Griffin Dyeworks

Ercil Howard-Wroth lives in the foothills of Mount Baldy. Mother of two children, 3 dogs, and two lizards; Ercil has been involved in the fiber arts for the past 15 yrs. She is an avid spinner, loves to play with all sorts of fibers, has raised her own silk worms, and enjoys different forms of weaving as well as dyeing.

She has taught numerous fiber arts classes for the Society for Creative Anachronism, and taught dye classes for several summers at the Rhein Center for the Arts in Lakeside Ohio. She is currently researching history and weaving techniques of the warp weighted loom.

Email: ercil At astrid.upland.ca.us
Blog: http://spinningredsilk.livejournal.com/ or http://mixed-upmelange.blogspot.com/

Janice Ward lives in Riverside County, on the West side of Mt. San Jacinto. Janice is a retired art teacher. She graduated from UC Davis with a degree in Art in 1977, and got her MA in Art from Cal State Chico in 1985, and continued taking classes in textiles at Mendocino College in Ukiah, where she taught silkscreen printmaking.

Married 45 years, she is managed by a nice husband, son and daughter, six grandchildren, one dog and two cats. Jan has done papermaking since 1976, natural dyes since the 1980’s, and pine needle baskets for about 10 years. She also weaves and spins, does photography, makes bead jewelry, embroiders, does digital video-editing, draws, digitally restores photographs, makes felt, and studies medieval textiles.

Jan belongs to Complex Weavers, and is currently chair of the Medieval Textiles Study Group. She has taught workshops in papermaking, four-harness weaving, ikat, coiled baskets, and natural dyes. She taught digital photography, digital video, desktop publication, and Native American Crafts as a consultant/teacher for programs on several Indian Reservations.

Jan has been weaving since 1975. She’s really interested in researching and re-creating medieval textiles. She belongs to two historical reenactment societies, The Society for Creative Anachronism, which does the middle ages and Renaissance, and Regia Anglorum North America, which is Anglo-Saxon, Viking and Norman.

This year at the Retreat she’ll be teaching about finding and using lichens to dye silk and wool, and making pine needle baskets.

Email: hawksbluff AT yahoo.com

Jennifer Tan lives in Fair Oaks, near Sacramento, Northern California and is a Fiber Arts Webstore Owner and Homeschooling Stay-at-Home-Mom of three children (ages 11, 9, 4), one tortoise and one rabbit. Jennifer has been doing Tunisian crohet and cro-hook (cross between crochet and knitting on long hooks) for four years, as well as Crochet, Knitting, Spinning, Weaving, Dyeing, Felting, Beading.

She belongs to the HGA and Sacramento Handweavers Guild and has published articles in Belle Armoire Magazine Mar/Apr 2007 'The Therapeutic Art of Tunisian Crochet' as well as extensive teaching experience at this retreat, Savannah Georgia, Fabulous Fiber Fest, Temecula Valley Yarn Company, Crochet Cafe (Temecula). TV episode #209 Tunisian Crochet 101 on 'Uncommon Threads' on DIY Network and HGTV in 2007.

This year, Jennifer will be teaching Tunisian Crochet as well as Cro-Hook!

Email: info AT goshyarnit DOTcom
Website: www.goshyarnit.com

Cynthia Baker is teaching Armenian Needle Lace and Lapidary - stone polishing this year at the retreat. She has been crafting for more years than she admits to being alive, and is constantly being attracted to a new technique or art. Cynthia has loved teaching for 20+ because she gets to see the spark in the eye of students when they get it! After years of just knowing rocks could be pretty, shiny, Cynthia is working on a course to get her certificate in Gemmology. Her new motto is: "You are never too old to learn something new!"

Bjo Trimble is a Southern California artist who has shown and sold watercolor and acrylic paintings, wall hangings, dyed and hand-painted wearables, and many other items. She has immersed herself in learning as much about natural dyeing as she can fit into one life.

Email: bjo(at)griffindyeworks(dot)com

Barb Klessig aka Seelie Brianna Sutherland - the Dread Viscountess - has a degree in Anthropology specializing in Archaeology from Humboldt State University. She is currently working as an archaeologist in the Central California area. She started weaving about 30 years ago - about the same time she joined the SCA. She lives up behind the Redwood curtain near Eureka where she has a small weaving studio called Spin Weave N Dye. The high point of her career was being invited to NESAT (Northern European Symposium on Archaeological Textiles) to present a paper on re-creating archaeological textiles. She spends her summers teaching weaving and other related textiles classes and being out in the field digging up "really cool stuff."

Laura Dean was born and raised in Southern California, where she is finishing a degree in history with a minor in English at Cal State LA and threatens to apply for her masters so she doesn't have to start paying back student loans. She does needle work, costuming, wedding gowns, crochet, loves to paint, primarily water colors and pastels. She is currently an accounting troll but looking change careers (her sister says she’s too rude to be a waitress, so there goes that option).

Roberta Brubaker has the best of jobs: She works at Disneyland fixing up things and making the Magic Kingdom always look fresh and beautiful. Her enthusiastic approach to fiber teaching is an appealing addition to the Dye & Fiber Retreat, and her 19th century walking wheel is an annual highlight.

Esther Benedict is a business woman in Southern California, where she is also highly skilled in the areas of costume, needlework, dancing, spinning and other fiber expertise.

E.J. Benstock is another retiring soul who does not give much away in a bio. She lives in Colorado where she is known in the SCA as Mistress Rowen of Staffin. Her specialties are spinning, weaving, lace-making, and cord-making. At a previous retreat, she taught Sprang, this year she'll show us tatting and naalbinding.

Debbie Coyle is a fiber artist and teacher while she works as a computer administrator to pay for the next fiber toy. Debbie is our major kumihimo consultant as well as designing the needlebook soon to be found in the Needlework section of Griffin Dyework’s online catalog. She has played with spinning, inkle & card weaving, cord making with lucet & kumihimo, cross-stitch, beading, & many other string-related arts.

Sherry Acton-Snowden can teach anyone how to make cord with a lucet or kumihimo card, how to wrangle a drop spindle, or anything else a puzzled artist might want to know. She also creates beautiful beaded threading hooks and other crafty items. This year she's teaching us all how to make lampwork beads!