I love teaching others how to create. There is nothing as satisfying as a hands-on opportunity to teach color combining and technique.

I often work with knitters, crocheters and weavers, teaching techniques to augment their fiberart skills. For those who create garments, buttons are particularly important.

I can teach my students to work with many colors in one item, for a pleasant harmony which works with the garment they have created. Many of us are geared toward "matching" and I teach how to create harmony from many colors.

Students shown here took my class at Michigan Fiber Festival (MFF) in Allegan, Michigan. I enjoyed teaching at the Dallas-Ft. Worth Fiber Festival in April of 2007, as well. I've taught for knitting, basket and spinning guilds, yarn and bead shops, from Chicago to Boston. I'd love to teach your group also.

I would love to travel to teach for your event, guild, or customers of your shop. Historical Turkish socknitting, polymer clay, feltmaking, color, and combining yarns are subjects I often teach. I can provide excellent references.

Please send me an email at Lynn -AT- ColorJoy -DOT- com to inquire further, or to schedule.

The button below? I made it with three colors of polymer clay, layered and applied to a core of solid white polymer. This is a typical project in my button class.

The dissimilar socks, bottom of page? My Chippy Socks pattern.

If you are looking to join a currently-scheduled class, please visit my new Schedule Page. (Thanks!)

Possible Subjects
I have been teaching folks how to make their own interpretation of traditional Turkish Socks for several years. These are colorful and expressive, and much fun to make. Here is a photo of samples made in a one-day workshop:

I have been teaching polymer clay for longer than I have taught knitting. Fiberartists of all sorts are particularly interested in how to make a button which complements their fiber works, without overpowering the item.

Layering the clay in faux-ivory or woodgrain methods (often in colors not found in those natural materials) can create a button which will "go" with the garment. Many similar colors in concert make a much nicer product than one not-quite-matching solid, as my students discover.

This photo? Buttons made by my student, Brian, the second year he studied with me at Michigan Fiber Festival:

I am eager to meet you. I would be delighted to pass on my enthusiasm for these subjects, and more.

Publications & Recognition

• I am scheduled to have a sock design included in a socks-only knitting book produced by Lark Books. The anticipated release date is fall 2009.

• I have had 5 sock designs and an article published by Heels and Toes Gazette.

• I had one design published by MagKnits, an online knitting magazine, in March of 2008.

• I knit a self-portrait which was included in the fiberart exhibition called "Threads in Space." This exhibit was held in summer of 2006, at the Susan Hensel gallery in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.

• Summer 2001, I presented a three-day feltmaking performance art/exhibit entitled "The Fabric of Friendship." (Sponsored by The Art Apartment, East Lansing, Michigan).

• I was included in the book Polymer Clay: Creating Functional and Decorative Objects, by Jacqueline Gikow. This book is unique in that it focuses on polymer for items other than jewelry. Photos of my sculpture Spirit Feast, and several Hershberger Art Kazoos, were included.

• Outside of the realm of Fiber and Polymer, I created a 4" x 6" self-portrait as a soft-block print. It was included in the gallery section of Luann Udell's book The Weekend Crafter: Rubber Stamp Carving: Techniques, Designs & Projects, from Lark books, 2002.

Copyright, Lynn DT Hershberger 2006