FIBER COLLEGE: Touchstone Retreat September 3-7, 2025
Crafting is inspiring, social, and absorbing. Our small, immersive classes take place in rustic studios and outdoor spaces. Workshops focus on natural fibers and make the most of the cobblestone beach, lush gardens, and forest around us. Whether you are an accomplished maker or a complete beginner you will find the skills and support you need.
Our workshop leaders are skilled craftswomen who believe that the journey is as important as the destination and learning is itself a creative pursuit. Rather than replicating someone else's patterns, or walking through the steps of a 'prepackaged' project, you'll master the fundamentals and gain the tools and insights to express yourself in your own way.
A CONVERSATION WITH THE EARTH AND THE OCEAN:
explore eco-printing and the use of natural dyes and inks to create your unique visual language on cloth
With Sasha Azbel
Come forage for seaweed within the stunning intertidal zone of mid-coast Maine. Collect the berries, leaves, branches, flowers, and barks of the forest and gardens surrounding our creative retreat. With these plant collaborators, and each other, we will explore fabric preparation and pattern making techniques to develop our own unique visual language on cloth. We will also learn how to make our own inks to further add depth and style to our pieces, creating layered and narrative-rich panels that can be transformed into apparel or a decoration for the home.
RECONNECT WITH YOUR WILD SIDE:
make natural papers and sculptural forms inspired by the shapes and textures of mid-coast Maine
With Karen Olson
We will harvest sustainable plants from the gardens and forest around us, and use them to make a range of different papers. Taking our wet sheets and pulp, we will learn to sculpt, emboss, cast, and incorporate natural fibers to create three-dimensional works of art. We will also explore many techniques for sculpting dry papers, and there will also be the opportunity to digitally print or color our handmade paper with inks.
Working with, and within, the natural world will open our wild hearts and ground us physically and emotionally.
LAYER IT ON:
immerse yourself in a felted world of color, texture, shape and pattern
With Judith Daniels
Felting can be a remarkably expressive medium. Judy will teach you to felt, hand paint silk and paper to combine with wool roving - the process known as nuno felting- and how to add interest and dimension with simple embroidery. You will be able to experiment with different effects, figurative and abstract design, and build up richly textured layers of color and pattern.
We’ll be working intuitively, spontaneously and with a sense of fun, to created highly personal finished piece(s).
THE PERFCT PAIR OF LINEN PANTS:
an adventure in sewing and sustainabilty
With Leah Widdicombe
Join Leah, the creative force behind Charlie Darwin Textiles, for a weekend of design, sewing, and linen exploration! Charlie Darwin Textiles is an eco-conscious and artisanal textile brand that aims to keep fashion out of landfills.
In this hands-on workshop, you’ll use plant based, naturally dyed fabrics and sewing materials to create your own pair of customized Swallowtail Pants and a coordinating linen top.
Leah will share her pro tips for sewing with linen, as well as the benefits of linen's sustainable lifecycle.
TRANSFORMING TAPESTRY:
create a three dimensional form using a small flat frame loom.
With Barbara Burns
Ancient tapestry weaving techniques and contemporary design come together in this workshop. Using a small portable loom, you'll the enjoy the tactile experience of working with yarn and the excitement of creating images, forms, and a piece of cloth all at the same time.
With Barbara's guidance you'll be leaving behind the traditional square or rectangular format as she teaches you to plan, pull and manipulate your weaving to transform it into 3-D vessels, curves and angles.
Touchstone Retreat Schedule
WEDNESDAY
Settle into this magical world
3:00-4:30 Free Bonus class: Japanese Wrapped Rocks...come early and stroll the beach for your perfect stone.
4-5 Register, pick up our tote bag presents to you, share a cider, catch up with friends old and new. Settle in for your relaxing retreat. Wander our 40 acre campus of trails, gardens and cobblestone beach. A food truck will be available for those looking for an on-site meal.
5:30-7:30 Join us for cocktails/mocktails and snacks. We'll visit each studio for show & tell by our teachers followed by a campfire in the garden. Retreat Attendees and friends are welcome.
THURSDAY, FRIDAY and SATURDAY
Dive deep into your passion
8-9 Breakfast (veg & GF friendly)
9-12 Class
12-2 Garden Lunch (veg & GF friendly)
12-2 Chair Massages available. Sign-up for your time slot and pay masseuse directly.
2-5 Class
5-7 Chair Massages available. Sign-up for your time slot and pay masseuse directly
Thursday: 5:30 Drinks and Dinner (veg & GF friendly) Followed by a free bonus workshop: make your own massage oil and self-massaging techniques for hands, wrists and neck
Friday: Dinner on your own, studios will remain accessible and we'll have a campfire in the garden for your pleasure
Saturday: 5:30 Drinks and Dinner (veg & GF friendly)
6:30ish-8:00ish Open Studios...see what everyone's been creating. This will be an opportunity to buy teachers' work and supplies. If the weather is cooperative, we'll light a bonfire on the beach
SUNDAY
Re-emerge Gently
8-9 Breakfast (veg & GF friendly)
9-12 Class
12-2 Chair Massages available. Sign-up for your time slot and pay masseuse directly.
12:30 - 3 Lunch, last chance to shop, pictures and goodbyes (veg & GF friendly)
For those who would like to extend their retreat, we'd be happy to provide a personalized itinerary of our beautiful mid-coast region