The Newsletter of the London Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers

Warp&Weft
Contents
Contact details
2
Editorial
3
Meetings:
September - Lyn Scott
5
October - Frances Taylor
9
November - Ptolemy Mann 13
Future Meetings
29
Features:
Gallery: Diamond Exhibition
Felting Workshop
Postcard from Sardinia
Postcard from China
Raphael Tapestries
16
18
20
21
24
Regulars:
Guild News
Library News
Membership News
Spinning Skills-sharing
Weave Study Group
The Newsletter of the London Guild of Weavers,
Spinners and Dyers
Issue 239 December 2010
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Warp and Weft Issue 239
December 2010
London Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers
Editorial
www.londonguildofweavers.org.uk
Since our last issue, much cloth was
cut from looms, many stitches cast
off, numerous dye pots rinsed out,
as we all put the final touches to
the many gems submitted for the
Diamond exhibition. What a great
exhibition it turned out to be, with
an opening evening that sparkled
like a mini-Oscars. Well done to
all involved and particularly to the
exhibition committee. It was a fitting
way to celebrate 60 years of the Guild
and the centre spread of this issue is
devoted to a photo montage of the
event.
Looms and wheels don’t stand
silent for long. Hopefully lots of
you will have been busy with your
entries for the competitions at the
imminent December meeting. That
meeting is also a good opportunity to
renew your membership (forms are
included in this W&W). As you will
remember, the method of subscribing
to the Journal has changed and is no
longer done in the same payment as
your Guild membership. You should
have received a separate renewal slip
with your recent copy of the Journal,
so send that directly to them.
We’ve enjoyed a full and varied
programme of speakers this year with
another exciting year ahead (the new
programme is on the back of this
issue). This is thanks to the fantastic
job Sonia has done as programme
secretary. Her two-year term of
office ends at the March AGM and we
need someone to take her place. It’s
an interesting role and brings one in
President
Wendy Morris - [email protected] 020 8340 3903
Vice Presidents
Nancy Lee Child
Mary Smith
Melanie Venes
Executive Committee: Officers
Chair - Theresa Munford - [email protected] 020 8748 3737
and Editor of Warp & Weft
Treasurer - Lola McDowell - [email protected] 020 8749 0923
Secretary - Jane Rutt - [email protected] 0207 580 8583
Committee members
David Armstrong - [email protected] 020 8399 4832
Penny Brazier - [email protected] 020 7630 9093 Membership Secretary
Roberto Campana - [email protected] 07730 284 258 Exhibitions Officer
Jean Derby - [email protected] 020 8560 0483
Brenda Gibson - [email protected] 020 8673 4914 - Webmaster, Design & Layout of Warp & Weft, Publicity
Jan Slater - [email protected] 020 8870 3854 Librarian
Sonia Tindale - [email protected] 020 7722 9343 Programme Secretary
Front cover: Double ikat hanging by Claude Delmas as displayed in the
Diamond Exhibition
Page 2
touch with lots of different aspects of
the textile world. And you certainly
don’t have to come up with all the
ideas and leads yourself - there’s
plenty of input from the committee
and other Guild members. So please
offer to help if you can.
When the committee met recently
and discussed the exhibition, it was
felt that a key issue is the kind of
packaging and labelling used for
submitting exhibits. We decided
that the next W&W should carry an
article about the most suitable ways
of doing this, so if you have any tips
or experiences you’d like to share,
please email them to me or drop me
a line and I shall try to draw them all
together so we have a useful guide for
the future.
In the meantime, I hope the only
kind of packaging and labelling
on your mind at the moment is the
Christmas kind. Have a good festive
season!
Theresa Munford
Page 3
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December 2010
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Fibrecrafts, Papershed, Polymer Clay Pit and Selectasine
September 2010
Alpacas
Lyn Scott
Having just spun some alpaca earlier
this year I came to this lecture with
added interest and Lyn Scott did
not disappoint. Her talk was called
‘Adventures with Alpaca’ but Lyn
thought it ought to have been called
‘Disasters with Alpaca’. However,
I think that was referring to their
earlier tribulations, now they have a
wealth of first-hand experience and
knowledge behind them.
Lyn is a biochemist and alpacas
are her hobby, or as she put it ‘her
obsession’.
Initially, Lyn was choosing between
a lawnmower or alpaca, and luckily
for us the alpaca won. But when Lyn
and her husband Keith started this
venture in 1992 alpaca were decidedly
exotic. Outside zoos or wildlife farms
very little was known about them.
Thus the Scotts found themselves
having to learn as they went along,
with no handbook or help, even local
vets were perplexed. Alpacas are now
very popular although there is no real
fibre market in this country yet. It is
harder now to import them and move
them around because of the threat of
diseases.
Alpaca are ‘New World Camelids’.
They are derived from the vicuna,
whereas the llama comes from
the guanaco. There are millions
worldwide, mostly in Peru, Chile and
Bolivia.
Lyn has observed her animals
Photo © Lyn Scott
closely and it was endearing to learn
that ears down equals an unhappy
alpaca and ears up an interested one
(an ability it would be useful to have).
They are real herd animals, knowing
their place in the pack, who is in front
of them and who behind. In fact if you
split a herd an alpaca can be left high
and dry, unsure of where to move and
when to eat and will stand stock still
in the field – all of a dither!
Dung is deposited in piles and if
they are put in a new field without any
dung piles they don’t know where to
‘go’ and you have to put a dung pile in
the field for them – how awful if you
forgot.
