Workshops

Come and enhance your fiber arts skills, or try your hand at something new!

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2025 Workshops

Announcing our 2025 Workshops for the Western New York Fiber Arts Festival!

Intro to Mosaic Crochet

9:00 am – 12:00 pm

Dive into the vibrant world of mosaic crochet in this hands-on class designed for both adventurous beginners and seasoned crocheters! Mosaic crochet is a beautiful colorwork technique that uses basic stitches to create intricate, layered patterns and bold designs without the need for endless color changes or advanced skills.

What You’ll Learn:
– The basics of overlay mosaic crochet
– How to read and interpret mosaic crochet charts
– Tips for choosing color combinations for maximum effect

Prerequisite:
Students should be confident in the following basic crochet stitches:
– Chains
– Single Crochet
– Double Crochet

Course Fee: $40
Materials Fee: $10

Katelyn Daly

Katelyn Daly is a CYC Certified Crochet Teacher (Level II) with over 10 years of crochet and knitting experience. She has taught a variety of classes for Ken-Ton Community Education ranging from beginner classes to advanced technique workshops. Katelyn brings a passion for creativity and a knack for teaching to every workshop. Specializing in vibrant designs and practical techniques, Katelyn loves guiding students of all skill levels to discover the joy of fiber arts. Whether you’re picking up a hook or needles for the first time or looking to expand your skills, Katelyn ensures a fun, supportive, and inspiring learning environment.

Needle Felted WNYFAF Sheep Logo patch with Emma DuBois

9:00 am – 12:00 pm

In this class, you’ll learn how to make a needle felted sew on patch on 100% pure wool felt. You’ll learn how to “paint” with wool to create a sheep design, and add accessories such as a bow or scarf.

Course Fee: $45
Materials Fee: $10

Emma DuBois

Emma has been needle felting since she was 11. She believes that this is an art form anyone one can do, and wants to share it with artists and non artists alike. She loves it for its versatility in either flat work or sculpture. She has taught needle felting to many people and she has worked with children as young as 7, and in groups as big as 12. She finds that age is not the defining factor in needle felting ability, rather the acceptance that you will occasionally poke yourself. However, she also offers finger protectors to minimize this issue.

Know Your Wool, Spin Your Wool – Carding, Combing and Blending – A Prep Primer with Tami Fuller

9:00 am – 11:00 am

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.

A discussion of longwool and short staple breeds and how to source your wool with a fiber artist with a background in breeding and wool sourcing will be included. Learn the difference between roving and wool top and learn how to create your own with access to fiber tools and resources during class and working demonstration of drum carding, combing and how to blend through use of carders and blending boards. A class that covers it all with demonstrations and open question and answers sessions for the fiber-curious. Includes suggestions on handmade tools for beginners looking to begin prep. Students will receive a supply of wool that they will work with to create a set of blended rolags at the close of class to use in future spinning classes with use of a blending board. Blending board use is provided during the course of class with the option to purchase at the close of class for an additional fee.

Course Fee: $55
Materials fee: $15 Supply (Wool, use of tools through class)

Tami Fuller

Tami Fuller is a second-generation fiber artist, and works as an educator and exhibiting fine fiber artist. 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 practices with a fine art discipline. Her workshops through her fiber arts and education company, Blubird Studio, are designed with an eye toward revitalizing and modernizing fiber, ensuring the continuation of these skill sets by exposing the art form to new people within new contexts.

Tami is an exhibiting member of the Buffalo Society of Artists and a 2021 Roycroft Emerging Artist. She currently serves as the chair of the Roycroft Emerging Artists Program and was recently appointed Executive Director of the Roycrofters-at-Large, the nonprofit serving modern Roycroft Artisans nationwide. She is also the primary fiber art event coordinator for the Arts Council of Wyoming County, where she is in charge of educational outreach and fiber arts programming for the Fiber Flurry 2024 Fiber Festival.

Tami is currently working to establish Indigo in WNY through volunteer work with the Great Lakes Indigo Project and will be hosting a series of international workshops in southern France in 2024 and 2025 in collaboration with the Reinhabitory Institute, an all female arts education institute co-headquartered in WNY and in Berkley, Calif. She works out of her studio at 17 Elm Street in East Aurora, where she also co-operates and co-curates The COMMA Fine Art gallery, in collaboration with two other women artists.

Learn to Weave in Hoops with Amanda Hartrich

9:00 am – 12:00 pm

Enjoy a unique spin on traditional circular weaving by using two hoops! By warping between the hoops, you create a uniquely shaped loom for your weaving with an unexpected open space in the middle. We’ll learn how to warp this circle-within-a-circle then walk through a few basic weaving stitches to make it your own. Perfect for beginners and anyone who wants to give this unique twist a whirl! Yarn and roving in a variety of colors will be provided.

