Whisk Broom Making with Prin Van Gulden

Join us for whisk broom making class. Broom making is a surprisingly approachable skill that offers so much to explore once you know the basics. The best thing about making your own brooms is that it makes sweeping a joy. We’ll make a “turkey wing whisk broom”. These simple useful little hand brooms are a great introduction to this beautiful and familiar craft. Led by Prin van Gulden.

Prin van Gulden is a homesteader and craftswoman passionate about illuminating our connections to land and humanity through traditional skills. Humans have spent thousands of years developing ecological relationships, along with skills to create beauty and utility to meet the needs of cultures. She believes the relationships we maintain with the ecological world as we re-learn to utilize the gifts of nature are as essential as the hands-on skills we regain. Prin aspires to help our culture maintain and evolve those relationships, and not to let those skills atrophy, by working in her community, with students, and by always continuing to hone her own skills and keep learning. Her practice is centered on the fiber arts, including textile & basket weaving, spinning, feltmaking and natural dyeing.

Prin lives and homesteads in Craftsbury, Vermont with her family (Four people and one big dog in a yurt). There she grows a wide range of plants for crafting, from flax (for linen), cotton, and various dye plants to broom corn and basketry willows. Prin teaches the Fiber Arts curriculum at Sterling College as well as classes and workshops in Vermont and around New England.

Prin graduated from Sterling in 2007, and returned as an adjunct instructor in 2016 before joining the faculty in 2021.