Their alarm call is like a
woodpecker’s call and they live in
constant fear of being eaten. If they
are worried by something, they will
all stand and look at it. Lyn once saw
them doing this Sunday after Sunday
Page 5
Warp and Weft Issue 239
but couldn’t work out what was the
problem. She eventually realised it
was her neighbour’s golf trolley –
obviously to the alpaca it was the
equivalent of a werewolf.
General husbandry is the usual
vaccination and worming, toes may
need trimming and teeth may need a
little looking after (although they have
no top teeth).
Gestation period is 11 and a half
months, followed by a two-week
period when they are most fertile
and they usually fall pregnant again
immediately. Lyn has found that they
can control their core temperature
and thus aim to drop their babies on a
sunny morning – a problem in gloomy
English weather when they have been
known to hang on for 30 days!
A baby, called a cria, is born wet
and will stand within a couple of
hours. Mum is not that interested
initially and will continue eating
until the cria, often with difficulty,
finds the teat, whereupon the mother
becomes more motherly. They will
suckle for 4-6 months then wean on
to grass.
Being fibre animals they are shorn,
usually at 12- month intervals. But
Lyn is herself a handspinner and thus
very interested in the fibre process and
prepared to invest time in her alpaca,
getting real hands-on expertise and
not just going with the current trends.
She will thus not stick rigidly to the
12-month interval.
Breeders look for a uniform fleece
– colour, fineness, density. When Lyn
first began to shear her alpaca there
were no professional shearers to call
Page 6
December 2010
on. They are sheared, unlike sheep,
standing up: taking the ‘blanket’
off first, then the shoulders and the
haunches followed by the neck. They
come in about 20 or so colours,
including white, apricot, light, mid or
dark variations of fawn, brown, black
and bluey-grey. I suspect the nuances
of some of these variations would
be difficult for the majority of us to
discern.
There is a small amount of suint,
but no lanolin. The fleece is usually
very dusty.
Lyn washes her fleece by soaking
overnight in tepid water, then in
Tesco bubble bath, again overnight ,
and repeating one more time, avoiding
agitating the fleece to avoid tangles.
Drying is a bit of a problem as the
fibre really holds the moisture. She
will lay it out on a towel, another
towel on top and then roll it. Ideally
one then pops it over an Aga, failing
that a greenhouse. Lyn has been
known to drape it over her car’s
dashboard to catch the rising heat
as she drives along. It must be a
wonderful sight.
Fleece for spinning can be combed,
hand carded and drum carded. Lyn
usually pulls it open and drafts with
her hand, spinning from the fold. It
will blend well with other wools/silk
and she hasn’t found anything which
doesn’t work. Alpaca and silk make a
lovely combination but be aware that
this mix can loose elasticity.
She had some lovely photos and
who can’t resist doing an ‘aah’ on
seeing an endearing-looking alpaca.
Although before you go and stroke
one, remember they don’t actually
like being handled. They are ok with
children but it would be inadvisable to
leave children alone with them.
I shall now return to spinning
alpaca with renewed interest and
thank Lyn very much for giving us so
much information and entertainment.
Jan Slater
Star turn for Marie Brisou’s
vestments
At our August meeting, many
Guild members got the chance to
marvel at Marie Brisou’s designs.
Shortly afterwards the following
paragraph appeared in the Telegraph
in the coverage of fashion designer
Alexander McQueen’s memorial
service:
'The Reverend Canon Giles
Fraser conducted the service,
appropriately wearing one of the
new gold and white copes, encrusted
with Svarovski crystals, which were
commissioned for the cathedral’s
300th anniversary, and designed
by Marie Brisou, from Central
St Martins fashion college - from
where McQueen graduated in 1995
with a MA in Fashion Design.'
Daily Telegraph 20 September 2010
Page 7
December 2010
October 2010
Spinning a Yarn
Frances Taylor
Frances began with a brief account of
her introduction to spinning in 1978,
when a Corriedale fleece became her
first project. She then moved on to
the main body of her talk, the attempt
by the Gloucester Guild to reproduce
the Throckmorton Coat (first done in
1811 as a wager, from sheep to woven
coat in a day)
The project took place in June
2009, but preparation began in
March, when each of the spinners
spun a skein of a local Poll Dorset/
Jacob crossbred sheep in the grease.
The best yarn for the project was then
chosen and practised on, with each
spinner producing two skeins.
On the day itself, the spinners, who
slept nearby, set their alarms for 4.15
am and reported for duty at 5. The
shearers began at 5.15 and the twelve
combers set to work, keeping colours
separate. The ten spinners began at
5.35 am and worked until 6.30 pm.
Although their task was completed,
the spinners were keen to do more
and took several days to 'wind down'.
At 2.30 pm the first plied warp
threads were ready for the loom
and at 4 o’clock the dogtooth check
weaving began. There were no broken
threads – credit to spinners and
weavers!
After a pause for dinner, weaving
continued until midnight. It was
clearly past the deadline, so washing
and tentering took place days later
and the coat was
completed, with
a splendid lining
printed with the
pattern pieces
and a list of
participants in the
project.
Frances wore
the coat, and
passed round
samples of the
yarn and fabric.
She also had
a photograph
album of their
work in progress
and modelled the
completed coat
which we studied
and discussed.
She had
various records
of the original
Throckmorton
coat challenge,
which was
completed in
13 hours 30
minutes, and
was celebrated
by killing and
eating two sheep, washed down with
120 gallons of ale! Mr Coxeter, the
tailor involved in the original bet, was
later involved in the manufacture of a
gigantic plum pudding to celebrate the
Battle of Waterloo!
