First Friday Santa Cruz at Stripe: Kate Jaffe

Bio

Kate Jaffe taught herself weaving and spinning from old library books. Her first loom was a redwood frame loom she built with her mother but she now weaves on a Japanese floor loom and other small looms she makes with retired fence wood. She enjoys the entire process of creating fabric - from the smell of the boiling dye pot to the texture of the finished tapestry.

Crafting is the dark, sweet bread of her life. With the rest of her time she teaches Ethnobotany, Directs a Wilderness Survival and Peacemaking program for children, bicycle tours, forages, and catches glimpses of birds outside. Her inspirations are Haiku, tea, awkward pauses, mustaches, perfectly ripe stone fruits, watching dogs meet, well cooked rice and the life cycles of salmon and ants.