Come and enhance your fiber arts skills, or try your hand at something new!
Have an idea for a class? We encourage you to submit a Workshop Proposal Application.
2024 will have fun and interesting workshops. Check back often for workshop registration.
An excellent ‘project’ basket, catchall, mail basket or filled with dried flowers.
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Maureen Quale has been teaching basket weaving since 2008 and has taught many diverse groups…native Americans, girls scouts, church groups, etc. Her passion is to keep this art form alive and to encourage first time weavers to join the fun! Maureen has been teaching at our festival for several years and always brings interesting and functional projects with an array of colors to suit student’s taste.
In this class, we will be making a Zwirnknöpf button and a Dorset button. Zwirnknöpf buttons have been made in Eastern Europe for hundreds of years, and Dorset buttons have been made in England since at least 1622. It is very easy to build on the basic techniques to make exquisite designs. These buttons make wonderful pendants, earrings, brooches and, when larger, wall hangings. Please join us to explore these amazing buttons!
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WNY Fiber Arts Festival is pleased to welcome Karen Smock to our lineup of instructors this year! Karen has extensive experience teaching workshops in our area, as well as online through The Lace Museum in Fremont, CA. Karen has offered workshops in person with the Lake Erie Fiber Arts Guild, the Heritage Village Lace Guild, and at various historical reenactments at Old Fort Niagara and Fort LeBoeuf Historical Society. She will also be teaching workshops at the Pennsylvania State Button Society’s fall convention this year.
Wet Felted Vessels: It is both magical and easy to use unspun wool and soapy water to fashion a 3-dimensional purse, pouch, or other vessel around a flat form that “resists” felting and shrinking! We’ll play with a mountainous rainbow of fluff and sparkle to make unique, small bowls—and discuss how these same techniques can be used to develop into hats, handbags, and vases! Felting requires sustained but gentle physical effort for the entire class period.
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Marcia Weinert (who is “Undeniably Loopy!”) has been addicted to turning fluff into stuff ever since sneaking her 9-year-old daughter’s spindle and fiber after their first class together, over two decades ago! She teaches spinning, knitting, felting, and crochet in many outlets across the northeast, particularly the Weaving & Fiber Arts Center in Rochester, NY. We are delighted to have Marcia return as an instructor for the WNY Fiber Arts Festival.
Longwool, short staple, woolen, worsted, carded, combed, hand, roving vs top, from the fold, in the grease – what is a diz? Do I really need a flick carder? What are neps? Silk, bamboo, wool and artificials versus natural…There is so much that goes into spinning before spinning! Learn the basics of fiber prep and have common questions answered, like when you should card and when you should comb, how to handle each process and the tools and best practices associated with each prep and why woolen versus worsted matters.
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The WNY Fiber Arts Festival is very excited to have Tami Fuller share her talents this year at the festival!
Tami is a second-generation fiber artist, and works as an educator and studio artist out of East Aurora. Tami is passionate about inspiring and empowering a new generation of creators by teaching the fiber arts in new, modern contexts which are still strongly rooted in traditional technique.
This shawl pin is a Dorset tree button, made in beautiful fall colors. Dorset buttons have been made in England since at least 1622, and from these basic techniques come this modern design. Once you understand the process, it can be made in any colorway, and it can be used to accent beautiful shawls, sweaters or scarves. It would make lovely gifts for the fiber lovers in your life!
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WNY Fiber Arts Festival is pleased to welcome Karen Smock to our lineup of instructors this year! Karen has extensive experience teaching workshops in our area, as well as online through The Lace Museum in Fremont, CA. Karen has offered workshops in person with the Lake Erie Fiber Arts Guild, the Heritage Village Lace Guild, and at various historical reenactments at Old Fort Niagara and Fort LeBoeuf Historical Society. She will also be teaching workshops at the Pennsylvania State Button Society’s fall convention this year.
Learn to make your own, unique handspun yarn on a spinning wheel! We’ll play with several types of prepared wool while we discuss wheel maintenance, drafting, treadling, plying, and finishing techniques to make a balanced yarn. As time permits, we’ll touch on other fiber preparations, and non-wool fibers. No previous experience required. Warning: Spinning can be addictive. Suitable for beginners – no prior experience necessary. STUDENT BRINGS Any treadle-driven wheel in good working condition, with at least one bobbin, or contact the instructor at [email protected] to reserve a rental wheel for an additional $10 fee.
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Marcia Weinert (who is “Undeniably Loopy!”) has been addicted to turning fluff into stuff ever since sneaking her 9-year-old daughter’s spindle and fiber after their first class together, over two decades ago! She teaches spinning, knitting, felting, and crochet in many outlets across the northeast, particularly the Weaving & Fiber Arts Center in Rochester, NY. We are delighted to have Marcia return as an instructor for the WNY Fiber Arts Festival.
Join therapeutic teaching artist & farmer Nicole of Dreamland for a hands-on intuitive dye experience. Utilizing farm fresh dyes grown on their farm, Nicole will guide you through the process of botanical imprint dyeing, hapazome, where you will create a one of a kind, tangible expression of the season on a cotton kerchief. As you move through the process you will also be learning the basics of natural dyeing, natural dye plants around you & how to start your own dye garden.
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The WNY Fiber Arts Festival welcomes a new instructor, Nicole Vescio. Connection through land, people and process has been Nicole’s path for a lifetime. Leading natural dye workshops for children and adults, she has presented natural dye classes for almost a decade through private classes/workshops on her farm where she grows dye plants, for various not for profits and organizations.
Explore the basics of weaving with a simple frame loom. Learn how to warp, select materials for texture and strength and receive instruction on basket or plain weave, as well as a brief discussion of fringe and texture techniques for roving and foreign objects. Instruction will include weaving time as well as finishing and hanging your work. Students will leave with beginners weaving knowledge, and a completed and mounted fiber art piece. Use of student loom is provided during class, with the option to purchase at the close of class for optional additional materials fee.
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The WNY Fiber Arts Festival is very excited to have Tami Fuller share her talents this year at the festival!
Tami is a second-generation fiber artist, and works as an educator and studio artist out of East Aurora. Tami is passionate about inspiring and empowering a new generation of creators by teaching the fiber arts in new, modern contexts which are still strongly rooted in traditional technique.