There have been various other
Above: Frances modelling the
Throckmorton Coat
Page 9
December 2010
handsome knitted jacket.
The knitting that she had been
doing on the train was also admired,
and she kindly gave permission for the
pattern to be given here, as so many of
us were interested. The increase and
decrease give an interesting diagonal
end to the scarf.
Ann Ault
Knitted Scarf
The coat's lining listing the participants
attempts, but most have a prethreaded warp on the loom, with the
newly-spun threads tied on to save
time.
Frances then moved on to talk about
her own spinning. She prefers to spin
in the grease, and particularly likes
longwool and lustre breeds, sourced
from a local supplier of crossbreed
and Blue Faced Leicester. She
demonstrated her 'extreme spinning'
technique of rough carding fleece and
not being particular about evenness of
the yarn, giving an interesting texture
to finished garments.
She gave an account of the spread
of the Merino breed round the world,
from Spain in 1500, to Argentina,
France, England, Holland, South
Africa and Australia.
After answering questions, Frances
invited us to see samples of some of
her handspun yarns from a variety of
fibres, and to look more closely at her
Cast on an even number of
stitches, and knit 3 rows.
Pattern row 1
Knit 3, yarn over, (knit 2 together
yarn over) until 3 stitches remain,
knit 3.
Pattern row 2
Knit 3, knit 2 together, knit to end.
Repeat pattern rows for length
required, knit 3 rows, cast off.
Page 11
December 2010
the handweavers studio
November 2010
Significant Colour
Ptolemy Mann
& gallery
a treasure trove for weavers, spinners, dyers & felters




yarns and fibres
looms, spindles & wheels
books & magazines
classes & workshops
Our big news is that next September we will be launching
the handweavers diploma
This two-year part-time weaving course will challenge you to take your
weaving to another level. If you wanted to “do Bradford” but were thwarted,
The Handweavers Diploma may be just the thing for you. Contact us for a
prospectus.
As always we have new goodies in the shop, and our spring workshop
programme will be available soon, so come and visit us, register for a
class or workshop, or simply browse our website.
Open Monday - Saturday, 10:00 - 6:00
140 Seven Sisters Road
London N7 7NS
Tel: 020 7272 1891
[email protected]
www.handweavers.co.uk
Woven textile art, textile design, and
colour consultancy: Ptolemy Mann
took us through these facets of her
work in a brilliant presentation of
colour.
She began with white yarn, showing
us the skeins ready for dyeing in
preparation for a forthcoming
exhibition at Ruthin Craft Centre in
Wales. Slides of her working in the
dye lab showed how the ten-metre
warps of mercerised cotton were
dip-dyed using direct dyes largely in
primary colours. At times the dying
has to be very precise but at other
times she said she can be looser about
the gradations of colour and enjoy
what comes out.
She showed how, after the warps
were dyed, they were threaded on
the loom to be woven as plain weave
double cloth with supplementary
warps. Ptolemy said she was not
a ‘geeky’ weaver into pleats and
honeycombs, and that her work is
generally in plain weave. She is
unusual in that it is all handwoven
although very occasionally she
subcontracts. For the last 12 years
she has been using a computerised
16-shaft loom although when the
computerised element broke down she
was still able to go back to pegs and
lags to 're-engage with craft'.
At St Martin’s in the 90s, textiles
students had one day a week
colour theory. Garth Lewis, their
lecturer (author of 2000 Colour
Combinations) got them to produce a
chromachart showing 100 gradations
in painted squares. Ptolemy showed
us a slide of hers and said how
valuable this exercise had been. At
this point she talked of her esteem for
Josef Albers’ Homage to the Square
and especially of her admiration for
Anni Albers.
While at the Royal College of
Art for her MA, Ptolemy became
irritated by the looseness and drape
of hangings. There she first stretched
and mounted woven pieces to the
disapproval of her tutor, although
he later admitted he was wrong to
criticise her. After that, her first
commission from KPMG was a set of
textiles representing seven countries
Page 13
Warp and Weft Issue 239
for which she had only seven weeks
to complete. Intensive weaving as an
intern in the US had prepared her for
the effort and she managed the seven
panels in the time, matching the yarns
used to the country: cotton for the
US, silk for China, lurex for India and
ikat for Japan.
From 1996 on all her work was
stretched. As well as the Albers,
influences on her work are Mark
Rothko, Barnett Newman, and the
'chromatic minimalism' of Donald
Judd who provided inspiration for
Ptolemy’s commissions at the Geneva
Hilton and at the restaurant Roast in
Borough Market. Ptolemy showed us
slides of many of her commercial and
domestic commissions.
In 2006 she had a commission
from Glaxo Smith Kline for eight
wall pieces where the panel awarding
the work liked the association of her
low tech, hand-dyed cotton with a
design that suggested their own work
on DNA and chromatography. She
also showed that her own modernity
sat well in a Georgian space with
a piece she made for an architect’s
office in Somerset House. IDFX
magazine gave her an award for a
panel that could be raised to reveal a
television screen. St Mary’s Hospital
commissioned large panels for the
‘Save the Baby’ unit, not in a clinical
part of the hospital but in rooms that
appeared welcoming and reassuring.
Domestic commissions included
three panels on a stairway arranged
like 'flying ducks' for Thomas Swann,
illustrating the importance of being
open minded to clients’ wishes. In
Page 14
December 2010
response to some artists’ criticism
that her work was 'decorative', she
replied that this was not a criticism,
that sometimes when producing work
for offices being 'inoffensive' was a
necessary feature.
