Flax Processing with Sandy and Durl of Golden State Linen

Join us at the Fibershed Learning Center in Point Reyes Station, CA for a fun, informative, and hands-on workshop on turning flax to linen.

Topics and demonstrations will include:

Planting flax seed—broadcasting techniques versus row planting

Harvesting flax—the right time to harvest for just fiber or fiber plus seed

Bundling flax—preparing the harvested flax for retting

Retting—both dew retting and wet retting explained. We will discuss using a small tank or low-volume sprinklers, and show examples of ready-retted flax.

The hands-on portion of the workshop will include:

Processing retted flax—learn how use a traditional brake, scutch/paddle, and a series of hackles

Creating a strick—a decorative bundle of fiber ready to be converted into sliver for spinning

Students will come home with some seeds for planting in their garden, flax straw ready for processing, handouts on how to make equipment, and more!

The class is limited to 15-20 students, and will take place at the beautiful Fibershed Learning Center. The class will take place in the Learning Center Studio, which opens up into the dye pavilion patio and has plenty of ventilation.

Instructor Bio:

Sandy Fisher has been a professional weaver for over 40 years working with natural fibers, her favorite being linen. In 2012 the importance of producing textiles on a local level was becoming a national movement. Missing in the local textile production in Northern California was linen. Sandy and other community members in Chico began to grow then harvest fiber flax for linen. In 2017 her husband Durl Van Alstyne joined the local linen movement when they acquired a small farm to expand their vision. The farm gave them the opportunity to grow fiber flax on a larger scale while practicing Regenerative Agriculture. Harvesting on a larger scale required a need to create small scale mechanical flax processing tools to accommodate their growth. Chico Flax was then created which is now a non profit called Golden State Linen to education and encourage flax to linen as a viable industry here in the north state.

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Fibershed Scholarship Program

Fibershed is offering one scholarship per workshop. If you would not otherwise be able to attend, and would like to be considered as a scholarship recipient, please see our Scholarship Application. Responses will be reviewed by Learning Center staff and kept strictly confidential.

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Cancellation Policy: Refunds (minus Eventbrite fees) are available up to 7 days before the event. If you cancel after 7 days before the event, we are unable to provide refunds unless we can fill your space from the waitlist. (**Please note that this is not common.**)
If someone is waitlisted and is able to purchase your space, we will refund your ticket, minus the Eventbrite fees. Otherwise, there will be no refunds. You are also welcome to transfer your ticket to someone who wishes to purchase it directly from you, or let us know if someone is coming in lieu of your name.

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There is livestock onsite, so we ask that visitors please keep their pets at home. Service dogs are permitted.

You can now support the Fibershed Education Fund by selecting an optional donation amount during ticket registration, or email us at learningcenter@fibershed.org for alternative donation methods.