLENE SANDERS
www.saorisantacruz.com

Weaving try it class with 3 Saori loom models

Student weaving outside on the Saori Piccolo loom

 Meet Penelope , a long time weaver who came for a TRY IT CLASS at the studio .

She brought along a sample of the most recent style of weaving she has been doing. she had heard about Saori weaving and longs to be more expressive and free in her designs. She does wonderful weaving!!!!

very beautiful textured work.

  She tried out  3 looms . First the the Saori WX60 FOLDING LOOM which weaves just shy 24" wide.

  Then she moved on to Saori non folding classic loom SAORI S60 LOOM   this is a 4 harness,  and she love it!!

and  lastly we went outside for her to try the very portable light weight 15 lb Saori PICCOLO LOOM HERE

 Back in the studio she tried on  and loved The Art of the vintners Jacket , It had just sold  ( this is the last time  for it to be seen it before it is boxed for the happy  new  buyer  ) …..sorry  but this piece  is  SOLD.

 Penelope enjoying my gallery and spinning level. It was really great to hange out with a long time waever and sewer( she use to have her own handwoven designs in the 90")

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  Lets see what Antoinette  has done since she came for a 2 day  class  last month to weave some Saori yardage.  I schedule  CUSTOM  classes frequently contact me for info .
 She fell in love with Saori weaving and Bought a Saori Wx60 folding loom with height extenders 4" (or 2") height extenders.  Saori wx60 has the versatility  to fit different height weavers  which is very important in a loom (the non folding  loom s60 has height extenders  too.

  She showed me  what  she had sewn and designed  at home ….her very first jacket from her first Saori weaving!

Bravo!!!!!

 The colors are vibrant and her design is unique and all her own! I love this !

  I am  so excited for her, she is off to an amazing start with her new found joy of no mistake  Saori weaving..



PEACEFUL WEAVING IN THE REDWOODS
JILL NICKOLENE

WWW.SAORISANTACRUZ.COM

My Etsy shop

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Winding a warp on my Saori warping frame and other things

Today I had a few hours  open and  I wanted to wind a fun warp for some scarves on my Saori warping frame. It is unique because you can warp up to 5 thrreads at a time with just using your thumb to form the cross.

 Here I am starting  to wind by threading the 5 yarns through the eyes on the  special Saori warping frame.

 After  preforming a thumb" dip and flip" I am loading the the top left peg with the 5 threads in order

  Now as a group the 5 threads are traveling down and over  other pegs

  HERE you see 4 passes of 5 threads. So in just 4 passes I have 20 warp threads wound . you can see the tremendous  advantage and time saving to this! But very boring to always repeat theses same 5 threads sooo….

 ….I stop and design my warps in between my 5 at a time groupings  by putting in many different colors and weights of single  yarns randomly yarns in between the swaths . This way it is like painting at the warping frame  and very exciting textures and colors emerge… not repetitiously the same 5  or more over and over . Adding  some warps with fun  interest like textured yarns.

This 21 cone Japan Saori treasure yarn sets here has flags, mini pompoms, boucles, slubs, sparkles,shine, and feathery inspirations. It can turn predictable warps into individual ones.

 Some weavers  will alter the Saori warping frame with more hooks mounted in a line . I do not want or desire to do this .Why?  I do not want my weaving to look uniformly repetitious 5 is plenty and in fact I am not a machine and desire to have less repetitions.

HERE is the tied cross how I do it.

  The true cross I tie  a bit differently than most. I use white shoe strings for the top of the crosses and black for the bottoms . It may be over  the top concern but I never get twisted warps and the cross  aways stays very secure.

  now my warp is chained and ready to thread….

This is a comparison of the SAORI warping frames . In the foreground the board has the two legs  option to lean against the wall warping frame with 2 legs
The frame in the rear is taller because it  has the warping board accessory folding base stand. the separate saori warping frame stand 
 It is  height adjustable and one can sit to wind a warp  or wind free standing like a easel . Also a wheel chair can roll right over thr bottom metal rail as well so it can be suitable for the disabled..
 I am very impressed with the Saori warping frames .
 I have owned about 9 different warping mills and frames  over my life at least. So far this is my absolutly very favorite one ever!

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Roberta finished her mobius cowl this week! I went to her studio and we wove the the "fringe as weft" caught it (and did not weave it around the front beam).

previous blogs with roberta winding her warp and threading  blogs here

  Really saturated colors ….just beautiful!

  She fell in love with  this  battery fringe twister so she bought mine. As I left  her studio she was happily twisting away! (It is a real hand and wrist saver…)

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What a wonderful DVD of Misao Jo the founder of Saori weaving. It is priceless. I have a few copies in my etsy shop here

It is beyond inspiring…. a must see…..

Thnak you Misao 

Peaceful weaving in the redwoods
Jill Nickolene Sanders
www.saorisantacruz.com
my Etsy shop