Ptolemy went on to talk about her
textile design. She showed us slides
of flat weave kilims and of rugs hand
knotted in Turkey for Christopher
Farr along with digitally printed linen
furnishing fabric for ADRAS and
fabric for millinery by Yasmin Rizvi.
One architect Ptolemy greatly
admires is the Mexican Luis Barragán.
She showed us slides of his bright
painted walls and then went on to
talk about her colour consultancy
work with architects. We were shown
slides of the King’s Mill and Mansfield
Hospital in Nottinghamshire where
undulating gradations of colour
in spandrel panels, powder coated
metal and tinted glass were a feature
that also gave users of the hospital
points of reference – red for Accident
and Emergency, bright blue for the
Women and Children’s building.
Colour on the outside of a car park in
Preston gave the impression of a piece
of weaving.
Curating exhibitions is another use
of her talents and we saw slides of
‘Significant Colour’ at Aram’s (with
a yellow Homage to the Square in
the background). The earlier slides
in the dye lab had been taken as she
was working for the forthcoming
exhibition at Ruthin Craft Centre
where she is one of the artists in
‘Inspired by: the legacy of Anni
Albers’ which opens in December.
The questions at the end were
mainly technical: how she stapled her
work, kept the edges at colour breaks
or not, whether she washed her work.
In the course of her talk, Ptolemy
had posed questions to herself and
the audience: whether weaving
methodology could be transferred to
other disciplines; whether you could
have a commercial business and be
true to craftsmanship; whether a
work can be art and decoration at the
same time. I had missed Ptolemy’s
talk to the Guild a few years ago
but the consensus was that it had
been brilliant in spite of a complete
breakdown in the visual aids. This
time the technology worked perfectly
too and we enjoyed a dazzling
display by an artist, designer, colour
consultant, and curator whose
primary motive is always to be a
weaver.
Marilyn Jones
Above:
Chromascope I
Left: A private
commission
Images courtesy
of Ptolemy
Mann
Page 15
Warp and Weft Issue 239
December 2010
Diamond Exhibition Gallery
Here is a visual reminder of a few of the
many exhibits in our successful
Diamond Exhibition
and the opening
evening when
Margo Selby was our
guest of honour.
Right: Anne Dixon's 'Water
Diamonds' scarf (winner of
the Complex Weavers ward)
Left: MarionGore's
Diamond Bag (winner of
the Handweavers Award).
Others work shown here
is by Christine Eborall
(above), the Guild Spinners
(below) Anne Willitts
(below left and near right)
Top left: Wendy Morris
presenting Margo Selby
with Jenifer Midgley's
Ice Diamonds scarf.
Others work shown here
is by Sue Hiley Harris
(left), Marie-Claude
Cousin (top right) and
Melanie Venes (above).
Page 16
Page 17
Warp and Weft Issue 239
Felting Workshop
Anne Willitts
19 September
Guild News
Committee members
This is the time of year we are on
the look out for new committee
members. It’s an interesting and
stimulating way of becoming more
involved with your Guild and it is,
after all, the only way the Guild can
function. The committee meets just
four times a year, most of the work is
done by individual members getting
on with their individual roles. If
you’re interested in helping out, please
let a member of the committee know
soon so that you can be elected at the
March AGM.
About a dozen Guild members,
two with grandchildren in tow,
enjoyed Anne’s felting workshop
held in Twickenham. Participants
included complete beginners
as well as some with felting
experience, so Anne took them
through basic felt making and
then progressed on to felt inlay,
using the technique of half felting
For Sale: Our slide projector
pieces. Finally, the group had a go
at 3-D felting, making mobile phone
cases by felting around plastic and
then cutting slits to make an opening.
All the participants enjoyed it, learned
lots and, as the pictures show, came
away with impressive pieces of felt to
treasure.
Speakers visiting the Guild now
tend to use laptop computers and
powerpoints for their talks, so the
Guild’s slide projector sits gathering
dust and using up space in the
cupboard. The committee decided it
is best to sell it. If you’re interested in
buying it, please let a member of the
committee know. Or alternatively, if
you’re an Ebay whizz and would like
to handle the sale of it over Ebay that
would be a great help.
Association News
Summer School
The 2011 Summer School will take
place at Queen Margaret University,
Edinburgh from 7 - 14 August 2011.
There’s an exciting range of courses
Page 18
covering spinning, weaving and
dyeing as well as basketry, embroidery
and photography. Course fees are
£590 for Guild members and booking
forms and a full list of courses are on
the Association website www.wsd.
org.uk
Warp and Weft Issue 239
December 2010
A Postcard from Sardinia
Postcard from China
I visited the very beautiful Italian
island of Sardinia at the end of August
and found that an inspiring number
of traditional handicrafts are still
practised there: basketry, ceramics,
woodwork (including intricately
carved and detailed chests), ironwork,
and gold and silver smithing.
Amongst these, and cited as the most
widespread craft on the island, is
handweaving and, to a lesser extent,
spinning. There are more than 50
craft co-operatives around this island,
many of whom have support from
ISOLA (Istituto Sardo Organizazione
Lavoro Artigiano), The Sardinian
Institute of Handicrafts. A wonderful
introduction to all the crafts including
an extensive section on weaving can
be found on the website:
http://www.sardi.it/sardinia/artig1.htm
However, as a spinner myself,
you will see I picked up a suitably
appropriate ‘Postcard from Sardinia’.
