Humans have been making cordage for at least sixty thousand years. There are people with great skill and generosity who have kept these skills alive and have shared the learning. I am grateful to them. It is a joy to pass the skills on.
UPCOMING WORKSHOPS
AND EVENTS
ONLINE CORDAGE WORKSHOPS:
Throughout the year I open my studio virtually for online workshops. I love being able to share with folks around the world this ancient skill. During our time together you will be able to learn the process of cordage and I am available to answer questions and help get you started again if you get stuck down the road. Classes are limited to twelve participants. If you are interested in an online workshop but it is beyond your financial capacity at this time, please reach out to me.
Upcoming workshops will be the day after Thanksgiving and in early December so folks can make gifts for the holidays.
IN PERSON CORDAGE WORKSHOPS 2025:
The (Contemplative) Art of Cordage
Sunday, October 19th - 10am -12pm
Puerh Brooklyn Teashop
Brooklyn, New York
REGISTER
Please join me at Puerh Brooklyn Teashop for a morning of making cordage necklaces from fabrics collected during my memorial road trip across the country. I am delighted to be hosted at an incredibly wonderful tea shop and gallery space run by Ggrippo; we met at Xtant this past spring in Mallorca. And if you cannot make it to the workshop, be sure to schedule another time to have tea!
Cordage workshop in the works...
Boulder, Colorado
Around the time of Halloween and the Day of the Dead I will be in Boulder. I am traveling for the month of October from my home in California to the memorial of my grandfather in Texas, onto New York, and returning back through Indiana for the burial of my mother's ashes. It feels fitting to the journey to offer a workshop at this time of year for folks to make a memorial garland (or necklace) from their loved ones' fabrics. Contact me if you are interested.
Cordage!
Saturday, December 13th - (time to be determined)
Mendocino Arts Center
Mendocino, California
Mendocino Art Center sits on the edge of the world in a quaint town full of late 1800's Victorians. I recently visited Meow Wolf in Santa Fe and the facade of their interactive exhibit was a home from Mendocino. Truly, wherever you are you are home! Please join me in learning to turn fabrics back into cordage - transforming once loved materials into meaningful jewelry.
The Art of Hand Turned Cordage
Sunday, December 14th - 10am -12pm
Nimbus Arts
Napa, California
REGISTER
Have you ever noticed that rope, yarn and thread are twisted? Join me at Nimbus Arts' new Napa studio for a morning of making cordage and learning the twists and turns of this ancient art.
Examples of Cordage Events and Workshops:
MEMORIAL CORDAGE GATHERING
Making cordage from a loved one's garments can be a way to connect to those who have passed - to honor and celebrate their life. I can come to your space, prepare the chosen garments so that those gathered can flow through and learn the process, share stories and make a bracelet to remember their dear one.
CORDAGE AND CONVERSATION WORKSHOP
The ancient art of cordage using the fabrics in our lives- sharing in the joy and exploration.
Cordage is accessible even to those who would not consider themselves artists or crafty. The process is fun, simple, and repetitive in a way that leaves room for conversation, laughter, contemplation. Cordage making is accessible to folks who would not consider themselves crafty as well as to artists wanting to explore another way of engaging with materials.
Perhaps there is fabric in your life that is dear to you that no longer serves in its current form. This workshop is an invitation to explore this ancient process and the share in conversations as our hands find the rhythm of the making. Come away with an understanding of how to turn materials in your life into beautiful and useful lengths of cord, whether to wrap a gift, hang as a garland or wear as a necklace.
CORDAGE AND CONNECTION WORKSHOP
A celebration of togetherness- cordage necklaces and garlands from personally meaningful fabrics.
We are in this life together. Relationships and connections have the power to bring joy and meaning to our lives. Making cordage from fabrics that represent those we love, and even with those we love, offers an opportunity to create an object that is imbued with intention. Fabrics from two people can be twined together; a piece of clothing from a loved one can be turned into a necklace, fabric from our own past can be transformed- creating a blessing for a birth or marriage, a celebration for a coming of age, an honoring of family, a wish for what could be and gratitude for what has been, a marking of life’s transitions.
Celebrate the relationships you value in your life, whether given as a gift or kept close to your own heart with cordage, essentially two strands twisted individually in one direction and brought together in the opposite direction- dynamic and strong.
CORDAGE AS GRIEF WORK - WORKSHOP AND CONVERSATION
An opportunity to create a cord from fabrics that we hold dear and share in conversation
So many of us have pieces of clothing or bits of fabric that are in some way significant that we hold onto year after year. For some it is a father's t-shirt after he died, or a scarf from a distant sister. Sometimes we hold on because we don't know how to let go.
Objects can remind us of those we love and of specific times in our life. They can represent who we were or wish to be. By taking fabrics that hold memory and transforming them into meaningful lengths of twine that can be worn or used, we can bring a new joy and explore the beauty, the heartache, the grief, the acceptance of what it is to be human- we transform the object and invite ourselves to do the same.
Join together in transforming fabrics that are sentimental and dear and share in the conversation and mutual curiosity around grief and letting go- honoring our journey and those we have loved.
CUSTOM OFFERING
Connecting the art of cordage to what is meaningful in our lives and community.
Cordage is an ancient and fundamental process that humans have used to shape the world for tens of thousands of years. In its simplicity, the process invites an exploration of various themes, metaphors, and questions. In learning to make cordage, focus and attention can be brought to specific inquiries; conversations can be shaped to explore the coming together, the tearing apart, the mirrored structure of our dna, the joys and the struggles of this life. Cords have been a part of rituals and religious ceremonies for centuries. We are brought into this world connected by a cord and cords make possible the digital technology of our time.
It would be an honor to create a custom cordage offering for your circle, community or workplace.
