Articles

Speaker Wanted

2009-06-15T06:02:43Z

Merle Thompson is currently organising a seminar on behalf of the Blue Mountains Group of the Australian Plants Society on the depiction of native plants in art and design. This will be their 13th seminar. Two years ago the theme was native plants from an Aboriginal perspective and last year was from the perspective of white settlers and visitors to late 19th Century.

]]> This seminar will have one session on botanical art and botanical illustration and one on design and crafts. The first part of the design session will be a talk by Dr Margaret Betteridge along the lines of the introduction to her book "Australian Flora in Art" in which she has photos of a wide range of crafts mainly from the Powerhouse collection. This will be followed by a panel of people giving short talks about their own craft area and hopefully displaying some work.

She wonders if the Guild knows of anyone who has a special interest in native plant designs who would be prepared to participate in the afternoon.

This is not a 'high power' event. Attendances usually range from 40 to 80. They draw participants from our own Group, other people in our Society in metropolitan, Central West and Southern Highlands areas and from contact with other local organisations including local art and craft organisations. and ads in local paper.

When: Sunday, August 2, 9.30 am to 4 pm
Where: Blaxland Community Centre, Hope Street, Blaxland. About 10 minutes after crossing the Nepean for those driving west, few hundred metres from Blaxland Station.
Information: mkthom@bigpond.com

They only charge $20 including lunch. They are not in a position to pay speakers but reimburse local travel and invite anyone who accompanies the speaker to have lunch. They describe the level of talk as committed amateur - not really for people with no background at all but not academic even though they have had speakers who are professors or senior lecturers etc. The topic often is adjusted to accommodate the interests of the speakers.

Soft Sculpture, NGA

2009-06-15T05:58:32Z

To celebrate the final week of Soft Sculpture, the National Gallery of Australia will hold the Knitta Please festival.

Founded in 2005 in Austin, Texas, Knitta Please is a tag crew of knitters who turned their frustration with their half-finished knitting projects into a phenomenon sweeping the world.

From 7 to 12 July the Gallery be transformed with knitting. Magda Sayeg, founder of Knitta Please and Sydney artist Denise Litchfield will transform the front entrance and foyer of the Gallery. Knitters are invited to help create squares of knitting for the coverings.

For information on how to become involved, go to nga.gov.au/whatson/highlights.

Where: National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
When: Sunday, 5-12 July

2009 Morpeth Tea Cosy Challenge

2009-06-15T05:57:08Z

To enter: Send or drop tea cosies into Morpeth Gallery any time from now until 10 August. Include your name, address and phone. A story about you and your tea cosy would be helpful.

Entries will be judged during August. $500 cash prize for the "Tea Cosy of the Year".

The cosies will be exhibited with the Novelty Teapot Exhibition with almost 4,000 teapots from all over Australia and the tea drinking world.

Where: Morpeth Gallery, 5 Green Street, Morpeth
When: August 20-30, 10am-5pm
Information: 02 4933 1407, www.morpethgallery.com/TeapotHome.htm Or join Liz and Joanne's tour ("We only do delicious tours") on 22 August from Macarthur House, Parramatta for $69 including lunch: 02 9683 4711, delicious2@bigpond.com

7th World Congress on Coloured Sheep

2009-06-15T05:54:36Z

This congress will be held in Canela, in the south of Brazil on 4-9 September 2009. There is a fabulous program of papers, woolcraft workshops and competitions plus the possibility of visiting the biggest agricultural show in southern Brazil.

The Laje de Pedra Resort in Canela in the beautiful state of Rio Grande do Sul will be the Congress centre. Post congress tours offer visits to different sheep properties as well as vineyards, wool cooperative's and the agricultural research enterprise with other tours to Rio De Janeiro, Iguacu Falls or Buenos Aires.

Information: www.arcoovinos.com.br/worldcongress

Weaved or Wove?

2009-05-12T23:21:23Z

There is a very interesting explanation about the origin of the words weaved and wove on Michael Quinion's excellent WorldWideWords web site

Weaved or Wove? — WorldWideWords

April Guest Speaker: Gillian Green

2009-05-12T23:19:57Z

Gillian Green visited Cambodia (after studying as a beginner weaver at the Guild in the 80s) and fell in love with the country and its weaving tradition. Apart from the textiles themselves, she collected the components of antique looms which are highly decorated with animal motifs and are nowadays very sought after as collectibles.

]]> Women are the traditional weavers of Cambodia. A lot of them live on farms. Weaving is typically the way they earn enough money to educate their children (in a country which still has a high proportion of widows.) These days more men are learning to weave because of the income potential it represents. A large proportion of foreign aid to Cambodia is directed towards supporting the hand-weaving industry. Gillian visited a national silk centre in northern Cambodia which covers the whole gamut of silk production, from growing the worms to weaving the finished product.

