NOTE: This workshop has been cancelled. Please sign up to our listserve (see the footer of the page) to be notified when we offer this again.
In this three-part workshop, participants will learn to harvest, process, and spin flax plants into linen thread suitable for weaving. We have a small flax plot that we’ll be harvesting by mid-summer. Join us and learn to process this easy-to-grow plant and then walk through the steps to turn it from a dried stalk into loose fibers and then thread. Over three weekends, we’ll cover growing, harvesting, retting, breaking, scutching, hackling, making a strick, dressing a distaff, and spinning.
Workshop Details
August 30, 9:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.
We’ll process flax we harvested in July into stricks by breaking, scutching, and hackling. We’ll discuss planting, harvesting, rippling, separating seeds, and retting. We’ll discuss the type of spinning wheels used for spinning flax and distaffs. We will begin to dress distaffs in the afternoon.
August 31, 9:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.
We’ll finish dressing distaffs and begin to learn to spin flax. Intermediate to advanced experience with spinning on a wheel is required. (NOTE: We will have an intro to wool-spinning class the first weekend of October.) Please bring a working spinning wheel that you are familiar with spinning on and a distaff if you have one. (Simple distaffs will be available for those who need one. Please let us know in advance if you need a distaff.) A list of additional supplies you will need to bring with you will be provided prior to this session. A materials fee of $15 is already included in the price. Participants will take home the flax on their distaff for additional practice at home. Additional 6-oz, flax stricks and distaffs will be available for purchase while supplies last.
Please wear weather-appropriate clothing. We hope to be outside with shade available. With light rain, we’ll be under cover. We’ll have drinking water and snacks available, but please feel free to bring your own beverage and a lunch.
The workshop will take place at the Low Technology Institute, 11927 W. State Road 59, Evansville, WI 53536. We are located in historic Cooksville: from Madison take 14 south; left on 59; the institute is the fifth house on the right in town with a sign out front.
Register by purchasing a ticket through our online store. The cost is $250 for the weekend or $220 for members. Space is limited and we will keep a waiting list. Get on the list by “purchasing” a wait list ticket at no cost, also in our online store. Also, participants must fill out this liability waiver. Your registration is only complete when the waiver is filled out.
This event is a joint production of the Low Technology Institute and Victorian Technology Institute. Donations are always welcome to help defray the cost of our workshops and programming. Please visit our respective websites to find out more about supporting the work we do.
Instructors
Holin Kennen is an award-winning spinner and the author behind the blog The Victorian Technology Institute. She has been spinning for nearly 40 years and teaches classes in spinning, baking, wood stove cookery, and other pre-industrial domestic arts. She is the coordinator of the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival fleece show and specializes in wool judging and fiber preparation.
Scott Johnson is the director of the Low Technology Institute. He has been growing flax for a few years, trying to raise and spin enough to weave a shirt made entirely by hand. His goal is to explore ways in which we can live in a future without fossil fuels. To that end, he’s been experimenting with traditional subsistence farming, growing wheat, rye, oats, potatoes, and a large garden alongside his flax. His other classes this summer include hand-harvesting and processing wheat, timber frame construction, and roof thatching.