The somewhat quaint illustration
of a Sardinian woman in traditional
costume spinning with a drop spindle
and distaff was found on a cork
postcard. Yes cork! Quercus Suber,
the cork tree, thrives in Sardinia’s
Mediterranean climate, where
commercial cork production has gone
on for several centuries and today is
one of the major exports of Sardinia.
It too has become a sort of local craft
of the island; many of the tourist
products incorporate cork.
Although sadly I had very little time
in the Italian town, Dorgali, where I
visited some artists co-operative stores
This summer I stayed a couple of
nights with an old friend who lives
in Beijing. Antonia is an historian
and author of a fabulous survey
of Chinese clothing styles in the
twentieth century (‘Changing Clothes
in China’). Knowing my addiction
to textiles, she mentioned, almost in
passing, that an American friend of
hers had invited us over to tea to ‘talk
textiles’ with a young academic who
was researching the cottage cotton
weaving industry of north west China.
As I walked into the apartment and
saw a beautiful old wooden charkha
I knew I was in for a treat. Outside,
modern Beijing bustled through a hot
afternoon. Inside five of us fondled
handwoven cotton fabrics, admired
the charkha and antique loom, and
speculated about the use of these
ancient skills.
Three were academics, with
fascinating insight into the
development and economics of cotton
spinning and weaving. From them,
we learnt of how cotton weaving was
confined to the damper, warmer south
of China until people in the drier,
dustier north developed the technique
of digging a pit and descending into
it to weave - the opposite of a loom
with a view! And that, in contrast
to India’s promotion of handweaving
by its Independence leaders, in Mao’s
China domestic production was
positively discouraged, for it took
peasants away from communal labour
in the fields.
Two of us were ‘makers’, myself and
Page 20
and saw some artists spinning, I did
manage to inquire as to some key
Italian terms:
tessitura - weaving
filatura - spinning
filare la lana - to spin the wool
Lisa Busby
Xiao Li, one of the many residents
of Beijing who migrated from the
countryside to find work during the
past two decades of rapid growth.
The loom had been her mother’s as
were many of the samples of cloth,
mostly plain weave checks and stripes.
Xiao Li told us stories of a childhood
immersed in domestic textile skills
and was amused to know that there
are modern Londoners who still spin.
We talked of techniques and whether
it was possible to spin two strands
of cotton at the same time. (It turns
out that some Chinese charkhas had
foot pedals to rotate the wheel, hence
you have two hands free to draft the
fibres.)
The charkha we saw was the hand
turned style which has a web of string
between spokes to support the drive
band. A rustic touch was a dried-out
husk of corn that had been rammed
into base to steady the spindle. Sadly
we had no fibre to experiment with the cotton wool from the bathroom
proved too short a staple!
Theresa Munford
Below: Xiao Li with her mother's
charkha and loom
Page 21
December 2010
Library News
We have had to remove one of the
library boxes and consequently I have
weeded out the following books which
appear not to have been borrowed for
quite a while. They are mainly from
the World Textiles box and in many
cases we already have books on that
country’s textiles.
If any of the following suddenly
look interesting to any Guild member,
or someone feels strongly they should
still be available could they please let
me know. A few of them I propose
putting on the sales table and the
remainder will go to the Archives. I
won’t rush to do this, so just let me
know if you would like me to bring
one or more in for you to have a look
at.
Weaving Arts of the North American
Indian. By Frederick J. Dockstader.
1993.
African Designs. British Museum
Pattern Books. By Rebecca Jewell.
1994.
Mexican Costume. By Chloe Saver.
1985.
Thai Textiles. By Susan Conway.
1992.
Textiles of Ancient Peru and Their
Techniques. By Raoul D’Harcourt.
1977.
Egyptian Landscapes. Weavings from
the Ramses Wissa Wassef School.
1985.
Tapestries from Egypt. Woven by the
Children of Harrania. By W. & B.
Forman and Ramses Wissa Wassef.
1968.
Journeys and Journals. Woven
Tapestries and Drawings. By Jilly
Edwards. 2001.
Weaver of Worlds. From Navajo
apprenticeship to sacred geometry and
dreams.
A Woman’s Journey in Tapestry. By
David Jongeward. 1990.
Small Woven Tapestries. By Mary
Rhodes. 1973.
On Weaving. By Anni Albers. 1975.
A Textile Terminology. Warp & Weft.
By Dorothy Burnham 1981.
The Woolcraft Book. Spinning,
Dyeing, Weaving. By Constance
Jackons & Judith Plowman. 1982.
Swiss Straw Work. Techniques of a
Fashion Industry. By Veronica Main.
2003.
Dorothy Liebes Retrospective
Exhibition. 1970.
Jan Slater
Membership News
December means a lot of different
things to different people. To me, it
means MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL!
So, out come the record cards,
various lists and files, paying-in slips
and 2011 membership cards. I line
them all up on the desk and await
some ‘customers’!
The December meeting is when
most members pay their yearly
subscriptions, but if you can’t get to
that meeting I would be really grateful
if you could send your subscription
in the post. It would be great to get
them all in by the end of January then
I could see the Treasurer swoon with
joy!
As you know we have had to
increase the subscription to £23 for
2011. You will find a renewal slip
with this copy of W&W. If you have
already renewed, or recently joined,
then please ignore it.
We welcome six new members to
the Guild since September increasing
our numbers to 165. These members
are already enrolled for 2011.
Their names are listed below and
their full details can be found in the
members’ section of the website.
Hope to see many of you in
December!
