The first things that can be seen when walking into Fine Fiber Studio are the tools of the textile art trade. Looms and spinning wheels line the walls, storage recepticals for thread are organized by dyed and gray, and the latest projects are on the table or on a loom.

Kathe Todd-Hooker and Pat Spark, the textile artists behind Fine Fiber Studio, 604 First Ave. S.E. in Albany, work with different mediums.

Todd-Hooker is a tapestry weaver, and Spark prefers to work with felt, although she also has a background in weaving.

They will showcase their work with open studio demonstrations Saturday and Sunday.

Weaving tapestry wasn't always what Todd-Hooker wanted to do. Her grandmother introduced her to the textile arts when she was a child. As a student at the Oregon College of Art and Craft in Portland, Todd-Hooker's interest was in embroidery. However, once she sat down at a loom while in graduate school at Oregon State University, her interest in weaving progressed.

"I've come to admit, yeah, I am a weaver. I found tapestry and didn't want to do anything else," said Todd-Hooker, who has been a weaver since 1980.

However, Todd-Hooker's approach is different from that of most tapestry weavers. She works with a smaller loom and a larger thread count per inch and weaves with sewing thread. Most weavers prefer fewer threads per inch because it's easier to work with, she said.

Spark was also introduced to the textile arts as a child while living in Buenos Aires, Argentina. As an undergraduate at the University of Washington, she found an article on felting in a French journal and it intrigued her.

"I began to research and realize it was a way I could do imagery," Spark said. "And it was faster than tapestry."

Over the years, Spark has developed her own techniques for felting and written several books, including "Making Faces," "Using Wet and Dry Felt Methods" and "Fundamentals of Feltmaking."

The pair met while Todd-Hooker was in graduate school. Spark was her graduate adviser. But when OSU closed its textile arts program in the 1990s, they both decided they wanted to so something else.

Todd-Hooker and Spark started an Internet business, selling their personal art work and books online. Both women also had their own projects that they worked on until Todd-Hooker's move to Albany in 2002. Before then, the women didn't have a studio space where they could work together. But Todd-Hooker's new home had a two-story, converted garage.

"The person who owned the house before had a wood-working studio," Todd-Hooker said. "It's still a garage. Just a very large garage."

The studio is an outgrowth of Fine Fiber Press, the publishing company established by Spark and Todd-Hooker in 1999 to publish books on tapestry weaving, feltmaking and related fiber arts. Under Fine Fiber Press, they have completed two books to date, with a third coming out this summer.

Spark and Todd-Hooker also teach classes, both private and through Linn-Benton Community College.

In preparation for the open studio on Saturday and Sunday, they created false walls so that they can turn the work space into a gallery. They will display their art work for now, but in the future, would like to include other artists' pieces in the gallery.

STUDIO WELCOMES VISITORS

WHAT: Fine Fiber Studio, owned by tapestry weaver Kathe Todd-Hooker and feltmaker Pat Spark, is having an open studio to celebrate its participation in the Oregon Crafted Guidebook. The guidebook, which will be available in June, has maps of studios and galleries that will be open to the public the first full weekend of every month starting in June.

WHERE: 604 First Ave. S.E., Albany.

WHEN: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, free fiber art demonstrations, including making a felt scarf, felting needle usage, tapestry weaving, rag rug weaving, Russian punch embroidery, making silk paper and spinning. The work will be available for sale during the open studio. In the future, there will be work available from other artists as well. For more information, call 917-3251 or visit the studio's Web site, www.finefiberpress.com.

PROGRAM SPONSOR: Oregon Crafted, a pilot project for the state, which currently involves artists and galleries in Linn, Lane, Benton and Lincoln counties. (www.oregoncrafted.org/).

Demonstration Schedule

SATURDAY

10 a.m. to 2 p.m. — Felt scarf (Pat Spark)

10 a.m. to 2 p.m. — Tapestry weaving (Kathe Todd-Hooker)

3 to 5 p.m. — Silk paper (Todd-Hooker)

3 to 5 p.m. — Needle felted pictures (Spark)

SUNDAY

10 a.m. to noon — Russian punch embroidery (Todd-Hooker)

10 a.m. to noon — Rag rug weaving (Spark)

3 to 5 p.m. — Rag rug weaving (Todd-Hooker)

3 to 5 p.m. — Spinning (Spark)