Chris Gustin
Homestead Weaving Studio

Weaving and
Recycled Rugs

Chris Gustin has spent much of her life weaving. From the time she learned to make potholders as a child in Michigan, to college classes and her current weaving business, she still has a love for the craft she has mastered. Weaving is an appropriate craft for a person of many interests such as Chris who has a background in photography, writing, editing and music besides a wide variety of other crafts. Weaving brings all these interests together in the beautiful pieces she creates.

As a member of the Brown County Craft Gallery, her woven rugs, shawls, scarves, placemats, mug rugs, bags, pillows, weed pouches and other items are on display.  Weaving has gone with her where ever she has lived—New York City, rural Pennsylvania, Colorado, Nebraska and Evansville before coming to Brown County.

The unique feature of Chris’s weaving is her use of recycled materials from industry.  Her mission is to create beautiful art from what would otherwise become waste for a landfill.  In addition, items are made from her own hand-spun wool. 

Formal training for Chris included weaving classes at Central Michigan University where she received a Bachelor of Liberal Arts in journalism with a minor in music.  She later worked at the Mannings Handweaving School in East Berlin, PA and The Weaving Shop in Boulder, CO.  With this foundation of weaving fundamentals, she has developed her own innovative techniques and material use to put her distinctive signature on every piece that comes from her looms. 

Besides her participation in the gallery, Chris’s studio is on the annual Brown County Studio Tour in June and the Back Roads of Brown County tour in October.  Clients and decorators seek her expertise and designs for special commissioned pieces for home decorating.  More about her work can be found on her websites— www.homesteadweaver.com and
www.recycled-rugs.com.