New members:
Jennie Clark, Harrow
Katharina Kronig, Calstone, Wiltshire
Karen Firmin-Cooper, London SW1
Marty Cronjie, Hampton Wick
Lucinda Pyne, Ealing
Erica Hume, Hockwold, Norfolk
Renewing your Journal subscription
With the latest issue of ‘The Journal’
a direct renewal form will have been
enclosed, and you need to renew
direct, please, and not include it with
your Guild renewal as previously. It
will really help the Journal volunteers
with their admin load if you would
kindly renew online rather than
by post if possible. Go to www.
thejournalforwsd.org.uk and click
on Shop, Subscribe online, and select
'Individual Guild Subscription'. Please
select 'Renewal' in the drop down box
for 'How did you hear of us' at the
checkout stage.
Please note that the price is held at
£15.00, the same as last year provided
you renew by 31 December, otherwise
the price increases to £16.00.
Brenda Gibson
Penny Brazier
Membership Secretary
Page 23
Warp and Weft Issue 239
Raphael Tapestries at the
V&A
Many years ago I sang with a choir
which occasionally gave performances
in the Raphael Cartoon Gallery at
the V&AMuseum. I well remember
thinking how appropriate these
pictures were as a background to
our biblical texts set by Handel and
Bach. It now feels a great privilege
to have seen some of the original
tapestries woven to the designs of
these paintings by Raphael. These
tapestries were loaned to the museum
in commemoration of the visit to the
UK of Pope Benedict XVI.
The cartoons were commissioned
by Pope Leo X in 1515 for tapestries
to be hung on the lower walls of the
Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. They
were woven in Brussels between 1516
and 1521 and four of them were
displayed at the V&A alongside their
respective cartoons, together for
the first time in over 400 years. The
cartoons were bought by Charles I and
they have been in the Royal Collection
ever since, being on loan to the V&A
from 1865.
The influence of these cartoons at a
time when tapestry weaving reached
a prestigious level, particularly in
Brussels, was widespread and their
success is thought to have had a great
effect on subsequent tapestry design.
These 'Acts of the Apostles' became
the most frequently woven of all
such series, nearly 50 sets have been
identified over the years.
Several sets were woven at
Mortlake during the 1630s and from
Page 24
December 2010
one of these sets a version of 'The
Miraculous Draught of Fishes' hangs
in the V&A. This one is covered in
glass, which I felt subdued the colours
when compared with the cartoon and
the earlier version.
The four tapestries on loan from the
Vatican Library were 'The Miraculous
Draught of Fishes', 'Christ’s Charge to
Peter', The Healing of the Lame Man'
and 'The Sacrifice at Lystra'. These
are large works and somewhat faded
in parts after centuries of use. Seeing
them with their respective cartoons
reminds us that tapestries were woven
from the back, therefore producing a
mirror image of the painting.
Several instances show differences
in the colours used by painter and
weaver as there was considerable
licence for the master weaver to make
such changes. Some colours however
have suffered with age: the V&A
publication records that the purplereds using orchil dyes had faded
mostly to beige, while the brighter
reds using madder had lasted well.
Much research on the fibres and the
dyes used has been carried out in
the Vatican Museum’s Tapestry and
Textile Laboratories since the 1980s.
Wool was used for the warps, and
the wefts were wool, silk and gilt
metal wrapped around a silk core to
add brightness and also highlights on
the drapery folds. It was interesting
to note the elaborate borders around
these tapestries which did not appear
in the cartoons. Many depicted scenes
from the life of Pope Leo X and
insignia of the Medici family. They
were woven as integral parts of the
tapestries, not added later.
I found the book published by the
V&A for this exhibition a mine of
information on the history of the
tapestries and the cartoons, the stories
behind the images depicted and the
techniques used and only £10 for a
hard bound copy. It will be a useful
reference when l look at the cartoons
in future.
Cartoons on loan from HM The
Queen
Above: The Miraculous Draught of
Fishes
Below left: Christ’s Charge to Peter
Below right: Sacrifice at Lystra
The Royal Collection © 2010 Her
Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
Jenifer Midgley
Page 25
Warp and Weft Issue 239
Spinning Skills-sharing
Group
Soap or no soap? Hot water or cold?
Emulsion or no? These were the kind
of issues debated in our meeting.
Each of the dozen or so spinners
around the table talked through
their favourite methods of washing
fleece, shared tips on equipment
and compared recipes for spinning
emulsion.
Space here doesn’t permit a great
deal of detail about individual
methods and, besides, there is no
shortage of articles in spinning
magazines and books. What I will
try to outline, however, are some of
the key points that emerged from this
sharing of ideas.
Perhaps the most important of these
is that, when it comes to washing
fleece, one size does not fit all.
For example, Beverley found that
a method designed to preserve the
lanolin in fleece was hopeless for a
Merino, which was too sticky to spin
until she resorted to almost boiling
water. When she researched this
she found that Merinos are unique
in having as many as nine different
oils. Pat’s careful method of washing
lock-by-lock by holding a handful for
two or three minutes in water with
detergent, then in rinsing water, and
so keeping the staples intact, is perfect
for a precious fleece to fine spin, but
for more everyday fleece she puts ‘as
much as she can hold in two hands’ in
the hottest water she can bear (with
some Fairy Liquid) and then leaves it
overnight.
Page 26
December 2010
The fact that sheep are selfcleaning was discussed. Recent
articles in spinning magazines have
advocated just letting nature do its
work by leaving the fleece to soak
for a day or two. Helen recalled
meeting Newfoundland spinners who
simply left the fleece in cold ponds
by their house. The question was
also raised about whether detergents
and shampoos now are stronger, so
recipes from the 1970s may no longer
be suitable and take too much of the
natural oil out.
