The Ontario Handweavers & Spinners (OHS) is a non-profit organization based in Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 that helps individuals interested in the fiber crafts to communicate and develop their skills, including weaving

Weaving

Weaving is a method of fabric production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. The other methods are knitting, lace making and felting. The longitudinal threads are called the warp and the lateral threads are the weft or filling...

, spinning

Spinning (textiles)

Spinning is a major industry. It is part of the textile manufacturing process where three types of fibre are converted into yarn, then fabric, then textiles. The textiles are then fabricated into clothes or other artifacts. There are three industrial processes available to spin yarn, and a...

 and dying

Dye

A dye is a colored substance that has an affinity to the substrate to which it is being applied. The dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution, and requires a mordant to improve the fastness of the dye on the fiber....

, basket makers

Basket weaving

Basket weaving is the process of weaving unspun vegetable fibres into a basket or other similar form. People and artists who weave baskets are called basketmakers and basket weavers.Basketry is made from a variety of fibrous or pliable materials•anything that will bend and form a shape...

, braid

Braid

A braid is a complex structure or pattern formed by intertwining three or more strands of flexible material such as textile fibres, wire, or human hair...

ers, tablet weavers and paper makers. The OHS communicates to its members through a quarterly newsletter

Newsletter

A newsletter is a regularly distributed publication generally about one main topic that is of interest to its subscribers. Newspapers and leaflets are types of newsletters. Additionally, newsletters delivered electronically via email have gained rapid acceptance for the same reasons email in...

, Fibre Focus, provides educational programs in spinning and weaving, provides scholarships and organizes several seminars or conferences each year.

The organization was founded in 1956 at a time when there was increasing interest in reviving traditional craft

Craft

A craft is a branch of a profession that requires some particular kind of skilled work. In historical sense, particularly as pertinent to the Medieval history and earlier, the term is usually applied towards people occupied in small-scale production of goods.-Development from the past until...

 skills. By 1998 the organization had grown to over 1,000 members, in over 70 guilds within six autonomous regions in Ontario. The OHS is affiliated with the Ontario Crafts Council

Ontario Crafts Council

The Ontario Crafts Council is a member-based, not-for-profit arts service organization based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The organization is dedicated to promoting the recognition and appreciation of craft and craftspeople in Ontario and beyond....

. Many individuals prominent in the fiber arts have graduated from OHS courses or have been associated with the OHS over the years.

Associated Guilds

Many local handweaving and spinning guilds in Ontario are members of the OHS, including

• Sudbury and District Weavers and Spinners Guild,
• Oxford Weavers and Spinners,
• Leamington District Weavers Guild,
• Mississauga Handweavers and Spinners Guild,
• Pottawatomi Guild of Spinners and Weavers of Grey and Bruce Counties,
• Cambridge Spinners and Weavers,
• Kitchener Waterloo Weavers' & Spinners' Guild,
• London District Weavers and Spinners,
• Sarnia HandWeavers and Spinners,
• Kingston Handloom weavers and Spinners Guild,
• Burlington Weavers and Spinners,
• Ottawa Valley Weavers' and Spinners' Guild,
• Etobicoke Handweavers and Spinners,
• Toronto Guild,
• Heritage Weavers and Spinner's Guild,
• Guelph Handweavers and Spinners,
• Thunder Bay Weavers Guild,
• Kingcrafts,
• Peterborough Handweavers and Spinners,
• Southwestern Ontario Basketry Guild,
• Strathroy Pioneer Treadlers Spinners and Weavers,
• Nottawasaga Handweavers and Spinners Guild,
• Great Pine Ridge Spinners
• Haliburton County Handweavers.