Cambridgeshire Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers

Thank you to everyone who helped make the Exhibition such a success. We had lots of visitors and the comments in the Visitors’ book are very encouraging. The demonstrations were very popular and a lot of children had a go at weaving.

Jacqui Fuller and her team did sterling work in the Reading Room providing drinks and homemade cakes as well as overseeing the dye plants that were for sale. Sue Prior produced masses of plants for sale.

Paula Armstrong, Beth Parks and Sue Melvin were the ‘hanging group’ , ably assisted by Chris Tucker and Lynn Reynolds on the Friday afternoon. Paula also organised the sales table which looked spectacular.

I am indebted to Ann Ruel for facilitating the display of Jan Morris’ work. It was lovely to see her weaving again and her family were touched and delighted that we were able to do this.

The range and quality of the work on display was breath taking and the ‘Challenge’ was fascinating to see how everyone had interpreted their part of the picture.

Thank you.

Sue

Thank you to everyone who provided content for this newsletter. So many folks have come together to provide book reviews, meeting summaries, recipes and announcements, that I mainly played around with adjusting colours for this issue!

I do love design and I am glad to be able to combine two of my creative outlets in one place. I will strive to keep a fairly consistent layout, but will likely change up a few things each issue. I hope that doesn’t bother anyone.

In this issue we have 2 book reviews along with our normal letters, and calendar of events. Please keep in mind as the summer goes along, if you come across an exhibition of interest, do let me know about it. The best way to contact me is via e-mail at erica@weavolution.com.Erica Jones

Letter from the Chair

Letter from the Newsletter Editor

Table of Contents:Letters:Chairman & Newsletter Editor 1Librarian 2Book Reviews:Viking Patterns for Knitting 2

Tapestry Weaving: Design and Technique 3

Recipes from the Exhibition Tea room 3, 6 & 7

Workshop Summaries:

Natural Dyes 4

Rug Weaving Introduction 5

Program and Exhibit 8 Photos from the Exhibition by Fiona Bureau

Hello, most of you will know me, I’ve been around in the Guild a long time, but this year I have taken on the role of Librarian.

The Library is always available when we have meetings at Arbury, and should be easy for everyone to use. Please feel free to contact me with any ideas you may have about making it more accessible and useful. We have a small annual budget for book purchases, so if you have any ideas for new books I would be keen to hear about those too.

You can contact me on 01767 650904 or chris.tucker@zen.co.uk

For Guild News – in case you haven’t seen it

Some of you might recognise Sue Wallis on page 7 of the latest Vav (2/16). Sue is wearing the jacket she wove for her final project in the Janet Phillips Masterclass. The 1952 design by Ebba von Eckermann was published in Vav in 2012, and inspired Sue’s final project.

Book Review

If you like knitting Aran patterns you will love Elsebeth Lavold’s books. I bought her first book, Viking Patterns for Knitting (published in 1998) a few years ago, because it contains some wonderful patterns for warm jumpers, jackets and hats. I was amazed to find that all of them were taken from standing stones and other Viking artefacts found in Sweden. The book tells of her interest in archaeology, and her development of techniques to recreate the braided patterns found in carvings, metalwork and other finds into easily read knitting patterns. What we think of as Aran or Celtic designs and our Scandinavian neighbours think of as Viking were actually common throughout the Celtic/Scandi/Anglo-Saxon world, but there is much more to learn.

I recently found her 26th book, Viking Knits and Ancient Ornaments (published in 2014) at this year’s Tex-tiles in Focus. Yes, 26 books in 16 years! This book details her studies in a multitude of cultures. Knotwork and interlacing patterns are found throughout Europe, the Middle East, Asia (the Buddhist Eternal Knot), North India, Africa and the Americas, going back to 1,000 BC.

Her study journey makes fascinating reading, and the resulting knitted garments are again lovely. The pat-terns are charted and easy to read. Here are a few examples that I have made.

New Librarian – Chris Tucker

Some books improve with keeping, and for me, this is one of them. I wasn’t sure when I bought this book

if it would be as useful as other more ’how –to’ books on tapestry weaving. But it has been my constant

companion for inspiration, practical help, trouble shooting, and sheer enjoyment.

