How can you host a Spottedcircus class or event?
Contact Elizabeth today.
Would you like to learn how to get your fiber into production? Whether it is from having your clip sorted & told of its best use to spinning and knitting your own, Elizabeth can help. Elizabeth is a certified trained Master Classer of fiber and a Certified Spin-off judge for the Alpaca Owners Association. She can develop classes for you, a group of friends or your association to help you meet your fiber goals. From raw to finished goods she can help you figure out the easiest or best way to put your fleece into production. All class participants can then join a secret Facebook Group for students that provides support afterwards & group bulk buying opportunities.
Elizabeth can teach you to
-Select fiber suitable for hand processing
-Decide what needs to be milled
-Wash your fiber
-Dye your fiber
-Card your fiber
-Spin your fiber
-Knit, crochet, weave or felt with your fiber
-Create preserved pelts from animals you lose
-Help you manage your clip at shearing time
-Determine the best use for your fiber depending on your needs
-Set up your online marketing presence
Classes range from a single day to as many days as you need.
Examples include:
2day: Fibery Fun Weekend
In the 2-day fiber fun weekend you will learn how to select fleeces that are appropriate for you to process on your own. We will then go step by step through washing your fleece and dyeing it in several manners. We will also cover dyeing of roving that you get from the mill & yarn dyeing. We will talk some about marketing your product online and how to present your fiber in an attractive manner.
On the second day we will go into carding your fiber using Strauch drum carders. We will experiment with blending the fiber we dyed the day before with many types of other fibers and look at the effect that they have on alpaca. We can also make roving using the carders or you can make rolags off of them if desired.
You will go home from this weekend with tons of information & handouts and have gotten your feet just wet enough to go home and jump in the fiber fun.
3 day Raw to Shawl weekend
In this fun filled 3-day weekend we will go from a raw fleece that you select, dye and then spin to a finished woven triloom shawl. This intense fun filled retreat will bring out your creativity as we all start with raw fleece and transform it into a stunning shawl that you can wear or sell. We will learn to wash & dye fleece, and then card it with all sorts of fun add ins. Next we will learn to corespin our fleeces into a squishy fun textured yarn. No spinning experience is needed, but a wheel with a large orifice will help. Then finally we will weave via the continuous strand method on a triloom and walk away with a triangular shawl. A really fun weekend for you & all of your friends!
Advanced Fibery Fun
This class is to expand on your basic fiber knowledge. We will begin dyeing fun things like firestar & bamboo, and maybe adventure into the silks. This class is completely up to what you want to learn. Whether its self-striping yarn, variegated yarn, repeatable color ways or gradients we can explore what you want.
Markeitng your products online
In this class Elizabeth will walk people though live how to setup PayPal, Etsy and Ravelry so that at the end of class they will have a live online presence. We will go though taking photographs and creating listings on Etsy and how to price your items. We will then cover where to tell the world about your products so that they can then buy them from you. This class requires a strong wifi connection point and for people to have an iPad or computer. Depending on the number and skill level of the participants this can be a one day or two day class.
Clip management during or after shearing
Elizabeth will come to your farm and help you to decide what the best options are for you clip. Whether it is processing it yourself, sending to a mill, sending to a coop or selling commercially she will help you to sort your fiber into the best bang for your buck. She can help you to skirt your fiber down to its best area where you will get the biggest return or just label your fiber as to the grade of its secondary’s & primaries so that you can then later decide how to match each fleece up.
Miscellaneous classes
Elizabeth can teach you to knit, spin, weave and do some felting. It all depends on what you or your group is looking for. She is not an awesome crocheter but she can make a mean granny square!
Alpaca Shows
In exchange for a place to set up and travel expenses Elizabeth will come to your show and do free mini classes for your members and the public. They can range from soap felting, needle felting toys, drop spindling, carding fiber, dyeing demos, washing demos and more. Give your members a taste of what they can do with their fiber to see if its something they would want to do. These classes could also be offered after the show if a place is provided for it.
Tanning alpaca hides at home.
Elizabeth has written an eBook (print coming soon) on Amazon on how to Tan Alpaca Hides at Home. After she experienced the loss of a very special cria, she decided to preserve the fiber that it spent 11 months in uetero growing by tanning the hide. The fleece was too short to spin and by shearing it off you would lose the density and little tiny popcorn curls that it had so she decided to learn how to tan hides. She can walk you though the basic steps and depending on the class, she can demo how to take the hide from an animal, which is one of the hardest parts.
