All Wales Event, Llanidloes, 2017

The biennial meeting of all (well, most of) the Welsh Guilds of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers is always a great chance to meet up with old friends and catch up with what we have all been doing for the last couple of years.
The meeting is held in the Minerva Centre - an ex-car showroom in Llanidloes.  Over the years, the exhibition space has developed from an echoing cavern, still smelling faintly of motor oil, into a very nice venue indeed.  This year we had the benefit of a new permanent partition dividing the trade area, and a spanking bright new sink and drainer for washing up (and for textile workshops of course).   The Guilds' Challenge this year was on the theme of "Sea and Sky", and as usual the variety and standard of work was excellent.  I am pleased to report that our contribution, co-ordinated by Jenni Frost and based on a piece woven by her on a peg loom, stood out proudly from the others.

Val and our contribution to the Guilds' Challenge.

Bryn and Jenni arrived at the crack of dawn to set up the display of work, and Bryn very nobly put on show the files and folders from her recent Certificate of Achievement in spinning.  Congratulations to her for her excellent work and well-deserved result.

Bryn and Jenni with their display of our work.

In the afternoon, we were treated to a fascinating lecture about historic Welsh textiles from Louise Mumford, Senior Conservator at the National Museum of Wales. Louise had the privilege of conserving the "Llan-gors Textile" - a fragmentary piece found in the sediment of Llangorse lake, near Brecon.  This amazing fabric, based on fine linen at 23 threads/cm., was scrunched into an amorphous lump and dropped into the mud about a thousand years ago.  After it was found in 1990, Louise it was who unravelled it piece by piece, recording every step of the way.  More information at https://museum.wales/articles/2007-05-03/The-Llan-gors-textile-an-early-medieval-masterpiece/
Back to the present, and a final look around the trade stands (selling all sorts of desirable stuff from dyed fibre to fine fleece and equipment) and a last cup of tea before heading homewards into the setting sun.
Thanks to all who took part, especially Hilary Miller and her team of helpers, and Jenni and Bryn for our display (and Alan for the photographs).

All Wales Meeting, Llanidloes 2015

Another minor miracle - like bring-a-platter buffets which turn out to have just the right
ingredients without there being a plan - Abergele's display had a good selection of yarns, colours
and techniques. Although I didn't, Jenni did have a plan and the flow of textiles across our space represented a mountain range. Compliments were received! So, thank you everyone who put their work in. Fewer members of the public this year but guilds were out in force. Displays included a little black dress, woven boxes, unusual fibres such as yak. Ours was the only one to go Roman and use LX for 60 years on our Challenge board.

B.T.

A Busy Weekend - Saturday.

An action packed couple of days this weekend:  on Saturday four of us went down to Llanidloes for the All Wales Meeting of Guilds of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers, and on Sunday we had a Spinning Day in the little Community Centre in LlanfairTH.
The All Wales Meeting takes place every two years, and is a great chance to catch up with friends & show off our work.  We take over the Minerva Centre in the middle of Llanidloes, and set up our displays in the front showroom.  Each Guild has a generous space to fill with textile pieces made over the previous 24 months.

Sorry - not hung very straight.

A closer view of a Hilary's beautiful lace shawl..

..and a delightful "baby bag" from Kate.

Some of the work on display was quite spectacular.  Unfortunately the lighting wasn't of the best which made photography tricky.

Unlimited tea, coffee and biscuits - and, for the first time, Cake!

The Guilds are also set a "Challenge" (as opposed to a competition) on a given theme, to be assembled on a single A1 board.  This year's theme was "Four Seasons":  some chose a single season and some, like us, chose all four to inspire small textile pieces which were then assembled into a coherent whole.  Due to a combination of circumstances, many of the Abergele members were unable to participate this time, but those who could, did.

An amazing variety of work was produced:

As usual we had a very tempting set of trade stalls, where all manner of spinning, weaving and dyeing stuff was on display, together with ethically source textiles from the far East and West.

Another fixture for the "All Wales" is the guest lecture, given this year by Jim Gaffney of Textile Traders .  Jim and Diane travel all over the far east to buy traditional, hand-made textiles, and Jim told us about their memorable trip down the Silk Road from Turkestan to China.  Despite knowing only a few words of each of the languages (and no Russian) they made friends along the way and found local artisans keeping old traditions alive in each country.  Jim bravely allowed us to pass his precious hats and fabrics between us, and even to walk on the felted carpets designed for nomadic yurts.  The beauty of the work was quite astounding, and the lecture provided a real high point in an excellent day.

"Thank you very much" to all the organisers, and here's to the next meeting in 2015!

All Wales Meeting of Guilds of Weavers, Spinners & Dyers, 2011

Another great day in Llanidloes, thanks to Hilary Miller and the Team.  Representatives from all the Welsh Guilds of Weavers, Spinners & Dyers attended the meeting; contributed to the displays and the raffle; browsed and bought at the trade stands and were fascinated by Laura Thomas' talk about her work as a professional weaver, designer and curator.  (More about Laura on her website http://www.laurathomas.co.uk )
The Guild Challenge was a real highlight - with the Gwynedd Guild's orchids the stand-out contribution.  They truly deserved their "prize" of a presentation shield.

Our contribution to the Guild Challenge.

The Gwynedd Guild's "Orchids" can be seen in the middle of the bottom row - of course, they do meet in a Botanic Garden!

Nearly there?

At our evening meeting this week, the Ty Hafan blanket was spread out on the floor - and it's almost finished.  At least, only a couple more squares are required, and quite a lot of the ones we have are sewn together.  Perhaps we will complete it before the All Wales Meeting in Llanidloes in October, two years after we started?
AC

FORTHCOMING EVENTS 2011

Here are some events you may be interested in attending over the coming months.  Further details are usually available from the relevant organisers:

Wonderwool Wales:  Royal Welsh Showground, nr. Builth Wells. 9th. & 10th. April
http://www.wonderwoolwales.co.uk
Woodfest Wales: Kinmel Park, Abergele. 28th., 29th., 30th. May.
 http://www.woodfestwales.co.uk
Woolfest (Cumbria):    Mitchell's Lakeland Livestock Centre, Cockermouth,  24th., 25th. June. http://www.woolfest.co.uk
All Wales Meeting:  Minerva Centre, Llanidloes. 8th. October

Our next venture into the public domain will be at the Association of Guilds of Weavers, Spinners & Dyers' All Wales Event in Llanidloes, Mid Wales on Saturday, October 3rd.  This is a biennial event, held in the Minerva Centre in Llanidloes, and is generally a good get-together and catch-up session for all the Welsh Guilds.  We will have work on display (we hope! - Krithia and Alison have to get there to put it up before the hordes arrive at 10o'clock), both general "What we've done in the last 24 months" stuff and our efforts for the All Wales Guild Challenge on the theme of recycling.  We are looking forward to hearing a lecture by Cefyn Burgess in the afternoon, and - of course - we are not going to spend any money on any more fleece/fibre/equipment at the Suppliers' Show (are we?!)
AC