Jim and I had an amazing weekend taking part in a weave workshop organised by James Donald of Pick One and Concrete Wardrobe. Never again will I take cloth for granted, as everyone knows I'm already addicted to fabric and creating designs to print onto cloth whether through dyeing or screen printing, but we actually created our very own cloth - it was incredible - I used lambs wool and Shetland wool and limited myself to two colours so I could play with different weave structures. We created the warp, tied on the yarn and then threaded the yarn through the heddle's the hardest part; to the most incredible part - weaving. This all took place in Coburg House Art Studios Leith Edinburgh where James has his studio. We used an Ashford 4 shaft table loom (beautiful)
James helping us
Nobody was more surprised than me when Jim said he'd like to do the weave workshop - his mum worked at the local mill in Kinross and it fascinated him to have a go. The smell of the wool brought back lots of memories of his mum and she would be so very proud of him. The piece he has woven is beautiful and the colours are so rich. Here he is below working away .....
there were beautiful yarns to choose from
gridded notebook, heddle hook, fish eye hook, pins, pens and markers
samples created by James to show the
different weave structures
one of the looms warped up and ready to start weaving
this is a portion of my weave - the colours are a beautiful peacock/indigo blue
lambs wool and a warm cream Shetland wool
my loom
Margarets loom
It was a fabulous two days - excellent value for money and if you're able to get to one of James' workshops I know you'll love every minute of it (mmmm maybe the threading will test your stamina!!!)
James trained at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in Dundee where he also taught and did his MA sadly the powers that be have decided to drop Weaving from the course choices and are no longer
offering this craft as a choice at degree level, this is in a country where weave has such a strong heritage and sadly will be another skill that is lost and forgotten - if you feel strongly please join James facebook group Killing Craft through Educational Vandelism its got everyone talking. Judy
IMPORTANT PLEASE READ
offering this craft as a choice at degree level, this is in a country where weave has such a strong heritage and sadly will be another skill that is lost and forgotten - if you feel strongly please join James facebook group Killing Craft through Educational Vandelism its got everyone talking. Judy
5 comments:
WOW!!!! Judy this is brilliant! Thank you so much for posting this and the pics up! I am really chuffed! I am still overwhelmed by the fact that you all wish to do another workshop ... all 4 of you! This is indeed great news and I look forward to the next workshop!
Hope all is well!
James
x
Good to see you back Judy. I always fancied having a go at weaving till I saw the TV Craftsmen programme recently and saw how tricky to thread up a loom! However it still fascinates me and I still love other forms of weaving. I've joined the Facebook group, it's appalling how much educational opportunities are being withdrawn.
Oh wow...you are so lucky to be involved in something like this Judy.
Hope James somehow manages to keep inspiring people in the future.
Hugs
Linda x
Hi Judy, I think it's absolutely lovely that you and Jim shared the workshop and that you enjoyed it so much. I can feel the enthusiasm in your post and how special to have a piece of your very own woven cloth
I have a blog break (sort of) at the moment but trying hard to keep away. We have a lot of work going on in the cottage which means I haven't had time to be terribly creative the last few weeks but the urge to do so is very strong and there will be no holding me back once my guests have gone next week!
Have a wonderful weekend ... enjoy the warm spring sunshine and flowers dear heart :o)
Post a Comment