Keiko returns to Stowe with a wonderful array of workshops for you to weave and enjoy!  AND -- "Decoration Basket" is a perfect way to kick things off in 2008!  Your delicate, intricate, and beautiful basket feaures an embroidery (cross) pattern surface across its base.  If you are of a creative mind, you can actually design and weave our own personalized pattern!  No matter what your ultimate choice, "Decoration" will grace your dining table in a most beautiful manner!

You provide your favorite old -- or newly damaged -- chair and John will help you restore its beauty and functionality in this most functional of Pre-Festival workshops!  Weaving with specially kiln-dried rush imported directly from the British Isles, you will be amazed at the results you will achieve:  loveliness and strength have rarely been combined in such a striking manner as you will find under the tutelage of John Excell!  As noted, you must bring your own chair/stool or two of choice to Stowe.  John will lead  you through the restoration work.  You should expect to finish one chair or stool while in Stowe.  If your chairs and/or stools are not too large, you can perhaps complete two projects!

Upon completion of an intriguing, brief essay on sorting, measuring, cutting, sanding, tapering, boiling, and bending & placement of staves for your beach bag setup, you will learn about and employ Deanna's equally intriguing chase weaving technique. As you weave, you will learn splicing skills along with a technique for the creation of a "scarf joint". Rim finishing skills top off your stunning, yet traditionally functional beach bag.  You will enjoy working with only the highest quality of hardwood materials, including a cherrry base along with staves, rims and handles of finely prepared oak.  You will weave with Nantucket-grade cane .  You'll cap off your project's lovely twin handles with with distinctive bone domes.

Judy, a charter member of our SBF faculty, returns for her 17th year, complete with a "signature" Olney project for you to enjoy!  Given that "Michelin" begins life as a "squashy", you will be tutored fully in the techniques used to shape such a basket.  While weaving the top half of Michelin, you will aspire to form a shapely small circle, at which time you will turn your stakes UP and OUT to form a rounded top.  The latter will be woven in the manner of a traditional rib basket. Other pleasingly contrasting color combination options are available to ensure that you can create a truly personal statment!

Here's your chance to create a beautifully shaped "Cathead" basket -- weaving with painted cotton watercolor papers, a wonderfully versatile and user-friendly material.  You'll choose from a wonderfully broad array of pre-painted papers.  Your weaving will start with a gracefully arched "Cathead" base, featuring pointed feet.  Shaping will take precedence as you create woven rounded shoulders.  You'll finish with a lashed rim.  As a bonus, you'll have leftover paper from which to select to take home and later experiment with another cathead form!

Flo returns to Stowe for a record 17th year!   We couldn't be more excited.  After joining her for  "Barcelona" , you will know exactly what we mean!  Your classically designed, sturdy basket begins with the traditional techniques of a split spoke base woven with Japanese weave.  It's sides are woven with 3-rod wale, including an interesting interwoven ti-twined section.  You'll accent your colorful basket with a double handle that is secured by a criss-cross wrap of #5 reed.  A Japanese butterfly wrap artfully decorates the top of the handle.

 Keiko's wonderful creation -- and your joy! -- is woven with vine of Akebia Quinata.  It is a particularly fine weaving material collected exclusively in the northern regions of Japan and imported to Stowe just for you!   Keiko will you take you through the process of preparing this fine material and also grace each student with a special collecting bag.  As you weave with your Akebia Quinata vine, you will experience the incredible natural feelings of peace that the material exudes.  Finally, of course, you will possess a marvelously sophisticated, yet sturdily functional work of art to enjoy always!

Wendy has designed for your enjoyment a wonderfully whimsical, yet stunning presentation.  The only thing more fun than admiring "Silk Fusion" is creating it!  For the inner basket, you will use pre-painted archival paper.  You'll weave a round spoked base with plain weave sides.  Then, choosing from a variety of color options, you will learn the thoroughly fun technique of silk fusion.  You will apply your chosen silk to the outer layer of your basket.  The touch of whimsical beauty is then added with a partial third layer of wire using a looping technique.  Have fun and enjoy!

Tressa's stunning creation features a plaited and twined base.   You will add dditional corner spokes in the base, creating a design element as the spokes cross in the base.  The lower portion of your basket is woven with narrow flat oval rattan in a "start & stop" weave.  You will attach a unique  "middle" rim separating the lower basket design from the upper design.  This rim is lashed with waxed linen and adds structural strength as well as offering a pleasing aesthetic highlight.  You'll weave  your basket's upper portion using a triple twining technique with small natural and hand-dyed round rattan creating a "spiral bound" design.  Your basket's top rim is also lashed with waxed linen.  Enjoy!

