Wonderful Weaving Worlds
A seminar day, organised by Laura Thomas, introduced by Lizzi Walton under the auspices of the Stroud International Textiles Festival is one not to be missed and I'm so glad I was there! Laura had gathered together 5 disparate weavers, each with a fascinating story...
The Law of the Seed
A few years ago, I set up a weaving workshop for 60 weavers in Oman, a country bordered by Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and across the Straits of Hormuz from Iran. Oman is a fascinating place, as are its people, and one of the people I met stays in contact with me, regularly...
Gascony – Gastronomy
Gascony - gastronomy. The two words fit each other like a glove. Add the village of Gramont and you have a perfect fit! We were in Gramont, near St Clar, in the Gers region of Gascony (south west France in the midi-Pyrenees) for my husband's 50th birthday treat - a...
Cooking in SW France
We are on our way to a week's cookery course in the south west of France, near Toulouse, for my husband's 50th birthday celebrations. It was fun choosing which course to enrol on as there are so many different types of holiday courses for food, and just about...
Cambridge – another world
This weekend I gave a full day's presentation in Cambridge at Girton College, for the Eastern Region Textile Forum on "Passive Income for Artists". It was a wonderful venue and truly inspiring location, with an enthusiastic and attentive audience of fellow textiles...
Spring cleaning for priorities…
Spring cleaning is like de-cluttering - it makes you feel good about yourself and your life... At least, that's the effect it has on me, which is just as well as we've a large old house and quite a lot of garden (and we're not gardeners!!) I have a very dear friend...
Mapping – a conference
Mapping - a physical two- or three- dimensional representation of a given place at a given time. Maps are usually associated with a scale, a grid, an orientation, and presenting information. They can be geographical, social, economic, linear, bird's eye view, a...
Accumulated Stash
I was doing a little tidying of my workshop, just clearing out the area under the stairs today. Wow. Isn't it amazing just how much stuff we accumulate?! It got me seriously alarmed as I pulled things out and took them outside so i could sort them into piles of...
Baby steps – first Masters presentation
This week was the first time I had to give a presentation to the MA students and staff. The preparation took a surprisingly long time because I kept having sudden realisations. Like - my goodness, I'll have been weaving for 20 years in June!! Yikes!! That's both...
Mood(y) boards!
This week I have to do my first masters presentation. OK, no big deal....! So far this semester, I've been attending a geology module, and the contextual art lectures. But I haven't been doing anything specifically for the MA... But now I have a deadline to get...
Pleats, crepes and twists – more collapsing weaves
This past weekend, I had the privilege to be part of a 4-day workshop with Ann Richards. Ann has been creating the most wonderful pleated scarves, dresses and now jewellery for a number of years, inspired largely by nature and in particular by bats and dragonfly...
Maths and geology challenges
Homework.... Normally a word to make you shudder - the dread anticipation of hours lost doing things you don't want to do, have no wish to learn, or things you know you ought to know but don't really want to; or maybe wishing you'd spent more time all those years ago,...