FIBER COLLEGE: Touchstone Retreats

September is the time to step back and immerse yourself in four days of inspiration, discovery and hands-on making. Whether you explore something new, or expand your existing skills, our annual Fiber College TOUCHSTONES RETREAT provides a unique creative experience. There’s a reason so many artists are drawn to this part of Maine, and we spend much of our time outside, exploring our “sense of place“ and how it can enrich our work. In your workshop, you’ll be part of a small, close knit group, and get all the skills, help and support you need to develop a really personal, one-of-a-kind project - maybe even more than one! It's a chance to take a deep dive and hear your soul whispering.
When you're not in your workshop, you’ll be able to balance your work, social and alone time as the mood takes you. Studios stay open before and after class, and we continue to connect with each other, and with our teachers, sharing wonderful farm-to-table meals, taking walks along the beach, and gathering round the campfire after dinner. Creativity is contagious! You can arrange your own accommodations or you can choose one of our new packages.
You will go home grounded and refreshed; and, like a pebble in your pocket, your TOUCHSTONES experience will stay with you long after you leave.
Click below to go straight to a full class description
HOOKED! Telling your story loop by loop Discover the creative sweet spot where rug hooking meets storytelling. Use scraps of fabric, durable paper, and small items of personal significance to create a hooked art piece that has very special meaning
STEPPING OUT IN STYLE: The reboot!
Choose your color and make your own pair of Squire Desert Boots from scratch! This Cordwainer Shop staple is a simple but classic leather boot: ankle high with a toe cap and laces.
FIBER FANTASTIC: A weekend exploring wool
Natural fibers give you a powerful sense of connection to the animals, farmers, and landscapes that produced this wonderful, living material. Continue this act of creation as you transform raw fleece into fibers to felt, spin, knit, weave and natural dye.
COLLABORATING WITH NATURE: Prints, Patchwork and Place
Tune into the coastal landscape through foraging, photography, eco printing and cyanotype printing on both fabric and paper. Then, take these unique pieces and follow your intuition to create a slow stitched quilt.
ALL DOLLED UP: A magical journey with Tilhar the Goblin
Start with the basic Tilhar pattern, and add as many fabric scraps and personal embellishments as you like to create your own, unique version of this costumed, standing 12 inch tall doll.
Touchstone Retreats Schedule
THURSDAY
Settle into this magical world
8-12 Introduction to Rug Hooking, Squire Boot Class begin (We'll be in the garden with warm beverages at 7 to guide you to your class)
12-2 A la carte lunch in the campground
12-1:30 Registration and Juice Bar
2-5 Class
6-7:30 Cocktails, snacks, introductions and instructor show & tell (included for everyone)
FRIDAY and SATURDAY
Dive deep into your passion
8-9 Breakfast (included for everyone, veg & GF friendly)
9-12 Class
12-2 Garden Lunch and Open Botanical Printing Station (included for everyone, veg & GF friendly)
2-5 Class
Friday: Dinner on your own, studios will remain accessible and we'll have a campfire in the garden for your pleasure
Saturday: Dinner and live music around the campfire (included for everyone, veg & GF friendly)
SUNDAY
Re-emerge Gently
8-9 Breakfast (included for everyone, veg & GF friendly)
9-12 Class
12:30 - 3 Lunch, book signing, special shopping, pictures and goodbyes (included for everyone, veg & GF friendly)