The 2019 Swatches have been mailed out to all paid members, thanks to Mary Underwood, the MLH Swatch chairperson.
If you are not a current member of MLH please consider joining. Membership dues recieved by January 1st will receive the 2020 swatches.
A major "Thank you!" to the guilds that participated this year. We have groups working together, and then individuals who took the challenge to produce samples for us all. Somehow themes always emerge spontaneously from all corners of the state. This year we had a wonderful variety of samples with discussions and instructions for producing them yourself.
Below is a sampling of what members recieved.
Greater Lansing Weaver's Guild
If four shafts is good for weaving, then three must be better. Right? It sure is for the samples provided by the Greater Lansing Weaver's Guild. The sample draft is a fascinating combination of Honeycomb and Bronson. Their sample and draft should get us all looking at how to combine weaves in different ways. And if any of our weavers hasn't tried using a supplementary warp, this would get you off to a great start.
Lakeshore Fiber Arts Guild
The Lakeshore Fiber Arts Guild turned into a dye house. We love the cottons they transform with creative methods of manipulating the fabric with Mokume Shibori. You can lose yourself in the patterns that emerge. They rounded up 60% of their guild members to help sew and dye the fabric. And then provided detailed instructions on how to do this technique.
Linda Ritz
Linda Ritz, from the Midland Fiber Arts Guild gave us the raw product and the finished handspun yarn. She introduces 100% acrlic with details for how to best spin it. For those of you who don't spin, the method of spinning is very important for the end result. While common in our clothing acrylic isn't a fiber many spinners are familar with. Linda went the extra mile - first exploring the fiber herself, and then having another spinner sample a different brand of acrylic with an accompanying critique and discussion about usage.