Winter lights lampmaking class

Add a glow to your winter with this traditional Japanese lantern. Learn how to make a foam core armature, wind reed around it and then apply a paper covering. After applying the paper, we’ll remove the armature (which can be reused to make more lanterns!), and end up with a collapsible structure. A variety of lantern shapes will be explored, and each participant will make a table or ceiling lamp. A simple black metal base will be supplied for the table lamp, lightbulb will not be included.

Venue: Helen’s well-equipped professional studio

The workshop starts at 10am and finishes at 4pm

Cost: $75 + $15 materials fee

I’ve always loved making things, ever since childhood when my mother had me doing rubbings of our linoleum floor, hired her artist friends to teach me and my friends how to draw, do macramé and bead, and employed me to make Christmas cards and gifts.

I remember going to a local craft fair when we lived in Los Alamos, New Mexico and being in awe of the vendors who made things by hand. And much later on a trip to Ecuador, seeing products made by hand from local plants by the native artisans. So you might imagine my elation when I discovered papermaking – an art form which allowed me to actually make (and even grow) my material, which I could then further manipulate to make artworks and products.

After years of travelling and experimenting with papermaking, I discovered Dieu Donne Papermill in Manhattan - I began an internship and was hired as Program Director. I worked there for six years, learning the ropes of administration in the non-profit world and gleaning as much as I could about the papermaking process through observation and experimentation. I began teaching workshops and Storey Books approached me about writing a book about papermaking with plants, which led to two other book projects.

After settling down in Portland, Oregon, I currently exhibit my experimental work with handmade paper. I also teach and lecture about papermaking and lampmaking internationally. I’m on the board of the International Association of Hand Papermakers and am a member of the Friends of Dard Hunter. In addition, I serve on the board of Hand Papermaking Magazine and write a column for the Hand Papermaking Newsletter focusing on alternative papermaking technique.