The first chapter deals with a definition of tapestry weaving. The second a brief history from the 14th and

15th centuries BCE to the present. Soroka’s subsequent chapters on how to get started, and what materials

to use are sufficient to get a beginner going, but do not replace other more practical books. Every point

the author makes is illustrated by a colour print of a tapestry. Chapter 5 provides an excellent summary

of a number of the more unusual techniques which make weaving exciting for any practitioner. There

follows two excellent chapters on designing for and translating design into tapestry. Always a difficult

subject, because ultimately it is so personal. Chapter 8 covers practical aspects of presentation and care of

the finished work. Something which is easily overlooked, but needs to be considered at the planning stage

of any work which is to be exhibited. The final chapter provides a gallery of work from contemporary

tapestry weavers. Soroka gives one full page reproduction of one work from each of seventeen tapestry

weavers. The facing page gives a brief biographical introduction to each tapestry weaver, what they want

to achieve through their work and how they go about it. This is a truly inspirational chapter and bears

continual looking and reading.

The book concludes with a good glossary; information on suppliers ; relevant organizations; where to see

tapestries; and a comprehensive index.

Clearly written by a well recognised tapestry weaver for tapestry weavers, one of the great strengths of this

book is the varied array of tapestry artists represented by their work to corroborate everything mentioned in

the text. It comes in hard back at 19.99., a small price for such a useful book, and I would recommend it

to anyone setting out to become a tapestry weaver.

Tapestry Weaving: Design and Technique by Joanna Soroka

Paula Armstrong

Carrot and Walnut Cake by Maj-Brit 8” square loose bottom cake tin. 190-200C Gas mark 5-6. Check after 20 minutes. [I bake in my Aga]

280g plain flour2 tsp baking powder1 tsp bicarbonate of sodaPinch salt2 tsp ground cinnamon1 egg110-140g light brown sugar

280g carrot, finely grated1 tsp vanilla essence2 tbs liquid honey90ml milk90ml vegetable oil60g walnuts chopped

Mix flour, baking powder, bicarbonate, salt and cinnamon. In a separate bowl beat egg with a fork. Add sugar, carrots, vanilla, honey and milk. Scrape all of liquid mixture into dry. Stir lightly with fork, then add walnuts.

Dyeing with Natural Colours: Aviva Leigh

Tina Tribe

On a somewhat chilly Sunday, the 24th April, Aviva Leigh ran a workshop on natural dyeing at the Cambridge Steiner School.

One of her aims was to dispel the myth that you can’t achieve good bright colour with natural dyes. Using 5 base dyes of weld, madder, cochineal, logwood and woad, we were to leave the workshop with 15 different colours by either adding a modifier to the base colour, or over dying it with another colour.

Aviva had prepared skeins of mordanted wool for all of us attending the workshop.

We placed 3 of our skeins into the weld. Of these, one was left yellow as plain weld; another was modified with copper producing an olive green and the third was partly dipped into woad, turning the yellow into a lovely Lincoln Green.

Three of our skeins went into the madder vat. Again, one was left plain orange; the second was modified with ammonia on one half and citric acid on the other half, producing slightly different shades of a paler orange. The third was over-dyed in cochineal, producing a lovely red.

Aviva ground up some cochineal, and once again in went 3 of our skeins. One was left pinky red; another modified with acid and the third over-dyed with woad to make purple. Interestingly, two slightly different shades of red were made due to the water that the cochineal was soaked in; one was soaked in soft de-ionised water and the other into the hard water straight from the pipes of the Steiner School. The difference in colour was clearly noticeable.

The pure logwood came out purple; one skein was modified with iron, making it almost black; the other skein overdyed with woad, making a deep blueish purple.

The woad bath was magical; it is fascinating to see the wool come out of the dyebath green and watch it turn blue as it oxidizes. All three skeins went into the woad for c.10 seconds; then two skeins were over-dyed for c.20 seconds and one skein was over-dyed a third time for c. 20 seconds, producing 3 different shades of blue.

We were given a cotton bag, rubberbands, marbles and plastic food clips with which we produced some simple shibori or tye-dye effects, to be dyed in the woad.

