{"id":4887,"date":"2020-06-20T08:13:47","date_gmt":"2020-06-20T06:13:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/waltin.se\/josefinwaltinspinner\/?p=4887"},"modified":"2022-09-08T07:28:54","modified_gmt":"2022-09-08T05:28:54","slug":"teaching-at-saterglantan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/waltin.se\/josefinwaltinspinner\/teaching-at-saterglantan\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching at S\u00e4tergl\u00e4ntan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This week I have been teaching at S\u00e4tergl\u00e4ntan<\/a> craft education center \u2013 a five-day course I call A spindle a day. The students learn four different spindle types and wool processing. On the fifth and final day I invite them to a wool tasting to make them realize how much they have actually learned. The course is also about the slowness of spindle spinning and how spinning can help you find peace of mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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S\u00e4tergl\u00e4ntan craft education center in its midsummer prime.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Teaching at S\u00e4tergl\u00e4ntan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This is the third time I teach a five-day course at S\u00e4tergl\u00e4ntan \u2013 the first time was all about supported spindle spinning<\/a>. Last summer I taught A spindle a day for the first time<\/a>. It has been such a lovely experience every time. Inspiration oozes from every corner of every building at the center. Every handle, curtain, rug, hook and decoration is hand made. Teaching at S\u00e4tergl\u00e4ntan is \u2013 aside from the teaching experience itself \u2013 an experience mindfully wrapped in a handmade environment bursting with craft and creativity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Wool wall hanging in the evening light in the common room.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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What is a chair without an embroidery? P\u00e5s\u00f6m embroidery is a traditional technique local to Dala-Floda in the county of Dalarna where the center is situated.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I stayed in the landscape house where all the rooms are named after Swedish landscapes. I got the Gotland room, which must have been the nicest of them all. It was filled with hand crafted things made with love and care by crafters and artists from Gotland in traditional techniques.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A felted cushion with the loveliest locks on my bed.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Embroidered wool pillow with Gotland motifs. I do love the Gute ram.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A saigkorg is a traditional Gotland basket with hand carved juniper sticks, meant for storing carded wool. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A spindle a day<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The course was fully booked many months ago, but due to the corona crisis several people had had to cancel their reservations. But there were still enough students left for the center to go through with the course. We all missed the presence of the spinners who couldn’t make it and hope they will be able to take it another, safer time. As a teacher I felt privileged, though, for the opportunity to teach only five students and be able to give them all individual coaching when they needed it. The students were between 20 and 69,5 years old \u2013 my youngest group yet. Usually I’m the youngest at 47. The students had different spinning backgrounds and experiences from novice to intermediate but all with a profound interest in textiles and wool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suspended spindle<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The first day was dedicated to wool knowledge, combing and suspended spindle spinning. We looked at what the wool preparation does not only for the spinning experience but also for the decisions you make through the process. Every time you handle the wool you learn something about it \u2013 how long the staples are, the elasticity, how it drafts and how it holds together. All these little pieces add together into a puzzle that gets more and more complete as you work with the wool. When you get to the spinning part you have gathered information that will help you make decisions about your yarn and your spinning technique. We worked with these thoughts as our guide throughout the whole course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Day 1 and suspended spindle spinning.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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This is a student with no prior skills in spinning.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I encouraged the students to try different wools and reflect over how the wools are and behave differently and how the behavior of the wool influence the decisions they make for the yarn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One students made thorough samples with notes for all her preparation, spinning techniques and spindle types.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Navajo style spindles and carding<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Day two was dedicated to carding and spinning on Navajo style spindles. As I wrote in last week’s post<\/a> my wood turner Bj\u00f6rn Peck<\/a> had delivered a batch of beautiful Navajo style spindles for the course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Navajo style spindles are risky to ship, especially between continents. If you are in North America, please buy from Navajo artists. Here is one<\/a><\/strong>. <\/em>There are also other makers<\/a> in the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carding rolags<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Carding rolags is an art and process in itself.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There is something about carding. Some people card the way they have learned many years ago, some don’t really like carding because they don’t get good result. But few have analyzed their carding or which properties to strive for in their rolags. In the course we talked about what we want the rolag to do and how to get there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rolag progression in \u00c5sen wool from one student from bottom to top. The aim is a rolag with an even distribution of separated fibers throughout a rolag with an even and defined shape.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After the class one student said she had been carding for 35 years but had never got as round rolags as she had today. Another said that she now enjoyed the carding process in a way she hadn’t before. My heart bubbles of joy when I can guide my students to make new insights like these. They all made a remarkable progress in their carding similar to the one in the photo above. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spinning on Navajo style spindles<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Spinning on a Navajo style spindle is both slow and fast. You set the spindle in motion by rolling the shaft with your flat hand against your outer thigh. You don’t get much speed in that. However, you usually spin with quite low twist yarn and often bulky yarns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The students felt more comfortable with the slow spinning style but did get results fast since the fiber spun up quickly. And they all loved the technique. The whole body is involved in the motion and there is something magic happening between the hands in the long draw that stretches from the spindle hand at the thigh and the fiber hand by the opposite shoulder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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All the students loved spinning on their Navajo spindles. I’m thankful for Bj\u00f6rn Peck for making the spindles happen.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We worked a lot with opening up the twist and finding the point of twist engagement<\/a>. The point of twist engagement is the space in the distance between fiber and yarn where there is enough twist for the fibers to stick together but not enough to lock them. This was a revelation to the students. By keeping the twist close to that twist angle where the fibers just slide past each other without sliding apart <\/em>they could manipulate the yarn by opening up the twist with just a light movement with their thumbs on each side of the point of twist engagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Double and consecutive drafting<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

We tried spinning with both a double draft and (in lack of better words) a consecutive draft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the double draft<\/strong> you<\/p>\n\n\n\n