 "Seville", a most graceful two-layer design, requires two sets of spokes. You will start with a simple split-spoke base basket, then "bi-spoke" it employing short #5 spokes.  After you have woven its sides with 3-rod wale and chase weave, you will additional #3 smoked spokes, one on each side of the original #5 spokes.  The #3 smoked spokes are cut so that they will extend both at the top and bottom of "Seville".  A foot trac is woven at your basket's base, a side braid is woven at its top, and the spokes from the braid are then brought to the bottom on a graceful curve.  The spokes are then laced through the foot border, followed by your weaving of a final border.  The finished, lasting impression of a basket within a basket is ingenious in its simplicity, yet always lovely to admire!

Leave it to Bobbi to give you choices that are hard to make!  Bottom line,you will weaving a classic Nantucket Lightship basket featuring lovingly prepared traditional cane spokes & weavers.  However, from that point forward, the choice is yours!

+ OPTION A:  Purple Heart. Your shallow bowl, featuring a lovely bent swing handle, features dyed spokes interwoven to create interesting inside and outside design patterns.
+ OPTION B: Black Walnut Base.  Your shallow basket is woven with alternating dyed black walnut & cane staves upon a stunning black walnut base and is topped by two equally classic & dramatic black walnut handles.

Here is your chance to weave baskets inspired by an ancient Japanese technique.  You will work with painted cotton watercolor papers chosen from an exciting palette of pre-painted options. You will shape your basket using the open work hexogonal weave, additn interlaced a second -- and possibly a third -- layer!   A "random weave" choice is another exciting option.  As is traditionally the case when you work with Jackie, there will be plenty of leftover paper for you to take home and create yet another "hex" basket, further exploring the infinite possibilities and intracacies of form, size, and color design!

 Elegant Curly" is yet another lovely inspiration of Dianne's that is founded in the artistry of Native American basketry.  You will learn to set up and weave a round bottomed basket. You will adorn the sides of your bowl with traditional circle-shaped curls fashioned from black ash.  You'll them complete your lovely bowl with sweetgrass and black ash rims.  Your bowl's flat cover employs the same materials used for its base, but is additionally accented with a ribbon folded handle.  An inner "foot" secures your cover to the base.  Needless to say, you'll experiment with and exlore the possibilities of many interesting techniques in weaving this fancy -- and fanciful! -- treat.

Tressa has certainly hit the "trifecta" with her 3rd of 4 workshops tailored for Stowe in 2008!   A visually captivating basket, "Pathways" begins with a compact 2/2 twill square woven bse of narrow flat rattan.  You'll then weave your basket's sides with dyed Hamburg cane in a 2/2 twill spiced with reverse patterns at intervals entirely of your choice -- precise or randon!  Hamburg cane is a wonderful material with which to work, featuring a sensual leather-like texture and feel when damp.  "Pathways" rim is wrapped with waxed linen.  As you weave, a major challenge for you to master is keeping the basket's shape square.  All in all, you'll find your basket to be a unique combination of enjoyment and technical skill sure to imbue you with a strong sense of accomplishment and pride when completed.

A pouch-shaped purse, "Heidelberg" features a unique 4-strand braid twining design in which the two rows of regular and reverse twining are literally worked together so that the rows are interlocked.  Your rim is a simple, yet strong 4-row rolled border. A strong, graceful handle is secured at each end with a curved length of reed and a God's-eye woven with cane.  Your pleasing handle is cane wrapped and features a figure-8 design along its topmost dimension.

Those of us who enjoy Judy's fun personality can certainly see some of her in her equally fun and somewhat madcap "Ribbon Purse"!  You will use single faced satin ribbon to weave your purse on a board in triaxial ("mad") weave.  Your base colors will be black and silver with a variety of choices for your third highlight color.  After your weaving, you'll use a sewing machine to attach your purse's lining and its cord handle.  Along the way, you'll discuss other patterns of triaxial weave.  Bottom line, you will have some fun while you weave this deceptively intricate project!

As per her modus operandi, Cass has often scoured the ends of the earth to pull together materials for her inspiring creations.  "Outgoing Mail" is certainly NO exception!  The yellow cedar with which you will be weaving was personally harvested by Cass in Alaska -- the only place on earth where it can be found.  Weaving over a mold, you will use eastern white cedar for the foundation of your basket, twill with white cedar, then create a "cross warp" with Alaskan yellow cedar.  Yellow cedar is like nothing with which you have ever woven --it is amazing strong, consistently pliable, and will please your senses with a long-lasting fragrance reminiscent of its wild origins.  When finished, if you hang your fully functional basket by the door, your days of forgetting the mail will be forever over!

