Weaving with Invasive plants

Saturday Weaving Circle

Weavers of all levels welcome! Weave, learn and share ideas and techniques with other weavers and textile artists.

1:00pm - 4:00pm (free)

Tools and some weaving materials provided. Please bring weaving materials if you have some on hand.

Check our Facebook for updates!

Fall & Winter 2014 weaving schedule:

September 20

October 4 and 18th

November 1, 15 and 29th.

Harvesting Schedule

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Harvesting Dates for Spring 2014:

Join us in harvesting weaving materials for the studio:

February 8
March 8

time:  10:00am to 1:00pm

This event will meet at SPES office located in the Dining Pavilion (near the Rose Garden) in Stanley Park. New participants should come 10 minutes early to complete the required volunteer application and waiver form.

For more information (what to wear and bring, etc.) and to register for this event contact:
Ivy Smith, Stewardship Programs Coordinator
604-718-6547
stewardship@stanleyparkecology.ca

Be a volunteer!  Join SPES and their crew of volunteers two days each month!  Please see their calendar of events for other volunteer opportunities, dates and registration information:

Community Invasive Species Management Program - Calendar of Events

English Ivy harvested near Brockton Oval

Coiling Workshop

Recent workshop participants exploring coiled basketry:

Braided Flag Iris with Papyrus - Jen (2012)





Coiled English Ivy - Charlene (work in progress 2013)



An entertaining video on how traditional coiled bee skeps are made:

A fun "Crawl" was had by all

It was great to see all the enthusiasm from the community about the work we have been doing through our studio this past year. 

Thank-you to everyone who walked through the door to share our cozy space and to talk about

 weaving, spinning and knitting with us!  

 A big "Thank you!" goes out to all the Urban Weaver Collective members who helped set-up and clean-up the space, gave weaving, spinning and knitting demonstrations, talked to everyone who came through the door and provided the creature comforts to keep us going (including rice crispy squares with bacon - who would have thought it could be so good)!  The weekend wouldn't have been the success it was without you there to help!

 

Taking advantage of a lull in the crowd to focus on some spinning and knitting





The latest addition to my Event Basket collection:  braided yellow flag iris - coiled and stitched





What's in store for the coming year? 

New workshops ideas were discussed this weekend; keep an eye out for information on bookbinding with Martin, knitting side-ways sox, weaving a bicycle basket of English Ivy and more harvesting opportunities with SPES (Himilayan Blackberry, English Ivy, Yellow Flag Iris). 

Happy Weaving!

Celebrating a year of successful harvests!

During the recent workshop on Saturday, October 6th, we celebrated a year of successful harvesting by weaving a 'horn of plenty'. 

Materials used:  English Ivy (harvested from Stanley Park), Siberian Iris leaves (harvested from the Means of Production garden), Day Lily leaves and old flower stalks (also from MOP). 




The next harvest date in Stanley park is this Saturday - October 13.  (click here for details)

The Urban Weaver Project - Videos

A series of short documentaries were produced, by Martin Borden, for the Urban Weaver Project and the Stanley Park Ecological Society:

The Urban Weaver Project

English Ivy

Himalayan Blackberry

Flag Iris

Dancing the Scotch Broom

Harvesting Materials

The first harvest of September is in!  English Ivy was harvested in Stanley Park by participants volunteering with the Stanley Park Ecological Society's Ivy Busters program.

English Ivy

The leaves and rootlets can be removed or left in place.  Thicker sections can also be split lengthwise and used fresh if you choose.  The Ivy we harvested in Stanley Park will be used in future workshops so we coiled and bundled it then hung the bundles to dry for storage. 

A generous donation of Cattail leaves was dropped off at the studio during the Celebration Night (on September 6, 2012).  The fleshy bottom of the stalks was cut off and the thin wispy white beveled edge removed and saved.  This bevelled edge is excellent for making thin cordage and I'm sure we will find many other uses for this down the road. The leaves were bundled and hung in the studio to dry for future use.

English Ivy Harvesting

On Saturday, September 8th, Urban Weaver participants met in Stanley Park and along with other volunteers harvested English Ivy as part of the Stanley Parks 'Ivy Busters' program.



On site in the forest near Brockton Oval



A generous pile of ivy was designated "For Artists Use" only and set aside for us to take back to the studio . . . where we spent the rest of the afternoon coiling and bundling our newly aquired weaving material! 

A donation of fresh cattail leaves were also bundled for fututre projects and weaving exploration.  

 

Next Harvesting date:  

Saturday, October 13th (cookies and refreshments provided by the SPES cookie volunteer!)