On today’s episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about weaving with my guest Jen Duffin.
Jen is the designer and teacher behind Nova Mercury Design. Jen has been creating fiber art full-time since 2016, specializing in frame loom weaving. Inspired by color and whimsy, Jen loves creating art that brings joy to people’s lives and homes. She aims to create beautiful heirloom artworks and to inspire a love of creating in others.
She has taught many sold-out workshops in Montreal and Toronto, hosted online workshops for students from all over the world, and also created a course with the online platform Domestika. Her signature rainbow art was selected as a finalist for the 2019 Etsy Awards, and she took home the Canadian People’s Choice Award. Jen’s first instructional weaving book, The Joy of Weaving: Modern Frame Loom Projects for Beginners, was published in September with Page Street Publishing. She lives with her partner, two children, and a dog in Montréal, Canada.
This episode is sponsored by h+h americas.
The premier trade show for the crafts industry.
Today’s episode is brought to you by h+h americas 2025. Dive into creativity from May 7-9 in Rosemont, Illinois at the crafts industry’s premier trade show. Connect with industry leaders, discover trends, and ignite your passion. And join us the day before the show opens for h+h University, a daylong conference with outstanding education and networking! Thank you so much and see you at the show.
The Joy of Weaving is Jen’s new book.
We begin with Jen talking about being very creative growing up and having some discouraging experiences in making art. Jen talks about her work experience and how some of those skills carried over to running her business.
While on maternity leave with her second child, Jen began learning macrame and then began to explore weaving. She combined macrame with weaving (macraweaving!), similar to off-loom weaving. She ordered a frame loom and fiber from an Etsy seller and fell in love with the color and texture of the materials.
Jen explains how frame loom weaving works and what appeals to her about it including how affordable and accessible it is as an artform. Jen teaches a lot of workshops to adults and she shares some tips for successfully teaching weaving to beginners. She wants to be a vehicle for them to learn the techniques of the craft, but the creative direction comes from them completely and there’s no one way to do things.
Jen offers a Learn to Weave ecourse on her website.
We reference:
- Emily Katz macrame class on Creativebug
- Annabel Wrigley frame loom class on Creativebug
- Jen’s Sunshine Loom
Jen talks about her experience creating a class with Domestika. We also discuss neurodivergence. Jen explains how she sets up custom commissions for success including being upfront about how long it will take to create and asking for a deposit up front before beginning design work.
I also ask Jen to recommend great stuff she’s enjoying right now. Jen recommends:
- Lisa Solomon’s Color Meditation Deck
- Lucky Sweater app
- On Being podcast and Chaotic Creatives podcast
Keep up with Jen on Instagram to see new updates!