Weft Ikat predominates in Cambodia, with 2/1 twill being the norm. This results in one side of the fabric being darker than the other as they tend to use black, prewound warps. Sometimes a border of supplementary weave is added. Most of the warp threads are purchased from places like China. It typically takes 3 months to create a 3m length of silk from cocoon to fabric with the weaving being the shortest part.

The silk cocoons are spun in nest-like structures made of sticks. Worms are very temperamental and die easily. Japanese mulberry leaves are one of the preferred foods. The cocoons need to be whole without the hole left by the moth chewing its way out so that they can be "unwound" - each cocoon is made of one continuous thread. To circumvent the Buddhist ethic of not killing any living thing, the cocoons are left out in the hot sun, where the moths die by themselves.

Dyeing the threads for Ikat is very laborious and involves wrapping groups of threads in plastic tape to protect them from the dye, then unwrapping and re-wrapping for each subsequent colour. Most of the dye materials are grown locally and include:

Jackfruit (produces a yellow)
Morning Glory (pale blue)
Lac - insect secretions (red)
Banana leaf

Most of the cloth woven is for clothes, which are rectangles (usually about 90-100cm wide and 2m long) sewn into a tube and worn wrapped, sarong-style, around the body. Men wear checked plain weaves. Older women often wear a type of trousers which are made by knotting the short end around the waist and passing the free end through the legs - these are considered more modest than the wrap-around skirts.

Cloth for celebrations, Pidan usually bears Buddhist motifs of heaven, auspicious animals like white elephants and traditional dancers. Most weaving has traditional patterns but some outlets are encouraging more modern designs for western tastes.

Gillian has written a beautiful book Traditional Textiles of Cambodia: Cultural Threads and Material Heritage

Weavolution

2009-05-12T23:18:27Z

Eight short months ago, in August 2008, an idea began with three weavers who wanted to launch a website to offer hand weavers an inclusive environment where they could catalogue projects, share drafts, discuss ideas and share resources. Claudia Segal, Tien Chiu and Alison Giachetti, along with a host of dedicated volunteers have worked tirelessly to bring this idea alive, and in late May or early June we are launching the first version of Weavolution.com! You will be able to join and participate in the user-created, moderated groups and forums, and post your current projects (drafts and pictures), looms, yarns, books, accessories, and whatnot to share with others. If you prefer, you will be able to peruse the entire site without joining or logging in.

]]> Weavolution.com is the up-coming online gathering place for hand weavers. We welcome all weavers, from basket to production, using any type of loom. Weavolution will provide a place for weavers to meet, discuss and participate in moderated user groups and forums. We will offer weavers a "one-stop shopping" experience with notebooks to catalogue projects, looms, accessories and books, and searchable databases to view the same catalogued by others. Weavolution will be a global community for weavers to discover trends in weaving, find local, national and international resources and peruse ads for businesses catering to weavers.

Our goal is to create an online community for hand weavers that is useful, fun and helpful that will be a resource for shops, products and ideas from around the corner to around the world. At this time, we are accepting advertisers and have four options including ads above and below the fold on every page, a banner ad at the bottom of every page, and "The Marketplace" which is a mall-type ad area for posting a business card sized ads. We have six month commitments from five large companies including Just Our Yarn (JOY), an online yarn retailer based in Arlington, VA. Please contact Claudia Segal at claudiajane@weavoution.com if you have any questions, would like to purchase an ad or are interested in participating in the beta test which will take place in May.

Traceability Technology in Carpets

2009-05-12T23:18:17Z

Elders Primary Wool have introduced technology that will identify the source of wool in their carpets. New Zealand claims to grow the best strong wool in the world. Most of this wool is used in carpets. They want to be able to certify that their carpets contain NZ wool so have "knitted" a tracer fibre, invisible to the eye, into the wool fibre. This tracer can be doused with a signature marker and detected with a hand held scanner. The technology has been developed by AgRearch in New Zealand in conjunction with scientists from CSIRO.

If people, world wide, need certainty that what they buy is what retailers claim there may well be more of these tracer fibres in our food and fibres in the future.

Traceability technology in carpets — Otago Daily Times

Biofibres

2009-05-12T23:17:17Z

A report on a biofibre with potential for artificial skin, heart valves, bone repair and blood vessels derived from a family of amino acid-based polymeric biomaterials called polyester amides (PEA) that have been engineered and fabricated into fibres, 3-D microporous gels, micro- and nanospheres or electrospun fabric membranes.

And a very tiny spinning wheel?

