Welcome all fiber crafters!
The Fiber Arts Guild is open to anyone who crafts with fibers, meaning we will cover the spectrum from macrame to knitting, spinning and needle work. If you do something which turns a fiber into something else, come and share with us. But we won't be including zen sewing, such as sewing rakusu, kesa, zagu, etc. those items are led in other areas.
Is it a craft or is it art? What's the difference and does it matter? This debate has come up more and more in recent years among people who take part in these past times. Recently people who used to be called crafters have begun to use the term fiber artist to describe what they do. For a long time I clung to the term crafter, because I didn't see what I was doing as an art. I was just selecting a pattern, picking yarns and making something. But then I had it pointed out to me "craft" used to refer to the thing you were trained to do as a profession. So you might be a weaver by trade, and you would craft yards and yards of the same fabric to sell. Today there are still plenty of handcrafters who sell their work, but rarely do they produce the same thing over and over. They select different patterns, different colors, different weights and textures of yarn or thread. From there they make something that is unique, which reflects something they are envisioning. In this way, the hobby is changing from a craft to an art.
What's the point of the Fiber Arts Guild?
Comradery mostly; who doesn't like to see the lovely projects others are working on, get encouragement when you have made a mistake, aren't sure about the colors, or worst of all have to frog a project after hours of work. We will also explore what fiber arts have to do with zen. Can we maintain a mind of samu while working? Can giving handmade gifts be the many hands of Kannon? We talk about these in the future.
What are the rules? Be kind, and encouraging. And please leave the "rules" at the door. If someone doesn't want to pre-wash and iron all their fabric before starting a quilt that's their business (p.s. that is totally me 😁.
So join us, pull up a chair, bench or stool and introduce yourself!
Share what fiber arts you currently practice, when you learned them and why you keep doing them. Also consider sharing your current work in progress.
Gassho,
Shoka
sattoday
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Originally Posted by Kokuu
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