It was inspiring to attend the Nevada County Fair a few weeks back. Pictured above is the all star winning quilt, "Un Common Bride", by Mariah Bath of Grass Valley. I can't even begin to comprehend the amount of work that went into this detailed project (check out that tiny patchwork border!). I also enjoyed seeing artwork by our craft club regulars, including these beautiful ornaments created by Victoria and a series of epic crocheted doilies by Simona. There are so many talented artists and...
7 days ago • 2 min read
I'm in the process of planning fall workshops and a special event in partnership with our friends at Siren Song Fleece Works in Grass Valley. We will be hosting our popular Community Fire Cider workshop there on Tuesday, September 29th and registration is now open! Stay tuned for other workshops and let me know if there is a specific class you'd like to see. We will be outdoors on their beautiful and shaded lawn, so I'm dreaming of more seasonal wellness classes, block printing, watercolors,...
14 days ago • 2 min read
While we are on August break, I wanted to share some upcoming local events and news... Things are happening in Colfax! I attended a screening of Episode 1 of the Colfax Historic Hotel Restoration documentary at the Colfax Theater on Sunday, which had a standing room only crowd. Square Nail Properties is renovating the hotel and planning to open early next year. They are documenting the whole process through the video series and you can check out the first episode of the documentary on...
21 days ago • 3 min read
As we take a break from workshops this month, I wanted to share some community events and organizations that are bringing craft and music to our area. Foothill Fibers Guild and the Nevada County Fair My husband and I moved to Colfax in 2019 and because of the pandemic, it took us a really long time to find our people here. One of the first groups I connected with was the Foothill Fibers Guild, which offered monthly weaving "meetups" during the pandemic via Zoom. I met some of my first local...
28 days ago • 3 min read
While things were quiet at Craftfolk last week, I spent 4 days in an intensive botanical printing workshop. The class was hosted by Placer County artists Louisa Hunter and Jeannie Kaiser in their studio. Although I've worked for years with natural dyes in my quilting and embroidery practice, botanical printing is completely new to me. We learned about mordanting, under-dyeing, using dye blanket, iron dips, and other modifiers to get rich hues and crispy prints. We experiments with dozens of...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Craftfolk Update As we close out our first series of workshops and events at Craftfolk, I wanted to reflect on what we've accomplished...In the past half year, we hosted 20 workshops and events, 262 students came through our doors, we've built a dedicated community of crafters and musicians through our free weekly offerings, over 400 of you have signed up for our email list, and we hosted local participants as well as folks from as far away as Sacramento, Folsom and Truckee! This is...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
We enjoyed a fun and messy gel plate printing workshop on Saturday with teacher Jill McCann. Jill showed many examples of prints she's created with the gel plate and shared techniques for creating layers, texture, and image transfers to create one-of-a-kind collaged prints. We all enjoyed getting our hands dirty and Jill sent students home with a gel plate and supplies to continue experimenting at home. Example prints by Jill. Prints by Julianne made during class. Print made by Sarah during...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
This past week, Jen Mullin taught the basics of lacto-fermentation (submerging veggies in a salt brine to create an anaerobic environment and lactic acid to preserve the contents). We made fermented cabbage (aka. sauerkraut), carrots, and cauliflower. Everyone took home 3 jars of veggies to continue to ferment at home for a week before they will be ready to enjoy. Below is a basic sauerkraut recipe if you want to try this on your own. Recipe by Winnie Abramson: Lacto-fermented Sauerkraut I...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
Resending with fixed image links! This past week was filled with two of my favorite things....craft and music! On Saturday we learned to make felted purses with the wonderful Beth Leydon, and the process was super engaging and active. We started by choosing our colors of wool roving and decorative materials, then laid out our designs before wetting the fiber and putting it through a series of steps to felt and full it (agitating and shrinking the wool until it transforms into a dense, sturdy...
2 months ago • 3 min read