Pre-planning
Wendy Webb: "I tend to work my programme around 15 week lots because I count out the last term; whatever we do in that term is a bit of a luxury"
Wendy wanted to include input from local industry in her unit in some way, so that students could see the application of what they were learning in the classroom. As she took her existing unit and examined possibilities, such as introducing more of an industrial slant, she found "doors just opened up" and the unit evolved as she went along – the use of possum fur being just one example.
Wendy attended a field day for hunters run by Basically Bush, a company that buys possum fur. she made some useful contacts such as Woolly Yarns, the Lower Hutt company which buys possum fur, as well as representatives from the Department of Conservation and the Gisborne District Council, who attended from a pest control angle.
The field day included a trip to the forest where trapped possums were killed and Wendy notes that if such an opportunity arose again and she decided to include it her programme, she would need to forewarn the students.
Wendy was enthusiastic about using outside experts to help her students develop new skills. She had always been interested in felting and after attending a workshop decided this would be possible to do with her students. Having made contacts through her textiles interests, Wendy was able to approach the local Spinners and Weavers group to request their help in working with her class on felting. This was introduced in the Textiles Talk unit in 2005 and she reports that the class loved doing it.
Wendy Webb: "Working with dissolvable fabric appealed to me because there were no rules; we would be going into very different territory and students had no expectations about what they would be doing with it – it actually moved them out of their comfort zone"
Working with dissolvable fabric to produce 'fabric fusion' was another area of personal interest for Wendy and one which she decided to incorporate into her programme.
In 2006 Wendy went to the Creative Fibre Festival in Hawke's Bay where she attended a weaving workshop and was offered a loom. She decided to take advantage of this opportunity and incorporated weaving into her planning for the 2006 unit.
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