Course Fee: $45
Materials Fee: $15

Amanda Hartrich

Amanda Hartrich, local to East Aurora, has been a fiber artist for more than 20 years. She has been a knitting and crochet instructor at a local yarn shop, written for PLY magazine, been involved in her local spinning guild, owned her own on-line fiber business, and raised Shetland sheep. Currently, she teaches fiber arts at MuseJar, Flock Fiber Arts, and various festivals in the WNY area. She is a member of Common Threads Guild, Weavers Guild of Buffalo, and American Tapestry Alliance. Her work has been exhibited at Off Main Gallery in East Aurora and the Wyoming Council of the Arts Fiber Flurry Arts Festival.

Beginning Drop Spindle Class

9:00 am – 12:00 pm

Learn the magic of transforming wool into your very own yarn—no experience needed! In this hands-on class, you’ll explore the fundamentals of spinning, including twist and twist direction, drafting, the park-and-draft method, and the suspended spindle technique. Once you’ve spun your first singles, you’ll learn how to wind a center-pull ball by hand and use it to ply your yarn into a finished, usable skein.

All of this is done with a simple, elegant tool: the drop spindle. Each participant will receive a handcrafted wooden spindle made by a local woodworker, yours to keep to continue spinning at home.

Course Fee: $40
Materials Fee: $20

Ann McCool

Ann discovered her passion for yarn in 2008 while on bed rest during her first pregnancy, seeking a creative and productive outlet. What began with knitting and crocheting for her family quickly evolved into a deep exploration of textures and fibers. During the “Great Craft Resurgence” of 2020, she delved into spinning and was instantly hooked. Embracing affordable tools, she started with a drop spindle and soon realized that antique wheels and fiber equipment were both accessible and abundant in Western New York. In 2021, she acquired her first Great Wheel—now one of many—and has since joyfully immersed herself in historical fiber arts, including medieval distaffs, spindle-and-whorl spinning, and floor loom weaving. Ann’s teaching style blends hands-on learning with a clear understanding of the mechanics behind each technique, making fiber arts both approachable and fascinating.

Ann has shared her passion through live spinning demonstrations at festivals across Western New York, including showcasing distaff and spindle-and-whorl spinning at the WNY Fiber Arts Festival in 2024. She has also brought her skills to homeschool co-op educational events, inspiring learners of all ages to connect with traditional fiber arts.

Create a Fall Door Decor Basket with Maureen Quale

9:00 am – 12:00 pm

An excellent ‘project’ basket, catchall, mail basket or filled with dried flowers.

Measurements of the “Fall Door Decor Basket” are as follows, 12 inches high, including handle. 10 inches long 8 inches wide. The opening of the basket is 11 3/4 inches long and 8 inches wide. Measurements are approximate.

Course Fee: $25
Materials Fee: $25

Maureen Quale

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.

Wet Felting a Vessel with Marcia Weinert

9:00 am – 12:00 pm

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.

Course Fee: $60
Materials fee: $10

Marcia Weinert

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.

Create a Needle Felted Mushroom House with Joann Clark

2:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Mushroom House – Explore the world of Feltie Forms by creating an ethereal Mushroom House. You will needle felt a Mini Feltie form for the stem and a Feltie Flat for the mushroom cap with dyed roving before adding an embellished door or window. Yarns and additional roving will be used to create details to your enchanting mushroom home.

Course Fee: $40
Materials Fee: $30

JoAnn Clark

JoAnn Clark was introduced to Needle Felting 18 years ago and has been giving it a stab ever since. Though flat was fun, she soon found that 3D was her creative muse. JoAnn loved felting and teaching others how to make snowman and Santa ornaments, but still wanted to go bigger. Over the years, she has experimented with both wet and needle felting to develop what she calls Feltie Forms. These firm shapes have given her the ability to bring forth fanciful creatures and freakish full-size pumpkins.”

Crochet Corner-to-Corner (C2C); an Advanced Beginner Crochet Class with Katelyn Daly

2:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Discover the charm and versatility of corner-to-corner (C2C) crochet in this engaging workshop! Ideal for crocheters who want to explore new techniques and create stunning, pixel-like patterns, C2C crochet is perfect for making blankets, scarves, dishcloths and more. In this workshop, we’ll walk you through the fundamentals of corner-to-corner crochet, from starting small squares to increasing and decreasing to shape your work. We’ll also cover tips for color changes and following C2C charts to bring images and designs to life.

By the end of the session, you’ll have started your own C2C project and gained the skills to
finish it with confidence. Whether you’re a C2C newbie or looking to refine your technique,
this workshop will have you hooked!

