Textile & Traditional Handcraft
Create beautiful things in sustainable, natural materials in traditional techniques: leather tanning, sewing, patching and repair, willow weaving, wood working, weaving, and much more. A whole year with crafting, creativity, and the joy of creating!
Tradition
We believe that the old ways of crafting and creating will play a big role in the future. We believe that Slow Craft will become more and more important as things only get faster and faster.
Taking your time to create things from scratch, with local, sustainable, natural materials is good for the soul. It gives you time to breathe and is grounding, maybe just what we modern people need?
Sewing
Sew your own clothes, and learn to repair those you already have. How can you give those old, tired trousers new life? By patching them, embroidery, and “visible mending”.
Learn to sew from patterns, and even to make those patterns yourself! Using both a sewing machine and by hand.
Weaving
Weave ribbons and scarves using rigid heddle looms. Set up a floor loom to weave colorful rugs, or soft wool blankets, and traditional coverlets.
With the loom as your tool you have incredible freedom in what you make: you can experiment with your own patterns, use fine or coarse threads, and combine colors in unlimited variations.
Plant Dyeing
Learn to dye wool yarn with plants and mosses. We harvest various plants, moss, and lichen that give us yellow, green, and brown colors that don’t require dangerous chemicals. Red and blue colors we can get using imported colors like cochenille and indigo. Maybe you want to color yarn for your next knitting project?
Leather
Tan a lovely, soft hide from one of the school’s own sheep. We scrape the hides, make the tanning solution, tan them, and then soften them. Then it’s up to you to sew a blanket, or a warm pair of mittens, or maybe print designs on it in homemade bark ink.
Wood and Willow
We’ll make simple tools out of wood like a drop spindle, rigid heddle loom, or a shuttle, that you can use later on to spin yarn or weave with. Harvest willow, and weave it into baskets in all shapes and sizes.
Sustainability
Being environmentally conscious is important to us at Fosen Folk High School, that’s why we use sustainable, durable, natural materials. The hides we tan are from the school’s own sheep, and wood and willow gets harvested from the surrounding area.
For our sewing projects we use linen, hemp, and wool, or maybe you want to use grandma’s old curtains? For us the focus is on quality, durability, re-use, and repair.
Red-listed crafts
Many of the techniques we practice here are “red-listed,” meaning they are threatened by modern production methods and require help to make sure they aren’t forgotten. By attending this course you are helping to keep these techniques alive!
This year can contain:
- Weaving: rigid heddle weaving, and weaving with floor looms
- Embroidery and visible mending
- Tanning and preparation of hides with, among other things, fat, alum, Hirse, and bark
- Sew a blanket of hides, or small garments in leather, and print on the hides
- Sew clothes with a sewing machine and pattern
- Weave baskets with willow
- Make drop spindles, rigid heddle looms, or weaving shuttles in wood
- Natural dyeing
- Spinning with a drop spindle and a spinning wheel
- Preparing flax for spinning
- Repair and adjusting clothes
- Needle crafts
We have:
- Large, open, and well lit workspaces for textiles and woodworking
- A tannery for tanning leather
- A ceramics room with throwing wheels
- Wool from our own sheep (not yet yarn, that part you have to do)
- 24/7 access to workshops
- A school surrounded by nature from which we can collect our materials
- The school also offers yarn, fabric, and some sewing accessories all at fair prices
Who is this course for?
This course is for those who are interested in craft, and want to try new techniques, or get better at techniques they've already tried.
Material Cost
You will have to cover the cost of the materials you use in class. How much and how expencive materials you choose to use is very individual, and we try to make sure there is always an inexpencive option. Spending 2000-3000 NOK in materials through the year is quite average.
Our challenge to you
That you are interested in the material, and can work independantly or in a group, and that you are interested in others' advancement as well as your own.
Teacher: Grethe Garvik
Grethe is our highly creative handwork teacher. She loves traditional handwork techniques and old-style craft. She received her education at Rauland University College.
Grethe is innovative and is skilled at inspiring students with nature’s materials. Rumors say she is related to Askeladden!
9 month course
This is a 9 month course, from late august until the end of may.
In addition to your course there are electives and collective courses. The electives on offer change every year, but some of the classics are: tanning of hides, sail making, chest making, outdoor life, forging, knife making, willow weaving, plant dyeing, traditional shoe making, sailing, and textile work.
Whole school classes can be presentations from guest teachers, group work projects, farmwork, even school trips!
Our average student is between 18 and 25 years old, but we also have older students. All students live in the school dorms, and organic food is included in the school fee.
Classes are held in Norwegian, but all our teachers speak English as a second language and will explain in English when necessary. We do, however, expect you to try to learn Norwegian.
Students who are new to the Norwegian language will receive support and guidance with language learning.
Feel free to contact us if you have any questions! [email protected]
