Midlands Textile Forum (2)

Today I went to a meeting of the Midlands Textile Forum. It was notable for a talk given by Annette Lucas who is currently completing a City and Guilds Level 2 certificate in Couture Millinery. Yes, the hats were wonderful, straws and felts and fascinators which are all the rage with teenagers going to their proms. But her sketch books were stunning. I have never seen such carefully done, totally apposite sketch books. They were A3 spiral bound with thick sketch paper - I am guessing 150 gsm. The pages had a record of how she selected the motifs and the colours and how she carried out the decorative bits. Several flowers were made to the same design but done in very different fabrics, weights and types and all mounted in the sketch book. Examples of different methods of binding the brim of a straw hat were mounted on the same page. Records of suitable colours put at the top of a page. Subsequent pages had apertures cut through so that the colours could be compared with drawings/photos on following pages. The amount of work was amazing. And the examiner will have no difficulty is seeing exactly what she tried and what she decided on.

All this beautifully laid out and a work of art in its self. I feel this is what a sketch book is about. I am almost inspired to try recording my weaving that way - but I bet I wouldn't keep it up for long.

I have completed weaving the colour samples on the Fan Reed and hemmed each end on the loom. I need to have a careful inspection of the samples with a magnifying glass to look for any further errors and then I shall cut off the samples and start off on a length of fabric.  But I need to do my inspection in good daylight and hope to get it done first thing tomorrow morning.

I have gone back to the Coptic book with enamels on the cover. A test piece has been glued on to sycamore, the wood has just been treated with beeswax and is drying now before being given a final polish. It looks good to me and I am just about to cut the two real pieces of wood out of my sanded length of sycamore.