Some useful equipment tips
including using plastic garden trugs,
the bucket-like sort with handles
that are commonly found in garden
centres, as these make it easy to pour
the dirty fleece water onto the garden;
rinsing by immersing a garden house
into the bottom of a bucket and
allowing the water to run clear from
the bottom up; placing the fleece in
a plastic laundry basket and then
immersing in the water so it can be
easier to take it out.
Finally, health issues were discussed,
for there are hazards from pesticides
as well as natural toxins like anthrax.
In sum, an extremely useful and
illuminating session.
Next skills-sharing session is in
February and the topic will be dyeing,
with participants asked to bring in
a yarn spun using at least two dyed
colours. All are welcome to join this
group - contact Daphne for details
([email protected] 020
8997 0291)
Theresa Munford
Weave Study Group
Meeting
We were delighted to welcome three
new members to the group this
month, Tova, Katharina and Margrit,
all of whom have been weaving for
years, and we look forward to their
contributions at future meetings.
Our current topic is 8 shaft ‘Echo’
weave, and our first task was to
understand the term. Our discussion
determined that it is not a structure
in itself but rather a threading and
tie-up method that gives an echo
of the pattern line and a different
appearance on each side of the fabric.
The threading is most usually done
by interleaving a threading with one
(or more) versions of itself but shifted
up the draft by a given number of
shafts, say three, four or five, and in a
different colour. So, if you have eight
shafts and the first four ends of the
pale threading are on 1, 2, 3, and 4,
if the interval is 3, the dark threading
would be on 4, 5, 6 and 7. It is woven
with one shuttle of a third colour.
The tie-up is often an unbalanced
twill, which, when woven will give
different colour mixtures of the
pattern line and its echo and different
appearance on the reverse.
With weaving software, it is so easy
to play with different pattern lines,
intervals, tie-ups and treadlings that
designing seems to take up even more
time than without it.
David had looked at the differences
between echo and shadow weaves
and presented a sample of each. The
Top and above: Work by David
Armstrong
Tencel echo sample had many versions
in the lifting, some intricate designs,
some with long floats, all of which
will repay further work.
Ann spoke of creating what she
called ‘syncopated’ weave many years
ago, only to discover Bonnie Innouye’s
article on the same thing later. She
showed two silk scarves with very
subtle blue colours in the warp, one
with a further blue weft and the
other with a port weft, which showed
the echoes more strongly and was
noticeably different on the reverse.
Wendy played, on her eight shafts,
with a three shaft twill and intervals
of three or four and wasn’t pleased
Page 27
Warp and Weft Issue 239
with the results so interleaved convex
and concave curves which gave a
pleasing ‘moiré’ effect but was not
strictly ‘echoing’ the pattern line.
Katerina showed her lovely cotton
samples from a workshop with Bonnie
Innouye. Some showed textural
differences where plain weave was
contrasted with twill areas and
interesting differences where two
wefts were used.
Joey had dyed weft and dyed or
painted warp to produce beautiful
flowing lines of colour on two scarves
in Tencel and rayon with silk weft.
Though she was concerned that one
was a more sturdy cloth, it still draped
well. Long floats caused problems so
she changed the tie-up to a 2,1,1,2,1,1
to eliminate them.
Brenda wanted to try different
parallel threadings so had turned
the draft and used a single colour
warp with two wefts. She also
dyed her yarn, bamboo in this case.
Having played with the designs, she
felt that one of the most pleasing
intervals was three.
Aase had produced wonderful
iridescence with a green weft crossing
a warp of a warm beige and strong
red, also in Tencel.
Also looking at the differences
between shadow and echo, Marion
showed us a lovely brown and ecru
shadow weave scarf and an echo rayon
sample with different colours in the
weft.
We are going to continue to study
echo weave and in any way we like, so
no longer restricted to eight shafts.
Page 28
December 2010
Future Meetings
11 December
Competitions and Christmas Party
The December meeting is surely the
regular highlight of the year, and
again this time we are delighted that
Eve Alexander has agreed to provide
an insightful commentary on the
exhibits whilst the votes are being
counted. Please be sure to arrive extra
early with your competition entries,
and please bring a small contribution
to the Christmas shared tea. If you
can also contribut a raffle prize, so
much the better.
• Kennedy Cup for Spinning: Now
you see it, soon you won’t: Rare
breeds
• Lore Youngmark Prize: Holier
than thou: Lace weaves
• The Gwen Shaw Competition:
Shadows
For full details see page 26 of the
March issue of W&W.
Top: Work by Anne Dxon
Above: Work by Aase Walker
8 January
Chris Aslan Alexander
A Carpet Ride to Khiva
Eve Alexander
Chris will speak about the seven
years he sp ent in Khiva, a remote
desert oasi s in Uzbekistan. Chris
worked with Operation Mercy and
UNESCO establishing a carpet
workshop, reviving fifteenth century
Timurid carpet designs discovered
in illuminated manuscripts as well
as creating new designs. All carpets
were woven in silk and Chris revived
the use of natural dye-making; his
dye-buying ventures taking him to
Afghanistan with the tricky prospect
of returning across a notorious drugtrafficking border with sacks of
suspicious-looking powders. Chris
will talk about the technical aspects
of the carpets and the process of
silk production in Uzbekistan. He
will also reflect on lessons learnt,
establishing a fair-trade cooperative
in one of the most repressive regimes
in the world. Chris will display
samples of his work, and sign copies
of his book: A Carpet Ride to Khiva –
seven years on the Silk Road.