If you missed out on Keiko's Workshop #4, here is another chance to exlore and enjoy the soothing, peaceful sensations created by working with native northern Japanese Akebia Quinata vine as a weaving material. Akebia Quinata is a particularly fine weaving material collected exclusively in the northern regions of Japan and imported to Stowe just for you!   There are more than 30 defined techniques for weaving with Akebia.  You will learn one of the most special as Keiko leads you on your journey of exploration.  And, certainly be sure to savor a unique sensory experience along the way!

 "Natural" certainly takes on a whole new level of meaning with Pattie's dramatic Stowe debut!  A naturally shed mule deer antler forms the foundation of your truly "one of a kind" project.  As you weave on your antler "mold", shaping will be emphasized along with rib structure.  You will study antler basket design. A lesson in drilling techniques will be included, as well.  As a bonus,  you'll have lots of control over color as you pick and choose from a variety of weaving materials that include color coordinated yarns and natural fibers. 

Pleasing to the eye, structurally sound, and fully functional are just three of many possible descriptions for Keiko's "Oshiyatsume Flower Basket".   Weaving under Keiko's guidance, you will learn the traditional -- centuries old -- Japanese bamboo  technique.  You will weave with beautiful hand-trimmed cane.  Your basket features a bamboo root ("Nemagari-Take").   In Keiko's words, her hopes are that each student "will arrange flowers in this basket and it will bring to the home each season's nature."

Tressa's desgin for "Tulipe" came about during a period when she became intrigued with Origami and resultant playful experimentation with it.  You will begin your basket with a flat pre-woven piece of natural rattan, making precision cuts, applying finishing techniques, and overlapping cut edges.  You'll strategically tie on beades along with short round bamboo pieces, creating visually interesting, aesthetically pleasing -- and functional! -- inside and outside surface ornamentation.  Tressa will have many examples of shapes for you to consider or to use as a springboard to your own design.  The accompanying basket photo is but one example of the many shapes you will have fun designing and weaving. You will receive material for two baskets and can expect to fully complete at least one during class. 

"Copper Kitten" is a design that Cass created as a result of overwhelming demand from her students.  "Copper" can be created with so many design options that you will have trouble deciding which way to arrange your spokes to start!  Borrowing from fellow basket-maker, Judy Olney's surefire methodology for creating a "kittenhead", you will weave your basket, then rim with sweetgrass. THEN, the fun begins!  You'll embellish with curls of your own design, then overlay with copper.  In Cass's words, "if you are looking for a truly stress-free class, then "Copper Kitten" is the one to take!  The best part is all the compliments you'll recieve when you add it to your collection."  In addition to Cass's enthusiasm for her basket, the materials she provides make this workshop 'Blue Ribbon' all the way!

 A stylish basket-maker in his own right, Eric has blessed us in Stowe with an equally stylish basket design!  "Fruit Bowl" is founded upon a square base with rounded corners, flaring outward to the top of the bowl.  You will be challenged with shaping requirements and a decorative twill pattern. You will weave over a mold with finely prepared hand-pounded brown ash.  Dramatic and colorful cherry handles afford your basket a sturdy functionality while further adding to its classy, showpiece imagery.  This is Eric's only 2008 Stowe workshop so be sure to enroll early!  

Cass' creativity continues to abound and astound even the most seasoned of basketmakers!  In her words, "with all of the knitters out there creating wonderful Ponchos, I decided it was time to weave a Poncho, only this time do it in Birch Bark!"  You now have the opportunity to do just that yourself!  Along the way, you'll learn a new technique for creating the shoulders.  You will then embellish and overlay them wtih clear and dyed birch to create the design in personalized Poncho.   Weavers of ALL levels will enjoy this project, learning new techniques and having fun weaving with premium harvested birch bark!

Dianne's inspiration for her "heart" or triangular wall basket comes by way of a traditional rivercane basket woven by the Choctaw Indians.  Your version is woven from dyed Hamburg cane in the traditional colors of red, black, and natural.  You'll learn to set up your spokes using a "loom", then weave with a twill mat,.  You will master the technique of turning up your basket's corners to produce your basket's unique & lovely shape.  The top of your  "heart" is woven in plain weave and finished with a traditional rim and small loop handle.  Although beautiful and stylish, this heart won't be easy to "break!"