We were allowed to dye anything else that we had brought with us - our own skeins of wool, silk, someone even brought a pair of thick knitted socks!

A fantastic (if cold) day was had by all, and everyone who has since seen our skeins were impressed with the rainbow collection of colours that we made that day. Aviva is an inspiring, enthusiastic teacher, and all of us had a brilliant taster of what a wonderful world of natural dyes there is to explore.

Introduction to Rug Weaving

Jacqui Fuller

A while ago we were delighted when guild member Verena Martinez came to a Come and Weave Day to talk to us about the weave structure samples. As part of her talk she brought along some of the rugs which she has made.

As the proud owner of a floor loom now and keen to start rug weaving I particularly wanted to know some more details so asked her if she would be prepared to help further with more details as to how get started. She said that she would do this and would be happy to take a group of 6/7 members at her house.

On May 11th, six would-be rug makers arrived at Verena’s home in Cambridge. First we were impressed (and envious) with her large studio and the many varied examples of her rugs. We had a superb session full of practical tips from where to start with an initial sketch, colours and size to be considered to the making of a full sketch if necessary. Peter Collingwood’s book was recommended as the bible; there is a copy in the guild library. Sourcing rug yarns is not as easy as it was although Scandinavian yarns are available, if expensive, and in this country through Airedale yarns (was Texere) and 80/20 carpet yarns. Before taking the warp to the loom we should decide how the ends are to be fashioned either by various knotting techniques or knot and glue finishing. Linen warp is recommended and Verena was very clear insisting that it is evenly tensioned! I got the impression that rug weaving is physically hard work from the note that I made “ Beat it until you are worn out”.

Verena had set up a warp and we were able to have a go for ourselves. We finished the afternoon sitting with a drink and biscuits overlooking her glorious garden - and more questions and answers.

It was a most informative introduction to rug weaving: well structured and clear with many examples of the techniques explained.Verena not only taught us what to do to get started but what pitfalls to avoid.

Thank you Verena, we loved it.

Items of InterestJulie TaylorFirstly, I have secured a small bursary from Weavers Bazaar to fund a Community Tapestry Arts project here in Cambridge. I have been talking to local community support groups and I am in the process of sorting out possible workshop venues and a place for a large loom to be stored. It is looking very hopeful that things may be in place for a Sept start. All of this has to be confirmed as I am just in the liaison stage at the mo-ment but if any members are interested in being involved in this project in any way or just want to be kept informed as to how the planning is going then I would be happy to keep them in the loop. Anyone interested just needs to email me.

Secondly, I have tapestry weaver Jennifer Sharpe form the Australian Tapestry Workshop coming to stay with me at the beginning of September (3rd and 4th), I was wondering if any fellow tapestry wearers in the guild would like to meet her or if there are any weavers studios I could take her to visit, ideas welcome! Here is a link to the recent tapestry she has been working on at the ATW;http://www.austapestry.com.au/tapestries/pg/featured-tapestries/2/715/life-burst

Lastly, it may be of interest to the members who visited the Fitzwilliam to see the French tapestries that Cressida Collete (from the ATW ) is running a European Tapestry Tour taking in the Gobelins Tapestry studio in Paris and a visit to the Aubbusson studios. I am trying to find out if I can just do the Paris bit of the tour. Here is a link to the itinerary;http://tapestrytour.blogspot.co.uk/

Seville Orange Marmalade Cake with Chocolate toppingVeronica LathamMy contribution on the cake front was a very simple Seville Orange Marmalade Cake with Chocolate top-ping. I suppose the flavour was not too unlike a jaffa cake but perhaps more intense. This is a most simple recipe.

To make two small loaf tin sized cakes I used 5 eggs. I weighed the eggs and then weighed the same amount of Flora, sugar and SR flour as for a classic sponge, beating sugar and Flora first, then adding eggs before lightly spooning in flour. And then I spooned in about two thirds of a normal sized jar of home made seville orange marmalade.

Until fairly recently, I was using butter for baking, but since switching to Flora, cakes are noticeably lighter and less greasy.