What You’ll Learn:
– How to start and build C2C squares from corner to corner
– Techniques for increasing and decreasing to shape your project
– How to follow C2C charts and incorporate color changes

Prerequisite:
Students should be confident in the following basic crochet stitches:
– Chains
– Single Crochet

Course Fee: $40
Materials Fee: $10

Katelyn Daly

Visible Mending with Felting: Repair or embellish knitwear with felted fruit, with Emma DuBois

2:00 pm – 5:00 pm

In this class, you’ll learn needle and wet felting techniques to create felted fruit designs on knitwear. Get rid of moth holes, cover stains, or bring life to an old sweater! Using wash-a-way stabilizer, you’ll needle felt over a template to create an avocado, lemon, strawberry, or apple. Then, you’ll wet felt your design to make it sturdy. Felted designs can be washed on a cold, gentle setting in a washing machine. This technique works best with a medium weight, medium weave sweater with a wool content, but can be done with most knitwear or denim. I don’t recommend this technique for hoodies or very thin fabrics, as the barbed needles can create more holes. If you don’t have your own sweater but would like join the class, She will have a few extra sweaters available for $8 each.

Course Fee: $45
Materials Fee: $10

Emma DuBois

Learn to Weave – featuring Lost Pond Looms, with Tami Fuller

2:00 pm – 5:00 pm

This in-depth weaving series for beginners and intermediate students with basic knowledge is designed for those who want to learn to weave and use it as an art of modern expression while still being rooted in foundations of high craft. Learn the building blocks of weaving, including warping, materials, tools and basic techniques. Students will also be led on how to use tapestry weaving and appropriate use of color to create interest under the instruction of an award-winning exhibiting fiber artist with a decade of experience teaching and a lifetime of experience in the fiber arts.

This is a “learn the rules to break the rules” workshop, which will teach the necessary fundamentals of weaving as a jumping off for free-form expression that is still rooted in technical surety. Use of all supplies during class time is provided including warp, tool kit, weaving materials, and a Handmade Tapestry Loom made by Lost Pond Looms, a local artisan maker of world-renowned weaving equipment. The option to purchase loom at the close of close will be offered for an optional additional materials fee, allowing students to learn and decide on equipment purchase at their discretion.

Course Fee: $58
Material Fee: $12 (Take Home Option)
$45 to purchase Lost Pond Loom

Tami Fuller

Tami Fuller is a second-generation fiber artist and educator. Her work integrates the traditional foundations of hand-constructed processes with modern technique. Her workshops are designed with an eye toward revitalizing and modernizing fiber, ensuring the continuation of these skill sets by exposing the art form to new people within new contexts. She teaches retreats and workshops throughout the North East. Her work has received awards from NY Sheep and Wool, Lake Affect Magazine, Arts Council for Wyoming County and the Carnegie Art Center. In 2022, she was defined as a WNY artist culture-maker and a recipient of the NY Council on the Arts “Creatives Rebuild NY” grant, tasked with rebuilding arts access post-COVID.

She is an internationally published fiber artist whose work has appeared in Fiber Art Now and her work can be found in collections in the United States, Canada and Australia. She works out of East Aurora, and is an exhibiting member of the Buffalo Society of Artists and a 2021 Roycroft Emerging Artist in Fiber.

Acid Dyes: Demystifying Professional-Grade Permanent Dyes with Yarn and/or Roving

2:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Watch magic happen in the pan as you dye your very own yarn or roving with professional-grade acid dyes. This class is designed to introduce the novice to the basics of dyeing yarn but also give experienced dyers a chance to play without the mess. We will go over the calculations for dye to wool ratios and acid measurements (btw, the “acid” in acid dyes is just citric acid!) The instructor will demonstrate space dyeing and gradient dyeing before you jump into working with your own yarn or roving. Each student can choose to work with yarn, roving, or both. Yarn hanks will be 200 yards of worsted-weight wool, roving will be 4 oz. of wool, and each student receives 2 (ie: 2 skeins, 2 braids, or a skein and a braid). Take-home folders with info and calculation sheets are also included.

Course Fee: $50
Materials Fee: $20

Amanda Hartrich

Spin Like a Viking, an advanced spinning class with Ann McCool

2:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Bring your inner Viking (dragons optional) and learn to spin yarn the old-world way! In this class, we’ll explore medieval spinning techniques using a traditional spindle-and-whorl. You’ll learn the fundamentals of grasped spinning and short suspension, then level up by incorporating a handheld distaff—covering how to load it and various ways to hold it for smooth spinning. For those ready to embrace the challenge, we’ll also try out a belted distaff and even the medieval method of spinning while walking.

This class is a fun and immersive dive into the longest-practiced spinning technique in European history—perfect for fiber adventurers ready to travel back in time. Each participant will receive a handcrafted wooden spindle-and-whorl and handheld distaff made by a local woodworker, yours to keep to continue spinning at home.

Note: A solid understanding of drafting is required, and prior experience with drop spindle spinning is highly recommended.

Course Fee: $40
Materials Fee: $25

Ann McCool

Beginning to Spin with Marcia Weinert

2:00 pm – 5:00 pm

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 rent one from the instructor for an additional $10 fee.

Course Fee: $60
Materials Fee: $10 +$10 wheel rental (if needed)

Marcia Weinert

Workshop Registration