12 February
Alison Ellen
New Directions in Knitting
Alison trained in textile design and
began her knitting business in 1980.
Teaching BA students in an art college
and short courses at West Dean
College as well as working with textile
groups led her to research knitting
history and technique, and she has
published two books on designing
in hand knitting. A third is due for
Page 29
Warp and Weft Issue 239
publication in 2011. Her main design
interest is in constructing garments
by knitting in different directions,
and finding stitches that manipulate
the fabric and create textures. These
techniques allow her to design
wearable, varied shapes, led by the
natural inclination of the stitches.
Using mostly wool with some silk
and also hemp, she dyes her yarns for
added interest and richness of colour.
12 March
AGM followed by talk by Melanie
Venes on the Theo Moorman
technique
Theo Moorman (1907-1990)
developed a technique of weaving
pictorially without the timeconsuming labor of tapestry weaving.
The technique is a variation of
plain weave. Her innovation was to
differentiate the weight of the warp
threads - a heavier ground warp and
a finer tie-down warp. The design on
the surface of the fabric is achieved by
inlaying yarns under the fine tie-down
warp. On Sunday 13 March, Melanie
will run a Guild workshop on the
technique at the East Twickenham
Neighbourhood Association, Rosslyn
Rd, 10am to 5pm. The fee is £35. To
secure your place, please phone or
email Jenifer Midgley 020 8892 4708
[email protected]
December 2010
9 April
John Allen
Heaven and Hell
The story of designing and putting
together of John’s exhibition 'The
Forbidden Kingdom'. How the wool
is grown in Tibet, mule-trained over
the mountains to Kathmandu Valley
where it is hand spun, dyed and
woven as well as his experience of
designing an exhibition and working
and producing the carpets with
Nepalese weavers.
Medieval Textile Conference
The Medieval Textiles Society
is holding a conference at the
Museum of London on Saturday
5 March entitled Medieval Textile
Technology. There will be illustrated
talks and demonstrations of warp
weighted loom weaving, spinning
with distaff and great wheel, and
tablet weaving. In addition there
will be illustrated talks by the
director of a Dutch project to re
create broadcloth weaving, and
by two weavers from Copenhagen
who use medieval looms (one
demonstrates at the Viking museum
there). Opinions
The committee is not responsible for
the opinions expressed in Warp &
Weft. Nothing may be copied without
the permission of the editor. Where a
communication to the editor or any
of the officers requires a reply, please
email or enclose a stamped addressed
envelope.
Warp & Weft Online
This edition of Warp & Weft is
available in colour in a private
members’ area on the London Guild
website. Members whose email
addresses are known are sent a
Username and Password that enables
access to the private area of the
site. If you do not have the access
details, please email webmaster@
londonguildofweavers.org.uk.
Advertising in Warp & Weft
Warp & Weft accepts both display
and classified advertising at the
editor’s discretion. The cost for
display ads is £15 full page, £10 half
page. A layout and setting service is
Contributions to What's On
If you know of any textile related
events or exhibitions in the London
area please let Sharen McGrail
know:
[email protected]
available if required, cost £20 and £10
respectively. Small (ie classified) ads
cost £5 (members) and £7.50 (nonmembers) for up to 25 words. Adverts
must be prepaid by cheque made
payable to 'London Guild of Weavers'.
Send copy and payment to the editor.
Articles and Images for Warp & Weft
Articles (Word, RTF or text files)
should be emailed to the editor please.
If that is not possible, they should
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and clear a typeface as possible, with
no end-of-line hyphenation. Images
should preferably be sent in JPEG
format with a minimum 300 dpi
resolution at the intended printed size.
Copy Dates
Warp & Weft is produced quarterly
in March, June, September and
December. All contributions
(including advertisements) must reach
the editor by:
1st February for the March issue
1st May for the June issue
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Editor
Theresa Munford
27 Bracken Gardens
Barnes
London SW13 9HW
020 8748 3737
[email protected]
020 8521 0355
Page 30
Page 31
London Guild of Weavers, Spinners & Dyers
Programme 2011
8 January - meeting
11 June - meeting
Chris Alexander: Carpet Ride to Kiva -the establishment of a carpet weaving
madrassa in Uzbekistan
Fiona Rutherford, tapestry weaver: A
Colourful Yarn
12 February - meeting & study
groups
Alison Ellen: New Directions in Knitting
12 March - meeting
AGM followed by talk on Theo Moorman
by Melanie Venes
9 July - meeting
Rodrick Owen: Ancient Peruvian
Textiles 3500BC – AD600
13 August - meeting & study groups
Ian Tait: The Making of the Drop Spindle
10 September - meeting
13 March - workshop
Holly Berry: My Weaving Life So Far
The Theo Moorman technique, with
Melanie Venes
8 October - meeting
9 April - meeting
John Allen: Heaven and Hell
- designing and putting together
of John’s exhibition ‘The Forbidden
Kingdom’
14 May - meeting & study groups
Ismini Samanidou, master weaver
[Title tbc]
Shuna Rendel: Sculptural Baskets
12 November - meeting & study
groups
Anne Dixon: Just an Inkling - Tapes,
ribbons, points, inkles, cadysses and
laces... what, how, when and where
10 December
Christmas meeting and competitions
All meetings are held at St Stephen’s House 48 Emperor’s Gate London SW7 4HJ
Meetings start at 2:30pm, study groups start at 11:30 unless otherwise shown.