It was good to meet again at the Meeting House in February. 4 members talked about their Summer School experiences last year and we were even able to provide a link for a member to join us on zoom, thanks to Tina We went to Writtle College in Essex in August last year and stayed for a week. We stayed in the student halls of residence and had all our meals provided in the canteen. There was a full programme of lectures and events in the evenings as well as our daytime courses. It finished with a trade fair, exhibition of our work and a gala dinner. Charlotte talked about her course which was Elementary 4-shaft weaving with Janet Phillips. She enjoyed the course and showed us her samples although she admits she hasn't continued to use her new weaving loom at home as she is worried she might not get it right! She has done 2 weaving summer school courses so I'm sure she would be able to do it. I talked about my course which was Azure to Midnight: Indigo Shibori Dyeing with Jane Callender. I loved my week in Writtle and the course was exciting. Jane was a fabulous and patient teacher and I produced some lovely samples. Our room was changed several times which wasn't ideal but we managed. Shibori is fabric which is stitched in a particular way and then dipped in an indigo vat. It can be dipped any number of times to produce a deeper colour. It must be sewn with very strong thread and knots used at each end to secure the stitching when it is pulled tight. Jane is an expert and she has written a whole book about the process with beautiful photos of her amazing work. We used silk, various weights of cotton and linen. we had 3 vats - a natural indigo, a chemical indigo and a weak vat for paler colours. The first 2 photos show some of my work after stitching and before dyeing. The 3rd photo is from Jane's display and the last one shows some of my samples and Jane's book Then Rachel talked about her course - Knitting: Entrelac and beyond with Alison Ellen. Alison has also written books about her craft and Rachel showed us some of her samples knitted during the week. She said she enjoyed the course and likes experimenting with her favourite pastime. The first photo shows Tina with one of Rachel's sample on the screen, which could be seen by our zoom participant. The next one is Rachel at the fashion show, showing off her work (Rachel's words). The last one is from Alison Ellen's display showing part of a jacket and her book- my apologies for poor photo. Tina then went on to talk about about the course that she and Kate did. It was Inkle Weaving: The basics and beyond with Anne Dixon. Tina bought the book to help her understand the technique as they found they were expected to work independently. They made braids with their names on and Tina went on to more advanced work. The first picture is from Anne Dixon's display, the others show Tina and Kate's work. Judith also took a course at summer school -Foundations in Spinning with Amanda Hannaford. She wasn't able to be at the meeting but I know she learnt lots from Amanda. I know Amanda is a brilliant and knowledgeable tutor as I worked with her on A Fleece a Day in 2017. The first photo is a beautiful lacy top in Amanda's display. I think it was spun and knitted by Amanda.
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AuthorWendy Simpson , guild member since 2014. Started as a spinner, then got hooked on natural dyes and now I'm learning to weave Archives
January 2023
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