Well, another busy few days have sped past, leaving me wondering where the time goes.
I had a most enjoyable day at Bicton College on Tuesday, teaching natural dyeing to a very nice group of ladies, amongst whom were two who preferred to weave. So I turned up with looms, hot-plates, dyes, fibres and all manner of 'stuff' - think I will have to get a bigger car! We dyed with saffron, cochineal and indigo thought the modifying was a bit disappointing - I think in my desperation to ensure everyone had a decent colour from the pots, I probably used more dye than necessary. Very bad practice environmentally but worry not, we saved all the dye liquor for the ladies to use later.
Carol and Mair produced some fabulous weaving and I am fantasizing about a Bicton wall-hanging, incorporating lots of plant material from the gardens, though I expect one would have to fight the horticultural department for some of the best examples! I was presented with the most beautiful bouquet that I am still enjoying - thank you all, especially Gill.
On Thursday I hosted a Peter TAvy Guild inbetween day at Duchy Square and visitors to Laura Wall's wonderful art show (Love at the Seaside, www.Laurawall.com ) were somewhat taken aback to find the gallery full of ladies spinning. Laura herself popped in to change some paintings and she was very pleased to see us. We had a lovely day and I achieved one of my 'must get round to it' jobs of spinning a fair amount of last summer's silk harvest.
On Friday my good friend Archie Dickens, another silkworm fanatic, came to see me and we had a very absorbing time going through the suppliers websites, and choosing the varieties we will keep in 2011. I have my fingers crossed that my cocoons will have survived our very cold winter - they are in a fridge in the garage and I hope the fridge will have stayed above freezing.
Next Friday is Textile Friday at Duchy Square so if you are in the neighbourhood of Duchy Square (www.duchysqare.org ) and you enjoy textile talk, come and join us. We are there from 10-4 and will be delighted to see you
hello, this is 'your good friend' archie here, just to say, i was very excited to discover my pupae wriggling around like CRAZY when i picked them up yesterday. i think they've got a couple of days/ a week to go yet, but i'll keep you posted. AA
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How exciting! I hope mine will be out of the fridge in a week or two - I'm off to The Netherlands until the 28th, teaching, so have to leave my cocoons till I get home again - you'll be well ahead of me!
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