The "Weavers' Forum" produces a 'no frills' quarterly newsletter for weavers of Australian and New Zealand. It includes reviews of exhibitions and/or weavers and their work; information/reviews on equipment developments; new and different techniques; textile courses; visiting textile practitioners; and workshop proposals.

1.  To provide a forum of communication between all weavers    
    throughout Australia and New Zealand; to enable them to get to
    know each other and to share information; and
2. To be inclusive and friendly, and to appeal to all types and stages
    of weavers and weaving, beginners to experienced, simple to
    complex.

At a meeting of weavers at the Textile Fibre Forum, in Mittagong in April 1998, Trudy Newman’s idea of creating a quarterly newsletter was warmly received by 20 enthusiastic weavers. At the time Trudy was an established designer weaver and had identified the need to have more contact with other weavers, particularly those like her who lived in the country. Following the meeting at Mittagong, Trudy put together the first Weavers Forum newsletter and it has continued to be produced every quarter since.

From those initial 20 members, the membership has slowly increased to over 200 members from both Australia and New Zealand in 2010.

The idea of an exhibition had been on the agenda for many years and in 2008, during the 10th anniversary year of Weavers Forum, an inaugural exhibition was held in Tamworth in October/November.

Jason Collingwood (UK) learned to weave rugs at the age of 18, and worked briefly for his father, Peter.  After setting up his own workshop, aged 24, he has now been weaving rugs for 24 years, producing thousands of rugs for both public and private commission.  Jason is in great demand as a teacher, spending 3-4 months of each year in North America and UK, sharing his extensive rug weaving knowledge.  He has made instructional DVDs, been published and has his own range of rug wool.  website: www.rugweaver.co.uk

3-End Block Weave Workshop with Jason Collingwood:
The basis of the workshop is an exploration of three-end block weaves, the same structure used by Jason Collingwood to weave all his rugs. Start with simple two-colour designs and move on to designing within the blocks, and the introduction of a third colour. Techniques such as clasped wefts and dovetailing will be looked at to further increase the design scope of this structure. 2/1 double faced twill will also be covered in this class. Special emphasis will be placed on Shaft Switching, with EVERYONE being able to adapt their looms in class to try out this exciting technique. Included are instructions on how to set up one’s loom correctly for rug weaving; also twining at the beginning and end of the rug, darning in of the loose ends, use of the temple and many other tips. The class concludes with a look at rug finishes, and a few of the many possible finishes will be demonstrated. While this is essentially a rug weaving workshop, consider also that the techniques learnt can be applied to all manner of other weaving formats. Shaft switching has application for weaving yardage; and those finishing techniques!.... just think how they'll add to a wall hanging. 

Participants warp up during the class itself. Any 4-harness loom is fine, including table looms. No materials fee.

More information available from TAFTA - Tel: 07 3300 6491 
email: tafta@iinet.net.au    website: www.tafta.org.au/forums.html