news | Tasha Miller Griffith

fold dip print 3

Hello all!

First, I’m very happy to announce that I’ll be traveling to teach at a new venue this fall; North House Folk School, way up in northern Minnesota! I’m teaching two classes: Fold, Dip, Print: Natural Dye on Fabric and Creative Mending. It would be nearly impossible to say which of these I’m looking forward to more.

I have a new batch of fabric samples for natural dye printing just waiting to test (I’m working with tannin this time, and how it interacts with other mordants) so I should have even more to share in this next workshop. Figuring out things that I can’t just look up in a book keeps pulling me deeper and deeper into natural dye mysteries—I love it! (If you don’t know what a mordant is or why tannin might be one, maybe you would like to come to this workshop …)

I’m equally loving starting to prepare for this next mending workshop; thinking about what I know and have taught before, bringing topics together, trying new ideas, and wanting to integrate as many options from the different crafts I know as possible. We’re going to see how weaving and knitting work, what makes fabric behave how it does, and learn a whole bunch of ways to patch/darn/repair/decorate all kinds of textiles. It’s going to be great!

creative mending 1

Second, I have been doing some long-overdue website updating (it’s always overdue, right?). You may be surprised to click on one of the tutorial pages (like the mending one, speaking of) and find it reasonably complete and up to date. I am (ever so slowly) learning a little more about html, which will hopefully make it easier to keep up with this stuff as I go. Come look around the site if you haven’t in a while.

That’s all from me for now. If you want to be updated when I have new classes scheduled, the best bet is to follow this blog. No spam, and only occasional posts … you can also check in on the Classes + Workshops page.

Cheers!

Arizona Fiber Arts Retreat, Things I Forgot to Mention, and More

Lately I haven’t been doing as good a job as I’d like keeping you all, lovely readers, updated when I have something going on outside of this blog. I haven’t wanted to stick random announcements into tutorials or thoughts that will (hopefully) be read long after the news is relevant, but I also don’t want to pepper you with little posts for each bit of “look at this!” type news. So I’ve decided to do a periodic news round-up when warranted. Because this is the first one, there’s some overdue stuff as well as some newer items.

Old News

I wrote a few more articles that came out in Seamwork magazine this fall, and the latest one in the December issue. Although I mentioned some of them in passing, I didn’t really point them out. There’s one on how fabric is woven, and how to use your knowledge about that to improve your sewing. It draws on what I learned when my grandma taught me how to weave, and uses a toy loom that belonged to my mom as an example. The latest article is about five essential hand stitches, and it’s just what it sounds like, a tutorial on my most-used stitches. I’ve been inspired by all the hand sewing and visible mending going on lately, and I’m happy to add to it! Maybe my favorite article so far is the one on wool. It was a total blast to research it, and I’m really happy with how it came out. It covers some of the history and science of wool, and how to use that knowledge when you’re sewing with it. It also features my favorite (super easy) hand-wash method for all your lovely woolens.

As always, you can read any of the articles in Seamwork for free online. I’ve also added links to the ones I’ve written in my category page (you can also get there by clicking “Sew” under “Tutorials + Inspiration” at the top of my site) so they’re included with the rest of the sewing info I’ve shared.

To wrap up the older news, I joined Instagram this fall, and also never mentioned it here outright. My inclination at this point is to avoid anything that involves more “screen time”, but there was so much going on there, especially in the fiber arts world, that I decided to try it out. And I think I like it. It’s nice to have a place to share quicker projects, things in progress, and thoughts that won’t become their own blog posts. And there was some surprisingly deep conversation going on there during #slowfashionoctober! Still I’m determined to use it sparingly. If you too are on this exciting/elitist/beautiful/frustrating/inspiring platform, do come say hi, I’m @frenchtoasttasha.

New News

The winter gathering at Arcosanti has a new name: Arizona Fiber Arts Retreat, and I’m teaching there again this year. It’s coming up January 22 and 23, and as of this writing there are still spaces in both my classes. One is on 3D wet felting, and one is making felt cuffs and beads (pictured below) while learning to use attachments, prefelts, and shaping in your felt making. Click over to their new website for details and to sign up. Observant readers of this blog may notice my digital fingerprints on the AFAR site, and indeed I’ve been spending a fair amount of time working on that lately. It’s a bit surreal to be the one in our group with the most web skills, but there you have it!

Knitting classes are also starting up again at Purl in the Pines in Flagstaff. The first session of my beginning knitting series is this Saturday (complete beginners welcome), along with a “knitting skills lab” where you can get all your questions answered and learn some new techniques. If you’re interested, head on over to their class page for details. It’s still snowing like crazy as I type this, but if the forecast holds, the roads should be clear by the time classes start.

I have a more contemplative post for the new year in the works too, but (appropriately enough) it’s taking a while to distill my “Slow” thoughts for that one. In the meantime, if there’s anything you’d like to see in this space, or for classes etc. in 2016 feel free to let me know!