Weaving on Simple Looms in South America, with Laverne Waddington

March 2, 7pm CT

over Zoom, REGISTER

From her home in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, Australian Laverne Waddington has been traveling since 1996 to meet and study with indigenous weavers from the tropical lowlands of Bolivia to the highlands of Chile, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia, from the central valleys of Chile to the coastal regions of Ecuador.
Fascinated by the variety of simple tools and looms that these weavers use to create astonishingly intricately patterned cloth, she has taken on the humble backstrap loom as her main weaving tool.
In this talk Laverne shares her experiences learning to weave in South America, the various kinds of looms she has encountered and how she has used the acquired skills and knowhow in her own work.

ABOUT: Laverne Waddington has been learning to weave on simple looms with indigenous teachers in South America since 1996. In her home in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, she draws on ethnic design influences from around the world to create pieces on a backstrap loom using the various techniques and structures she has studied in South and Central America as well as with backstrap weavers from Vietnam and Myanmar.

Since 2010, she has published eight instructional manuals on the various woven structures and finishing techniques that she has studied and produced a dvd on Operating a Backstrap Loom.

Her articles on backstrap weaving and indigenous textiles have appeared in Handwoven magazine. Shuttle, Spindle & Dyepot and Spin Off as well as in the published proceedings of the 2012 and 2016 Braid Society conferences. 

She has shared her skills and experiences with many visitors to Bolivia over the years and now reaches a global audience with her weaving tutorials and travel tales on her blog. She provides online advice and support to weavers through forums such as Ravelry and Facebook groups and teaches and speaks at guilds and textile conferences around the world.