Intercampus research team develops artificial skin, heart valves and blood vessels — Cornell Chronicle

Certificate of Competence in Hand Spinning Information Day Report

2009-05-12T23:14:45Z

We had a very successful day, with all present participating and communicating well. The advisory panel answered questions from the students as we went through the course booklet. The panel was also able to give helpful information about the course and what is expected of the students, eg deadlines for submission of work, that no names should appear on submitted work, fees, checks on spinning throughout the course (if requested).

]]> Asked their reasons for doing the course, students cited a means to improve their spinning and also to gain the maximum knowledge about what was a new field of endeavour. One of the students who has made more progress than the others suggested that because the course booklet is so well set out and easy to follow, it was useful to start at the beginning and try to do a little work on the course each day.

Students were informed about services provided by the Guild - library, equipment hire, Spinning Study Group and targeted workshops (one in August.) Library books were on display together with sets of completed Part A and Part B binders for the students to look through. The students asked questions about the workbooks and studied the set out. Some were surprised at the amount of work to be done.

Overall, the students seem well prepared to do the course, with spinning lessons and mentors, and are very optimistic about following through to completion.

Everyone agreed that the day was very beneficial and worthwhile.

East Timor Weaving Tour

2009-04-13T07:25:15Z

Itinerary: The tour begins with two days in Dili visiting local projects. On day 3, participants have the choice to make a day trip to visit the Maubara basket weavers or stay in Dili for a conference about sustainable livelihoods. On day 4 head east to Com with its stunning beaches and spectacular Tais. On day 5 head inland to Los Palos, renowned for its strong traditions for the first of the weaving workshops. On day 6, go through the hills to the isolated sub-district of Iliomar for two days of workshops culminating in a celebration feast with the community in appreciation for their hospitality. Day 10 to Baucua. Day 11 return to Dili to visit local sites.

]]> On Day 12 visit local artists at the Arte Moris Art School and fly to Darwin.

The ETWA Weaving Tour aims to give cross-cultural experiences with a focus on indigenous weavings and fair trade development. Making extended visits to development projects and to communities in the Lautem district, will immerse participants in village life to learn about traditional weaving in a series of participatory workshops.

But the tour also aims to give something back to the host communities. As a way of expressing our appreciation to the women who will share their knowledge and experiences with us, participants are asked to fundraise a minimum of AU$1,000 each so the tour helps the efforts of these East Timorese to weave sustainable businesses. It's not difficult and ETWA can help with ideas! Please contact us by email:

Information: Deb on 0422 435 517 or office@etwa.org.au
When: 4-15 July 2009

Think Outside The SOX Contest

2009-04-13T06:56:23Z

The contest run by Knitters Magazine, received 292 entries from seven countries (USA, Japan, Finland, Canada, Australia, Ireland and Russia.)

The Grand Prize of $6000 was won by a pair of leopard spot socks with "NICE KITTY" knitted into the top edge.

Geraldine McCullough won the "from Sheep to Sox" category with her hand spun raspberry and cream inspired lace socks.

See them, and all the other winning entries at: Knitalk

Wool and Natural Fibre Muster

2009-04-06T04:20:45Z

2009 is the International Year of Natural Fibres.

The Black & Coloured Sheep Breeders Association Central Tablelands Branch is organising the Wool and Natural Fibre Muster in Mudgee on the 30th of May.

We would like to invite you to the Muster and would like you to participate in the "Great Western Tea Cosy Challenge" to find the best tea cosy in the West. Attached is an overview of the Muster and an entry form into the Tea Cosy Challenge. We would like to see as many people to participate as possible.

Additional information and entry forms can be found on the web site: www.gulgee.com.au

See you at the Muster,

Janos & Marianne Farkas,

Gulgee Wool Shed

Tapestry Blues Exhibition

2009-03-20T07:43:13Z

Tapestry weavers from New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and Queensland as well as New Zealand have woven tapestries for the 'blue' challenge.
There are more than forty tapestries in the exhibition varying in subject matter and size.

In New Zealand the exhibition will be held at the Creative Fibre Festival at Timaru on 17, 18 and 19 April.

In Australia the exhibition will be held at Epping Creative Centre (Dence Park) 26 Stanley Road Epping (Sydney) NSW on Friday to Sunday 24 to 26 April, 10.00am to 4.00pm.

Wangaratta Contemporary Textile Award

2009-03-13T00:26:53Z

The Wangaratta Exhibitions Gallery in Wangaratta, Victoria has established the Wangaratta Contemporary Textile Award, a biennial award exhibition and is calling for submissions from professional artists/designers working in contemporary textiles. The award is acquisitive ($4,000) with the winning work becoming part of the gallery's growing contemporary textile collection, owned by the Rural City of Wangaratta.

It is pleasing to see this award being established, raising the profile of contemporary textiles. Please think about submitting an application and forward this information to others.

Submissions Due: Friday, 17 April
Exhibition: 20 June to 19 July
Enquires: d.mangan@wangaratta.vic.gov.au