I have a fan assisted oven, so my temperature for baking everything is 175 degrees on the middle shelf. In loaf tins, the mixture took a while longer than a classic sponge to cook. I kept an eye on how well risen they looked and once they were splitting on top, they were nearly done. I checked that a prodding knife came out nice and clean before switching off the oven.

For the topping I used a 100g bar dark 85% cocoa chocolate which I broke into small pieces into a bowl and added a chunk of butter and a good drizzle of golden syrup. These warmed uo gently and melted above a bowl of hot water. I stirred the chocolate mixture together well.

The cakes needed to be cooled sufficiently before making the topping and spooning and smoothing over the tops of the cakes.

I particularly like this simple marmalade cake in the morning with a fresh, strong coffee.

Marzipan Puff

Tina Tribe

2 Packets pre-rolled Puff Pastry Mix together: 200g ground almonds 150g sugar 1 egg

A few drops bitter Almond essence (optional)

Spread the marzipan mix on one sheet of puff pastry, leaving an edge around the marzipan. Brush the edge with water.

Lay the second sheet over the top and with a fork press the top sheet of pastry into the bottom around the edge.

Brush with slightly beaten egg.

Put into oven for c. 18 - 20 minutes (or see cooking guidelines on puff pastry pack) at 180 c.

This is a Tina version of a Galette des Rois, which is well worth looking up online. It is a ‘King Cake’ and is traditionally served in France for Epiphany.

Clementine cakeSara Footman4-5 clementines or satsumas (about 375g total weight)6 eggs225g sugar250g ground almonds1 heaped teaspoon baking powder

Put clementines in a pan with some cold water, bring to the boil, turn heat down & cook for 2 hours. Drain & when cool, cut clementines in half remove any pips & then pulp everything - skins, pith, fruit in a proces-sor (or by hand). Preheat the oven to gas mark 5/ 190oC. Butter & line a 21cm springform tin. Beat the eggs, add the sugar, almonds & baking powder. Mix well, adding the pulped oranges with a spoon, (the oranges should be the consistency of a purée) Pour the mixture into the prepared tin & bake for an hour, when a skewer will come out clean, you will probably have to cover with foil after about 40 minutes to stop the top burning. Remove from oven & leave to cool on a rack but in the tin.Freezes very well.

Victoria Sponge with Cardamom and OrangeDeb Saunders

Cake225 g butter, softened225 g caster sugarZest of small orange4 large eggs200 g plain flour25 g cornflour2 tsp baking powder1 scant tsp cardamon powder2-3 tbsp orange juice

Filling4 tbsp marmalade125 g creme fraiche1 tsp caster sugar

Heat oven to 160 C (180C non-fan oven)Butter and line 2 20 cm sandwich tinsCream soft butter and sugar in a bowl until light and fluffy, beat in orange zest, then the eggs one at a time.In seperate bowl combine flour, cornflour, baking powder and ground cardamon. Slowly add to batter.Squeeze out a bit of juice of half the orange, add to batter 1 tsp at a time (you should not need more than 3 tsp), testing batter as you go. Add orange juice until the batter easily drops off your spoon or beaters when lifted out of the batter.Put half the batter in each tin, smooth top and bake for 25 minutes, or until tops are springy to the touch and tester comes out clean. Remove from tins and cool for at least 10 minutes.Place one cake top side down and smooth marmalade on what is now the top. Spread creme fraiche smoothly all the wayout to the edge.Place the other cake top up on this cake and sprinkle with caster sugar.

Guild Programme

June 25 My Journey with Alpaca Lyn Scott

July 30 Visit to London Cloth Co.

September 24 Passementerie Anna Crutchley

October 29 Silk and Sand Martin Weatherhead

October 30 Warp Ikat Workshop at Steiner School, Fulbourn Booking essential

November 26 Tudor Textile Techniques Katie Owens

Come and WeaveSeptember 10October 8November 12

Other Events/Exhibitions

15 Apr - 25 Jun 2016 World IKAT Textiles... ties that bind A voyage of the World’s most celebrated Textile, IKATBrunei Gallery, SOAS, University of London

8 – 18 September AGWSD National Exhibition, Killerton, Devon

10 September: World Textile Day, Mundford, Norfolk