Woolcraft log 11-7-08

Full bothy today again! We are real miracle workers to fit all and everything into that tiny space!
Luckily people came at different times over the day: Anneruth, Eileen, Flora, Hazel, Laryna, Linsey, Mary, Naomi.

The last one first:
Hazel came in just before shop closing and took commission for some felted items as demo for Plantation Project. Hopefully she will be enthused to join in at The Portal and will be enthusing folks there.

Lynsey, a community art worker with experience in weaving, made it along today ("at last", she said, "been meaning got come for ages ever since I saw this exciting bothy - there is nothng like that in Glasgow!") and went hood line and sinker for weaving action: threading up the little loom Nori gave us....

Meanwhile Eileen continued weaving her choice of green weft on the frame, learning successfull how to make a weft facxed weave.
Both processes - threading a little loom frame and weaving on it - are actually quite tricky and taxing and take a lot of practise and training of the small hand muscles before it comes with ease... And, above all: yes, the weaving processes all in all are VERY SLOW processes.
Even professional and long experienced weaver Laryna, when today at last seeng the finished rug laying on the floor - sighed deeply: 'So small - and it took so long.'

YES, the ca 1 meter long and 50 cm wide beauty with those fabulously neat edges got cut off the frame today (see picture on top of blog and on our July album) at long last! Down came with it also the small (50cm long) but thicker rug that got started by Anneruth last year and woven on by several people learning. It did not reach perfection as the beginning is slightly wider than the end - but it is a good examply of a chunky rug. They got both tied off by Laryna (deciding together with us it should only have two rows of orangey end threads) and taken home for washing.

Taking about washing: Anneruth had washed 4 lots of wool over the week at home (as drying wool in the garden is still the best in summer) : the gorgeous grey-blend North Ronaldsy from the Woolfest (for fine spinning and fine felts), a whole Blackface from her 2007 Pentland lot (for rug weaving) as well as some Blackface-Texel (for spinning demos), and some of the moorit Shetland-Jacob from Kilmichael Glassary.

Under the pressure of the River Fest approaching next week, and the rug getting finished, Naomi slaved away at the newly regained drum carder, and Mary prepared the Texel-cross wool for spinning demo.
Anneruth tried to keep her head together and making sense of her lists of rota and to-dos for next week, Riverfest as well as planning felting practise sessions with Flora, as well as not loosing it over the Bothy PC simply not going online....
Well, all in all, it was avery busy day, ahead of the VERY busy week next week..
=>

GLASGOW RIVER FESTIVAL is a big event for the whole of Galgael to go to every year. You can see our all input on a photoalbum of the 2006. When the River Festival got launched around the turn of the Millenium, the Orcuan was top feat. Looking at this year's website of the Festival it looks ever bigger and every more fun fare - BUT: very unlike every other year: the Galgael are not mentioned! Strange, given that the pay Galgael is getting to 'put on their show' as well as set up general stuff on the ground has not gone up and that they get asked ever more to do...
Real craft is still not quite valued in the fast race....
lets see what we meet this time next week..
see you there...