October Guest Speaker: Peter Collingwood
The DVD presentation was introduced by Ann Beatty and Audrey Miller who told the story of her macrogauze hanging. Audrey and Barbara Roper were in a Salvation Army shop one day and noticed a bundle of rolled up threads which they suspected might be a weaving. On closer inspection they found it was indeed a wall hanging with a metal plate attached inscribed Peter Collingwood with a number. Audrey asked the man behind the counter how much he wanted for it and he said Oh, three dollars
. What a bargain! It has gone to a good home but imagine how easily it could have gone to the tip. Peter Collingwood sold his macro gauzes by weight, depending on how much metal was in them.
The DVD we watched was recorded at short notice in May 2008 for the Complex Weavers Seminar in St Petersburg, Florida in July 2008, when Peter became unable to travel there. Sadly, he died in October the same year.
Peter Collingwood began his weaving career in 1950 under the guidance of Ethel Mairet and has since gone on to become a well-known weaver, teacher and author of several authoritative books on diverse aspects of weaving and other forms of thread interlacement.
On the DVD he is seen in conversation with fellow weaver Stacy Harvey-Brown at his studio in Nayland, Suffolk, talking about his life and work. We saw Peter sitting at various looms explaining the modifications which enabled him to weave using new techniques. Macrogauzes were possible because groups of threads were sleyed in narrow, separate pieces of rigid heddle which were wound with each section on its own bobbin and the bobbins suspended over the back beam and weighted separately. At planned intervals the bobbins were unweighted and the sections of heddle were removed, the warp was crossed over other sections, twisted or otherwise manipulated then the heddles and weights reset. Iron bars were woven in to hold these interlacements. Each hanging was fitted with a steel plate and numbered. It was wonderful to have an example on hand to appreciate the simplicity of his design.
Peter spoke about why and how he developed his system of shaft switching and showed a second loom which was set up for this technique. Certain warp threads go between rather than through heddles and can then be switched from one shaft to another by tightening or loosening loops around the warp threads. When weaving rugs he devised an extension for his back beam that ensures that even warp tension is maintained throughout the weaving. When Harrisville made a rug loom based on his design, they extended the warp vertically rather than horizontally. This saves space but makes it rather difficult to adjust without having to climb a ladder every time you need to advance the warp.