If you're a new or aspiring tapestry weaver looking for a fun, relaxed in-person class to learn the basics of tapestry design, technique and finishing, consider the very first workshop hosted at Mirrix's manufacturing facility in gorgeous Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. The class, taught by Wisconsin artist Deb Bednarek, will be comprised of an intimate group of students (ten at most) and will span two days. You'll get the chance to see where Mirrix Looms are made and explore Door County, Wisconsin at the height of spring.
Nature Inspired Tapestry Design
Date: Friday, May 13th and Saturday, May 14th 9-12 and 1-4 PM each day
Location: Mirrix Manufacturing, Sturgeon Bay, WI
Class Level: Beginner
Maximum Number of Students: 10
Price: $300. This includes materials.
Click here to reserve your spot.
Loom Rental: If you need a loom, you can rent one for $25 (that fee will go towards the purchase of a loom if you decide to buy.) You can also purchase a loom and pick it up the day of the workshop.
This class will cover: Tapestry design, cartoon making, warping, basic tapestry techniques (meet and separate, outlining, building basic shapes) and color blending.
Class description: Tapestry is often described as “painting with yarn” or creating woven images. In this workshop, you will learn how to start with a photo that inspires you and develop it into a design that will become a one of a kind tapestry. We ask that you bring an image that caught your eye; it can be a photograph of one object or something more complex. You will learn how to take this image and develop a simple drawing called a cartoon to use as you weave. This will not be a photographic depiction of the image, but more of a simplified design from it.
The end result may be rather realistic or more abstract; that is up to you. The suggestion is to use nature as your source of inspiration because the possibilities are endless. Plan on weaving a relatively small piece (about 6" x 8".)
The first day we will start by developing our cartoons, warping our looms and choosing our colors.
Fibers will be provided; a vast assortment of the lovely Array yarn as well as some gorgeous hand-dyed silk from Claudia of Mirrix with seine twine as the warp. You will get to choose your own colors as you go.
Once planning and warping is accomplished, the rest of the time will be dedicated to weaving and finishing.
The Teacher: Deb Bednarek is a Wisconsin multi media artist who’s main focus is working with fibers. For 34 years she taught art in various Wisconsin public schools but always found time to be creative on a personal level. While in high school and college, she was torn between working with metal or fiber focusing mainly on wearable art. Over the years fibers took over though you will find beads, metal and wire occasionally showing up in her weavings. Deb’s weavings are quite often organic in design and inspired by nature. She can’t resist beautifully hand dyed silk in particular and loves to have a vast array of colors to blend and combine.
Once she retired from teaching in the public schools, Deb continued to teach adults in the Milwaukee area at Fiberwood Studio in Milwaukee. She often works in the studio/store and finds being surrounded by yarn so inspiring! She has also taught at Shake Rag Alley in Mineral Point, the Bead and Button show, and local bead stores. Tapestry has overtaken wearable art as her main creative focus the past several years. She bought her first Mirrix loom about 20 years ago and has several sizes of them in her “collection”. The smallest ones are often dedicated to jewelry items but all of them are useful for tapestry. Deb loves to have more than one project going on at once; that’s her excuse for having so many looms. This past summer she was fortunate enough to experiment with Mirrix’s new largest loom, the Lily. Miniature tapestries are lots of fun but large tapestries are a new challenge.
Deb lives in rural Waukesha with her husband Russ and their sweet dog Cindy. Their wooded setting has given her more ideas to weave than she has time for! Deb tries to do something creative every day and is looking forward to sharing her passion for nature design in tapestry with you in this workshop.
What to Bring: Paper and pencil, a photograph or image for inspiration, scissors, tapestry needles and a tape measure. A fork or tapestry beater is optional but helpful.
Lunch: You can bring a bagged lunch or order food
Lodging: We will send students recommended lodging options in Sturgeon Bay
Requirements before the class: Have a general idea of how to warp a Mirrix Loom
If we do not have a minimum of 8 students by April 18th, we will cancel the class and issue each student a full refund.
Click here to reserve your spot.
The photos on this page are examples of pieces woven by Deb Bednarek