Most classes priced at a flat rate fee plus travel expenses. Elizabeth will help you with marketing your classes also. Classes are limited in size based on the number of carders available or space constraints.
Elizabeth can teach you to
-Select fiber suitable for hand processing
-Decide what needs to be milled
-Wash your fiber
-Dye your fiber
-Card your fiber
-Spin your fiber
-Knit, crochet, weave or felt with your fiber
-Create preserved pelts from animals you lose
-Help you manage your clip at shearing time
-Determine the best use for your fiber depending on your needs
-Set up your online marketing presence
Classes range from a single day to as many days as you need.
Examples include:
2day: Fibery Fun Weekend
In the 2-day fiber fun weekend you will learn how to select fleeces that are appropriate for you to process on your own. We will then go step by step through washing your fleece and dyeing it in several manners. We will also cover dyeing of roving that you get from the mill & yarn dyeing. We will talk some about marketing your product online and how to present your fiber in an attractive manner.
On the second day we will go into carding your fiber using Strauch drum carders. We will experiment with blending the fiber we dyed the day before with many types of other fibers and look at the effect that they have on alpaca. We can also make roving using the carders or you can make rolags off of them if desired.
You will go home from this weekend with tons of information & handouts and have gotten your feet just wet enough to go home and jump in the fiber fun.
3 day Raw to Shawl weekend
In this fun filled 3-day weekend we will go from a raw fleece that you select, dye and then spin to a finished woven triloom shawl. This intense fun filled retreat will bring out your creativity as we all start with raw fleece and transform it into a stunning shawl that you can wear or sell. We will learn to wash & dye fleece, and then card it with all sorts of fun add ins. Next we will learn to corespin our fleeces into a squishy fun textured yarn. No spinning experience is needed, but a wheel with a large orifice will help. Then finally we will weave via the continuous strand method on a triloom and walk away with a triangular shawl. A really fun weekend for you & all of your friends!
Advanced Fibery Fun
This class is to expand on your basic fiber knowledge. We will begin dyeing fun things like firestar & bamboo, and maybe adventure into the silks. This class is completely up to what you want to learn. Whether its self-striping yarn, variegated yarn, repeatable color ways or gradients we can explore what you want.
Markeitng your products online
In this class Elizabeth will walk people though live how to setup PayPal, Etsy and Ravelry so that at the end of class they will have a live online presence. We will go though taking photographs and creating listings on Etsy and how to price your items. We will then cover where to tell the world about your products so that they can then buy them from you. This class requires a strong wifi connection point and for people to have an iPad or computer. Depending on the number and skill level of the participants this can be a one day or two day class.
Clip management during or after shearing
Elizabeth will come to your farm and help you to decide what the best options are for you clip. Whether it is processing it yourself, sending to a mill, sending to a coop or selling commercially she will help you to sort your fiber into the best bang for your buck. She can help you to skirt your fiber down to its best area where you will get the biggest return or just label your fiber as to the grade of its secondary’s & primaries so that you can then later decide how to match each fleece up.
Miscellaneous classes
Elizabeth can teach you to knit, spin, weave and do some felting. It all depends on what you or your group is looking for. She is not an awesome crocheter but she can make a mean granny square!
Alpaca Shows
In exchange for a place to set up and travel expenses Elizabeth will come to your show and do free mini classes for your members and the public. They can range from soap felting, needle felting toys, drop spindling, carding fiber, dyeing demos, washing demos and more. Give your members a taste of what they can do with their fiber to see if its something they would want to do. These classes could also be offered after the show if a place is provided for it.
Tanning alpaca hides at home.
Elizabeth has written an eBook (print coming soon) on Amazon on how to Tan Alpaca Hides at Home. After she experienced the loss of a very special cria, she decided to preserve the fiber that it spent 11 months in uetero growing by tanning the hide. The fleece was too short to spin and by shearing it off you would lose the density and little tiny popcorn curls that it had so she decided to learn how to tan hides. She can walk you though the basic steps and depending on the class, she can demo how to take the hide from an animal, which is one of the hardest parts.
Most classes priced at a flat rate fee plus travel expenses. Elizabeth will help you with marketing your classes also. Classes are limited in size based on the number of carders available or space constraints.