The Journal for Weavers, Spinners & Dyers

31/08/2022

The cover of our Journal 283, our Autumn edition is a burst of colourful wool wound around a lollipop stick... Popsicle Swatches – In the article, "A conversation between Heather Galindo, Dyer, and Linda More"... Linda says "I was blown away when I came across a beautiful photograph of over 300 dyed yarn swatches beautifully presented and labelled on popsicle (ice lollipop) sticks and laid out in glorious fans of colour. I just had to track this tenacious dyer down and find out more…..
My favourite part of knitting has always been looking at hand-dyed yarn, whether shopping for it
or watching the colours flow through my needles. I get so bored knitting with solid colours!
Would you like to read more about Heather and her choice for dyeing those ? You need a copy of our autumn edition 283... find out in our bio how to order a back copy directly from the team.

31/08/2022

From Katie’s brand new studio to my Natural Dye garden The Journal has a new new social media person and I am so happy to be holding that baton for a while. As a new member of the Journal team and a guild member in the West of Scotland branch it is a joyful and frightful moment to take over the social media fonctions following in the steps of Katie who did such a superb job of it … I hope you audience will be patient with me while I settle in and remember that we are all volunteers in the team and do our upmost best to represent you. Do remember to contact The Journal by email for any questions … A better way to grab our attention … now about the new edition … it has just come out and it is all about colour 🌿 Elisabeth (with an s) Viguie Culshaw from Glasgow

25/06/2022

After nearly 3 years of running the social media accounts my time posting has come to an end.
I've got a brand new dye studio to use, and it's been great to get out travelling and go back to teaching in person at some guilds again, and being on the committee of my own guild is taking up more of my own time, so I'm stepping down from running these accounts.
Managing this account and writing posts sharing the work of our authors has been a great pleasure. Every day I see things of great beautify, made with enormous skill.
Katie

Nearly everything associated with The Journal is done by volunteers, and whilst we hope there is someone lined up to take my place this is a great time to remind you that everything to do with The Journal is done by volunteers, and there are always open vacancies. If you'd like to get involved role do get in touch via the website.
Please don't message us on social media as you are unlikely receive a response.

24/06/2022

In Journal 282 we share the story of The Homegrown Homespun project, an ongoing collaboration between Justine Aldersey-Williams of The Wild Dyery, and founder of the North West England Fibreshed; Patrick Grant, designer and judge on the BBC’s Great British Sewing Bee and director of social enterprise Community Clothing; plus arts commissioning organisation The Super
Slow Way, who run the British Textile Biennial.
The projects aim is to reintroduce flax and woad textile crops into Britain.

23/06/2022

Alison Morton 1946 – 2021: Weaver of Linen
We shared an obituary for Alison in Journal 280, but in this special linen edition we share more of Alison's work and techniques.
Before becoming ill in 2020, she was in conversation with Ruthin Craft Centre in North Wales about having a solo show there. The Trust worked with the Craft Centre and curator Gregory Parsons to make this happen, albeit in a rather different way than originally intended. Alison Morton Weaver opened on January 15th 2022, and ran until 3rd April.

21/06/2022

For Journal 282 writes an article called Weaving a Flax Narrative
Susie shares her creative process behind her most recent collection of work; wall hangings, ‘SAGA’, pays homage to both Scotland's last linen mill and Viking history. The pieces are woven with yarn from the Scottish mill, and the weave structure used is a development of Swedish lace, a structure said to date back to the pre-Roman age. Using natural unbleached linen in the warp and as a ground in the weft, along with bleached linen weft floats, this ‘text’ tells my narrative and symbolises the runic script that can be found carved on Viking rune stone.

19/06/2022

Hamish’s Tour de Fleece
The Journal has received this report from Hamish, a small ‘Scottish Blackface’ (sort of) who has woolly adventures that 'he' writes about for the three land Guilds to which he belongs – West Surrey, Kennet Valley and Shetland... Find out more in Journal 282.

16/06/2022

Flax Turns is a collaborative article by Christine Borland, Daisy Williamson & Lynne Hocking-Mennie
In early 2019, artist Christine Borland was invited by the organisation Deveron Projects (www.deveron-projects.com) to develop a project for the town of Huntly in the northeast of Scotland. Beginning in spring 2019 with the communal growing of flax, and paused during 2020, this long-term investigation has now resumed. From sowing to harvesting and then processing the flax using replica archaic tools to break, scutch and heckle it ready for spinning, Christine’s research questions and reclaims the passing on of intangible knowledge in danger of disappearing. We also hear from her collaborating participants; textile artists Daisy Williamson and Lynne Hocking-Mennie.

