The dancing bird...

A simple strip of weaving can come alive!  

A needle woven tapestry strip on a piece of wood.  Embroidery thread detail added for a wing and eye, with green wire added for legs.  Shake the bird to start the dancing!

Off the Loom

On a very bright, but chilly, Saturday morning I took the train to Bridge of Allan for the British Tapestry Group AGM and workshop.

Off the train I stopped to admire this heron standing in the sun.

Through four different weaving activities we created pieces to be joined together in one collaborative structure, although with our donated tapestries.  A circular cardboard loom produced this jellyfish.

Woven trees, or is that a wine flute?

Hidden secrets inside matchboxes.

And yes, I have missed my stop.  And finally weaving on to branches.  How different these will look as the leaves fall. 

Together these create a structure.

Could this be a shelter?  Harnessing secrets, surrounded by a miniature forest, covered in magical charms?  You can see more pictures of the day here.

Weaving Rubbish

Fruit and vegetable shopping can be an ethical minefield.  Do I buy the loose apples flown from the other side of the world, or the local apples wrapped in plastic?  The loose bananas, with nature's natural packaging of a banana skin, or the fairtrade bunch of bananas wrapped in plastic?  It is difficult, and I'm not sure there are any easy answers.  After a trip to the supermarket, I realised I had all of this packaging just from fruit.

It was quite scary when I put it all together.  Instead of throwing this all away, I used it to weave a tapestry for the British Tapestry Group 'Off the Loom' workshop this weekend.  Members were asked to contribute tapestries made with recycled materials for this workshop.

I cut the packaging in to strips, and also used some old warp as a header and footer.  I particularly like the ends, I purposely kept them not woven in.  You can see some of the other tapestries produced for this workshop here.

Weaving the Century

Last Saturday we went to Edinburgh for some Fringe action.  The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, according to the wonders of Wikipedia, is the world's largest arts festival. For one month, anything and everything takes over Edinburgh.  After seeing a comedy show, we left the hustle bustle, and went to view Weaving the Century - Tapestry from Dovecot Studios 1912-2012.  The Dovecot studios are a couple of minutes walk from the Royal Mile, and yet during festival time, seem like a world away.  The calm gallery space is currently filled with tapestries woven by the studios during their one hundred year existence.  The works are so varied; traditional, abstract, large, small.  It also features some of the many collaborations with artists, such as David Hockney and Eduardo Paolozzi.  I really enjoyed seeing these tapestries close up, to marvel at 'just how is that done'?  I already have a sampler or two planned, to attempt to try some of the techniques seen.

At the exhibition, I brought The Art of Modern Tapestry, Dovecot Studios since 1912 edited Elizabeth Cumming.  This is quite a fascinating book, giving an insight into the history of the studios and background to a section of the tapestries.  The exhibition is on until 7th October, if you are in Edinburgh, it is well worth a visit.  And as for the fringe, I'm off to experience more this weekend!

Slate and driftwood weaving...

Last weekend I was at a weaving without a conventional loom class with Louise Martin. Instead of a loom, natural objects were used. I really like the relationship between the weaving and the natural form. My favourite sample was this one - using slate, driftwood and coloured warps. The weft was woven using the same coloured warps.
The course was very inspiring. A trip to the beach will never be the same again!

Weaving faces

At the end of last year I did a course at Stirling castle with Louise Martin specifically looking at weaving faces. My samples are finally off my loom. Firstly a lego man...
A screaming monster.
And finally using coloured warp as hair.

Perfect weaving weather...

It has been a wild week here on the weather front. We have had clear skies, snow, hail, ice and today - Hurricaine Bawbag!
Perfect conditions for staying inside weaving. I finally finished my guinea pig tapestry. He is quite a cutie!

Textiles at Bamburgh Castle

This time last week we were in a very hot car, on a very hot day, on our way to Bamburgh - a very pretty village in Northumberland.
A trip around the castle revealed some wonderful textiles.
Tapestries.
A curtain made by Russian prisoners, from their uniforms, during the Crimean war.
And an embroidery, similar in style to the Bayeux tapestry. Beautiful!