FIBER COLLEGE: Touchstone Retreat September 3-7, 2025
Disconnect from daily life and dive into the joys of making. Join us on the shores of Penobscot Bay to learn new skills, connect with fellow makers, and create something beautiful that is uniquely yours.
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 Touchstone Retreat is a journey that will open your mind, your senses, and your heart. The glow of accomplishment and future possibilities will stay with you long after you leave We hope that you will join us!
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.
LAYER IT ON:
immerse yourself in color, texture, shape and pattern using felt and surface design techniques
With Judy 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).
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.
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
4:00-5:00 Register, share a cider, pick up a map of places you might like to visit in the area and settle in for your relaxing retreat once you've gotten a lay of the land
5:30-7:30 Join us for cocktails/mocktails, snacks, and social time. Meet the instructors and share in the stories while we have a teacher's work exhibition. We'll light a campfire if you'd like to linger into the evening and toast marshmallows under the stars.
THURSDAY, 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 Guided conversation (1:00-1:30) (veg & GF friendly)
2-5 Class
5:30-6:30 pre-dinner sip and stroll~ a chance to walk the beach and catch up on the day's activities.
Thursday: Light Dinner (veg & GF friendly) Followed by a Forest Bathing Walk through the ancient Oak grove
Friday: Dinner on your own, studios will remain accessible and we'll have a campfire in the garden for your pleasure
Saturday: Moveable Feast, Some part of dinner will be served in each of the classrooms...stroll through and see what everyone's been creating
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 (veg & GF friendly)