14/06/2022

Victoria Ross from Wiltshire Guild shares her experiences of Distaff spinning in Guild Highlights, Journal 282.

12/06/2022

No edition focusing on linen would be complete without an article by Riitta Sinkkonen Davies on how to spin line flax from a distaff. Riitta inherited her love for weaving as well as flax and linen from her grandmother in Finland, and has been working with this material for decades.
Read her wisdom in Edition 282.

10/06/2022

Journal 282 reviews Ann Sutton – On From Weaving: A Survey, at New Arts Centre, Roche Court, Wiltshire from November 2021-February 2021.
In the words of reviewer Sue McDaid- The exhibition overall was incredibly inspirational, and showed a huge variety of work. Ann has made textiles and weaving into a true art, and although a lot of the underlying techniques may be straightforward it takes real skill and vision to lift a piece of yarn or cloth and turn it into a piece of art.

08/06/2022

Collective wisdom on weaving linen. A collaborative article complied by our Weave Editor Stacey Harvey-Brown and many other weaving groups and individuals.
Every wondered about weaving with this material? This article might help you get the most from your yarn.

06/06/2022

In Guild Highlights we share the work of our Guilds all around the country. Wiltshire Guilds Achievement Cup was presented to Kath Steggall for her work with natural dyes.
You can find details of your nearest guild on The Association of Guilds of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers website.

04/06/2022

From Circus Seamstress to Flax Farmer: A Grow-Your-Own-Clothes Adventure
In Journal 282, Rosie Bristow shares her story of how lockdown transformed the way she thought about the fabric we wear. Having never spun before Rosie not just learned how to spin and weave line, but also discovered how it's grown and is now preparing to write her Masters’ dissertation on flax and h**p processing equipment...

02/06/2022

In Journal 282 we share the work of textile graduate
Ruth MA is now studying on the MA Contemporary Dialogues course at University of Wales Trinity St Davids, continuing her work theme shown here, focusing on unsafe social housing.
Read more about her work in the latest edition.

31/05/2022

No special edition focusing on Linen would be complete without reference to the Berta's Flax Project. Cath Snape, York and District and Online Guilds, shares how this global sharing of historical flax struck sparked her passion for spinning flax, and shares some methods to dress a distaff, and her journey of discovery.
Read more in Journal 282.

29/05/2022

In the Exhibition Reviews from Journal 282 Hillary Miller took an all too brief opportunity in Autumn 2021 to visit two tapestry exhibitions that were held in Edinburgh at the same time.
Shown here is a close up of Wall of Water by Fiona Hutchison. Woven when she was at home without access to her studio, using limited yarns and recycled materials.

27/05/2022

Meet the only working damask tablecloth handloom in Ulster...
Ulster has a long history of highly skilled linen weaving. In 1968 the craft came to an end as the factory closed its doors and nearly all the equipment and Jacquard cards were burned. This is a precious survivor, and in Journal 282 Deborah White tells the story of its discovery and renovation.

25/05/2022

Journal 282, Summer 2022 is published today!

Fittingly for summer it's all about linen, and we have so much to tell you about this fascinating fibre and cloth that there are extra ages in this edition.
Flax and linen have a long history, but the industry has almost disappeared in the British Isles, but these fibres are coming back in to focus due to their sustainability.

Digital subscribers your copy will be in your inboxes shortly, and print subscribers your copies will be coming through your letterboxes anytime now.

28/04/2022

to Journal 256, Winter 2015 which takes us behind the scenes at West Dean Tapestry Studio, where we hear about the dyeing process to create all the different coloured yarns used by the weavers.

21/04/2022

to Journal 271, Autumn 2019.
In a Readers Showcase Caroline Thomson, West of Scotland Guild shares her process for creating a woven wall hanging inspired by a visit to Göteborg
Stadsmuseum.

14/04/2022

to Journal 265, Spring 2018 and an article by Chris Jordan.
In it she shares her quest for the perfect breed to use for knitting cables.

13/04/2022

We have reached our limit now for Saturday and Weekend tickets.

There are tickets still available for Sunday online.

www.wonderwoolwales.co.uk

08/04/2022

07/04/2022

to Journal 254, Summer 2015 and an article by Steve Higgins focusing on Lincoln Longwool Sheep.
Steve shares the origins of the breed, and tells us how the fleece is used today by modern spinners.