Exploring weaving with a Rigid Heddle and Back-strap

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In recent months I have been kept busy with requests to teach weave workshops using this simple loom.

The wonderful things about this form of weaving are:
The equipment is very ‘low tech’ and inexpensive if you want to buy your own.
It is very portable so you can weave anywhere, inside or outside, standing or sitting.
I can have absolute beginners weaving within a very short space of time, both children and adults.
You can weave cloth in a ‘conventional’ form or weave an ‘art piece’ incorporating all manner of materials.
I have taught 2 groups of 14, A Level Textiles students at Cirencester College in a morning; a knowledgeable group of 11 from the Gloucestershire Guild of Weavers, Spinners & Dyers and one-to-one with students in my studio.

I now teach on a regular basis at The Bothy at Vanessa Arbuthnott in Cirencester, Prema Arts in Uley and Cotswold AONB Rural Skills in Northleach (where my next day workshop is on Friday 28 April 2017). Check their respective websites for dates, availability and booking. If you send me an email and I will add you to my mailing list and I’ll let you know new course dates.

Echo of Our Fathers with photographer Chris Boulton

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Just after Christmas, Cotswolds based photographer Chris Boulton visited my weave studio in Calmsden near Cirencester, to capture images of me and my working environment for his ongoing project titled ECHO OF OUR FATHERS. He intends to produce a book and stage an exhibition of the images he has created; portraits of artisans whose practice embraces heritage craft skills. These beautiful atmospheric images are now on his website, please follow this link

Reproduced with kind permission of Chris Boulton,

 

Selected for Cotswolds Inspired Exhibition

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I made two submissions for the Cotswolds Inspired Art Exhibition and both have been selected for the show to be held at The Corinium Museum in Cirencester this month.

The Exhibition is to celebrate the culmination of the 50th Anniversary year of the Cotswolds being designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The open call to artists and craftsmen, was to create pieces in any media, inspired by any aspect of the Cotswolds AONB.

My designs made with the wool from British rare breed sheep, were developed and hand-woven on a wooden treadle loom in my studio. The wool was the catalyst for these designs; a friend gave me a large quantity of wool yarn she had laboriously hand-spun and dyed in an assortment of green tones with an interestingly uneven texture.

I decided on using the cloth for cushions; perhaps not for a posh sofa but more for a rustic kitchen and taken out into the garden on a beautiful day.

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CotswoldsAONB Hedgelaying Championship and Rural Skills Showcase

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I will be weaving, in a field this time! at the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Hedgelaying Championship and Rural Skills Showcase next weekend, the 12th November, 9.30 to 2.30 at Daylesford Farm, Kingham, GL56 0YG. Other Rural Skills are being demonstrated, such as blacksmithing and green woodworking plus there will be food and drink stalls.

Also until 6th Nov, Cotswolds Rural Skills are giving a special 10% discount on the two ‘Introduction to Weaving’ workshops I am teaching in November and December. Group numbers are kept small so book your place asap! More info on www.cotswoldsruralskills.org.uk

Rural Skills demonstration at Cheltenham Racecourse Cotswolds Showcase
Rural Skills demonstration at Cheltenham Racecourse Cotswolds Showcase

Weaving workshops at The Bothy

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What can you make from your weaving experiments? Some ideas to inspire!
What can you make from your weaving experiments? Some ideas to inspire!

Two workshop days on the 1st and 15th October 2016, to introduce weaving to those wanting to try it for the first time and those new to this technique for creative, experimental weave designing on a rigid heddle and back-strap.

These are the first weaving courses to be run by me at The Bothy; a newly created flexible event space next door to Vanessa Arbuthnott’s shop in Cirencester.

Introduction to Weaving, day workshop at The Bothy on 1st October 2016

Introduction to Weaving, day workshop at The Bothy on 1st October 2016