Masterclass with Ann Campbell, Sunday Nov. 8th.

Another well chosen "workshop" on Sunday: Ann Campbell shared her extensive knowledge with us in a Masterclass. 
Ann is one of North Wales' most experienced textile artists, specialising in handspinning and dyeing.  She started our day by explaining and demonstrating the technique of long-draw spinning, which was completely new to some of us:  thanks to Ann's expert help we were all able to produce a lovely lofty yarn in double quick time. (Our newest member "got" the technique in a trice, and was whizzing away as to the manner born within minutes!)

General busy-ness.  Note the long draw spinning!

Thereafter Ann gave us all individual tuition on any topic we asked, from the preparation of wool and cotton to the plying and finishing of hanks of spun yarn.  She also showed the whole group new ways of blending fibre using blending boards - simply made by fixing a large piece of carding cloth onto a bread board.  While not suited to the preparation of large quantities of fibre, a blending board has the great advantage of taking up far less space than a drum carder, and it costs a fraction of the price.  We rummaged happily in Ann's boxes of gorgeous hand dyed fibres and were soon able to produce attractive multicoloured punis  for spinning at our leisure, using the techniques of art yarn spinning Ann demonstrated on her own wheel.  She brought some beautiful examples of her own spinning and knitting to enthuse us, and we have resolved to use up all our bits and pieces of yarn and fibre, and Make Something.

Before...

....and after the Abergele Guild had been at the boxes.

Purple tops and hand knitted foot covers (with apologies for the unflattering viewpoint).

More busy-ness.

All in all, this was a wonderful day with a warm and positive atmosphere inside the hall, contrasting with the bleak weather outside.  To crown everything, we were treated to a wonderful soup-and-bread lunch by Val, our catering suprema. Other members chipped in with some bits and pieces, including delicious cake, and the result was a real feast.
So, many thanks to Ann for her generous and expert tuition and to Bryn and Val for the organisation.

More amazing colour blending with Katie Weston

We had a brilliant start to 2015 with another excellent colour blending workshop with Katie Weston.
Building on skills we learned during her visit last year, we produced even more sophisticated hanks of yarn, with some amazing variegated effects.
Firstly, Katie showed us how to make "punis"/ mini-rolags of blended fibre, taking a wispy but uninterrupted length off the drum carder using a dowel (to which the wool sticks) and a knitting needle (which slips out of the puni easily, so that the dowel can then be removed).  With a bit of practice, and not too much bad language, we all produced mini-rolags, ideal for using with a drop spindle.
Our next task was to make a tri-coloured fibre blend which can be spun to make a yarn with gradual colour changes.  Using Katie's gorgeous coloured fibres, we blended three separate batts of wool, silk, bamboo, Angelina...... and then teased them out to three thinnish slivers which were drawn onto the drum carder so as to make a single batt with vertical stripes. Then, working down the batt in the direction of the fibres, we "Z-stripped" it into a long sliver which clearly showed the change in colour along its' length.
Finally we made another three-coloured batt and took it off the carder using a diz.  Like puni-making, this requires practice, and a certain amount of non-Sunday language could be heard as the fibres fell apart and fingers were stabbed on the carding cloth.

Katie shows how to make a "puni" - a tiny rolag of fibre wound between a dowel and a knitting needle

And now a larger batt...

.. which comes off the carder in one piece, with three distinct areas of colour (looking from left to right),

and is then separated and "chained" into one long piece with the three colours running separately along the length.

Supporting the component fibres on a chair prevents them falling apart and thereby avoids grief and gnashing of teeth.

Stripes in the making.

Everyone produced large quantities of luscious fibre, and rushed home to start spinning.  We can't wait to see the results - (an idea for a Guild Challenge, perhaps?).
Very many thanks to Katie for her patient and expert tuition, and to Bryn for organising the event.
We take a break from Llanfair during the depths of winter, so our next couple of Sunday meetings will be in private houses. (Probably just as well:  driving past the hall this evening I noticed that the playing fields at the rear are flooded, and the river is very, very high). We are meeting as usual on the fourth Monday evening of the month in Abergele and will be back in Llanfair TH in April for our Friendship Day.

AC.

Fibre blending workshop with Katie Weston

Sunday, June 8th.
Today we had an excellent session with Katie Weston, of "Hilltop Cloud", learning how to use a drum carder to produce vibrantly coloured batts of fibre.  We were pleased to welcome several of our friends from other guilds, some of whom were coming to see Katie for a second time - which shows how good she is!
Katie gave up teaching sciences at a secondary school a few years ago to set up her highly successful company, and now trades worldwide and travels the UK with her wares.  She has recently had to buy a large van to carry her stuff (as well as taking over a static caravan at the family home). 
She started our day by giving us a visual tour of her home-cum-office-cum-workshop, and showing how she uses the surrounding countryside as a source of inspiration for the colour she puts into her work.  She then gave a clear and concise demonstration of how to choose and blend coloured fibres, stressing the importance of making small samples with hand-carder and drop-spindle before progressing to larger scale production using a drum carder.
Then we were let loose on Katie's stash of dyed merino, silk, novelty fibres, and naturally-coloured Shetland and Blue-faced Leicester tops.  Using a favourite photograph as a starting point, we selected our colours to harmonise and contrast, with 50% of natural fleece to meld the whole together, not forgetting a bit of sparkle or silk to add lustre to the finished yarn.  We learned quickly that what you see at the beginning is not what you get at the end:  after three passes through the drum carder, dividing and redividing the batts, we were all surprised and delighted to have produced gorgeous and unique coloured batts for spinning. 

After the first pass:  lurid pink seems to dominate, but....

....after a couple more passes through the drum carder, a pink-purple heather mixture appears.

 Very many thanks to Katie for such an inspiring workshop, for her patience and good humour, and thanks to all our visitors for joining us.

 http://www.hilltopcloud.co.uk/  Katie's website, and a photo of Charles Rennie Mackintosh too!
http://www.worldofwool.co.uk  (for commercially dyed fibre in a wide range of shades)

AC.

Silk Spinning with Sue Hiley Harris

We had an amazing day yesterday with Sue Hiley Harris, weaver-sculptor extraordinaire and an excellent teacher. ( http://www.suehileyharris.co.uk )Patiently and clearly she explained the entire process of silk yarn manufacture from silkworm to the finished product.  Now we all understand the differences between reeled, thrown and spun silk, and know why tussah silk is coloured (it's the oak leaves the caterpillars feed on, rather than the white mulberry leaves eaten by Bombyx caterpillars) and understand why noil silk is full of bits (the last shed skin of the caterpillar).
Sue showed us how to spin silk fibre in all its' variety - and she even examined our spinning wheels, and advised on how to optimise their performance for fine spinning.  Although there were no real beginners in the group, I think we all valued the chance to get back to basics and revisit the mechanics of "double drive", "Scotch tension", bobbin or flyer brakes.
And then spinning the silk itself!  Sue taught us how to produce a smooth yarn, analagous to the worsted woolen yarn, slub yarns, and the wonderful noil yarn spun by the long draw technique.  She also taught us how to use carders properly, and produce beautiful silk rolags.  A world of spinning in one day.
Our very grateful thanks to Sue for a wonderful day - we learnt such a lot and are determined to practise until we get it right and can produce perfectly spun silk yarn.

Bombyx mori cocoons

Poised for the long draw.....

Beautiful rolags!

Even the rubbishy bits look great!

We were also very pleased to welcome members of the Cheshire and North Cheshire Guilds, and hope to see them again in the future.

Carding before you spin

A lot of carding going on at our afternoon meeting this week!