I Want To Be Like You When I Grow Up!
Today I want to tell you about three wonderful ladies whom I have met here in France. I'll call them collectively 'MIN'. One is in her forties, one in her fifties and one in her sixties. MIN embody everything that I want to become. They don't know each other - yet....
Thank You!
It is not often that I mention politics in my working life. However, I have been so moved by the love and support that has been extended to us by our French friends here in Nérac that I wanted to say ‘thank-you’. Thank you for the warmth of your acceptance of us and...
Easy adaptations for threading and life!
If you're like me, you prefer making weaving processes as easy to do as possible, especially the thinking side! Recently I have been preparing 4-shaft samples of stitched double cloth for an upcoming workshop. The warp has a 2 cotton to 1 wool ratio and it was easier...
2020 Dates! New Themed Course, Update on New Book,
Hello all! The teaching season may well be behind us for this year, but things are very busy here in The Loom Room France. Firstly, the 2020 dates are now available!! You can find them here. I'm delighted to say that one Honeycomb Hybrid course is already fully...
2020 Plans afoot!
Autumn has been late arriving here in Gascony, South West France. It’s a lovely time of year here - the sun is still beautifully warm, the rainy days few and far between, the fields a range of yellows, browns and green which turn golden, orange and russet colours at...
Texture in all its 3-D glory!
Image: Samira Boon, Self-folding fabric. As many of you know, I am a texture fanatic. Creating dimensional surfaces in woven fabric really intrigue, delight and inspire me, often with ideas taken from nature. Philippa Brock has done a lot of research on self-folding...
Floppy Cloth, Simple Dimensional Cloth and Why We Make Things & Why It Matters,
This summer we are having a great time at The Loom Room France with weaving guests and non-weavers alike. The cherries have now been supplanted by the emerging plum harvest, and the swallows have now finished constructing their nest and are laying a number of eggs so...
Summer Weaving Gascon-style!
Happy Summertime! After strong spring sunshine in February (3 weeks), March (3 weeks) and then back to more wintry chills in April and some of May, we are now at the right time of year, with sizzling temperatures, fruiting trees, and new chicks on the way. Weaving...
Jacquard japes and George is looking for a new home!
With Spring well and truly in full bud and leaf, my studio is resounding to the clunk of jacquard looms in action! My lovely babies are now awaiting new designs from an experienced weaver who is coming to learn how to design on these varied and fun looms. These...
Book Review – Craft Economies – Susan Luckman, Nicola Thomas (eds)
Craft Economies Ed Susan Luckman and Nicola Thomas (2018) London & New York: Bloomsbury Academic ‘Comprising a collection of 20 essays from 28 academics, practitioners, Craft Economies spans a wide landscape of craft practices, sites and forms of making from...
Book Review – Steal Like an Artist – Austin Kleon
Steal Like an Artist – 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative Austin Kleon 2012 New York: Workman Publishing If you’re like me, I have always been aware that to copy is a cardinal sin for an artist, and yet, as a classical musician, that is what I was...
New book review – Pattern & Loom – John Becker
Pattern & Loom: a practical study of the development of weaving techniques in China, Western Asia and Europe John Becker (with collaboration of Donald B. Wagner) Nias Press 2nd edition 2014 It's taken me a long time to read this book. I remember posting that I...