​When I agreed to teach on the AGWSD Summer School 2019, there was plenty of time for me to think about what I would teach and how I would teach it. I also knew that it was going to be an important test of my skills as a feltmaker and tutor. In January of this year, I started the Certificate of Feltmaking Techniques (offered by the IFA) and, thanks to my work for that and workshops attended earlier this year with Mandy Nash, I finally considered myself up to the challenge.
Here is a little diary of the week.

Askham Bryan College is an agricultural college near York, set in beautiful grounds with fabulous flowers all around. Our classroom was in the Science block....and before I could get my classroom ready for my 10 students, I had to clear the decks of various teaching aids (see below).

My own experience of learning through sampling was applied on the first day, as we worked on creating durable felt (required for bagmaking) and more flexible, pliable felt (for scarf-making). The samples were small but the amount learned was significant and could be seen throughout the days to come. 

Next up, we focused on scarfmaking. This technique combines silk with merino wool tops to make lightweight wearable felt. The focus was on colour blending, fine layering of the wool and decorative features (including prefelts) and shaping. The whole class participated in the Summer School Fashion Show later in the week. Unfortunately for me, they were the finale of the show, by which time it was getting dark and my camera couldn't cope with the twirls and bows everyone was taking. However, the last photo here is of Clare's beautiful scarf as seen on the catwalk!

The Summer School had plenty of interest for textile enthusiasts outside the classroom too. There was a total of 15 different workshops running at the same time (mine was the only feltmaking...the rest were all connected to weaving, spinning and dyeing, not surprisingly). I managed to see a few of these on the last afternoon when students set up their classrooms with all they had made and visitors came to admire. There was also a Tutors' exhibition, which I took part in, and work from recent textile graduates and students who had completed their Certificate of Achievement. The standard of work was wonderful and truly inspiring.

The final part of the week was spent making hard-wearing, structural felt. Most made bags while a couple worked on wonderful multi-resist vessels. This involved a tremendous amount of hard work and humour. By this time, the group had bonded really well....the banter was bouncing around the room and everyone was having a thoroughly good time. Notes were taken and checked regularly. Whenever decisions had to be made about the next stage in the process, these felters were able to give each other advice (including those who had started the course as beginners).
We even had a surprise visit from the President of the IFA, Sheila Smith, on the last day.
This was a wonderful week and I have the AGWSD to thank for inviting me and a tremendous group of women to thank for making me laugh so hard (and bringing a tear to my eye, on occasion). 
​Cherry, Clare, Eve, Helen, Janet, Jennie, Liz, Pat, Pauline and Wendy....see you all next year!

The days were full of excitement, ranging from workshops to talks to excursions to fine dining. I was overwhelmed by the hospitality of the Swedish people, the friendliness of the other delegates from around the world, the beauty of the region and the fabulous spring weather. 

I attended a workshop with Yvonne Habbe on sculptural objects, using a technique I had heard of but not used before. She also gave a fascinating talk about the large-scale project she worked on whilst contemplating the life of a nomad.

I had plenty of opportunity to walk around the town of Landskrona, with a tour and also with other delegates. An elegant, calm town, it was a real pleasure to visit. 

Not only is there fine architecture in Landskrona but a tremendous interest in gardening, with lovely allotments (each with its own summer house), parks and avenues. 

A couple of trips into the countryside gave me a small taste of the region...some of us even stayed on a couple of days after the conference to visit the island of Ven, where the Swedish astronomer, Tycho Brahe, had his observatory.

All in all, it was a very successful conference. Personally, it gave me the opportunity to visit a beautiful country, meet people who share my interests, make new friends, and appreciate just how much work goes on behind the scenes to organise a brilliant conference. Thank you to everyone involved. I loved it!

After months of planning, I went out to Latvia at the end of May to help Jo and Ian get ready for our first Latvia Alpaca Adventure. I stayed in their flat in the village of Ergli and went to the farm every day. Workshops were to take place in the greenhouse and, thanks to a long winter, there was a fair amount to do. Rather more than I had anticipated, in fact.

So many wonderful things happened during the week, some planned, some not. Here are some of my selected highlights.

The felt workshops were led by Ieva Prane in her studio and me in Ergli, in the local High School, and on the Griezetes alpaca farm. Jo Storie introduced us to some interesting embroidery techniques to apply to our felt. Another day spent in the peaceful sunshine on the farm.

The contrast between Riga, the Latvian capital, and the countryside around Ergli and the farm is incredible. We sampled local moonshine, sang with the Ergli choir, tasted gorgeous goats' cheese (not to mention meeting the goats themselves) and painted porcelain. 
The sun shone throughout the week, the atmosphere was serene and the Latvian hospitality was wonderful. A lovely Latvian adventure indeed.

To register interest in the next Latvian Alpaca Adventure, contact me or Jo Storie at Griezites Alpaca Farm.

​After our experiences of feltmaking and blockprinting in Kathmandu, we set off to the Far East of the country and up into the mountains. Our jeep met us off the plane and drove us up twisty and often rough roads through villages and a varied landscape, including paddy fields, bamboo glades and rhododendron bushes to our guest house in Dhankuta.  Here, the accommodation was much more basic than in Kathmandu, but the cold shower was actually very welcome after a day in the heat.

Our main reason for being in Dhankuta was to meet and work with the Santang embroiderers. The women in the group specialise in counted thread embroidery, with designs centring around the house motif. We walked through the village and out into the countryside until we arrived at their workshop. We sat together on a long balcony and did our best to follow the instructions of our embroidery teachers. My efforts at the most basic of the designs were spectacularly unsuccessful, but the experience of sitting with these skilled women and watching them work was exhilarating….not to mention the opportunity to eavesdrop on conversations about working as a cooperative, wander around the land and take oodles of photographs.  

​Our visit to Myanglung, where we were to meet the Dhaka weavers, started with an explosion of colour as we arrived during the weekly Haat Bazaar. Here, our interest in all that we could see, hear and smell was reciprocated in full by the locals as they followed our progress around the market and through the streets of the village, taking selfies with us and practising their English. It was a real pleasure to meet and photograph these friendly people in their vibrant clothes and colourful houses. 

​We were lucky enough to be able to spend a couple of days in this village, hosted by a family who looked after us, cooked for us, shared their rakshi (the local hooch) with us and made us feel incredibly welcome. From this base, we were able to visit the Dhaka weaving shed and appreciate the skill required to make their beautiful shawls and wraps. Needless to say, we spent some of our time perusing the local shops and buying quite a few souvenirs.

​The rest of the trip involved a return to the guest house at Dhankuta and a walk around the old part of the village with its orange-painted houses, an introduction to one of the last remaining basketmakers in the region, and then back to the hustle and bustle of Kathmandu. Our last day was spent, in contrast to the peace and tranquility of the mountains, in the popular area of Thamel.  

Interesting as that last day was, it made us appreciate just how special our trip had been, looked after and guided by Karen and Ang Diku Sherpa. Without these two women, their enthusiasm for Nepal and its culture, good humour and impeccable organisation skills, this adventure would never have happened. My thanks go to them, but also to the great group I was a part of: Anne Marie, Bun, Christine, Joan and Pauline and not forgetting Penny, whose illustrations added a little je ne sais quoi to the trip.
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To find out more about Nepalese Textiles and the next Nepal Textile Adventure, 2018, come along  to our event on 30 September at the Drawing Room, St Margaret's House, Edinburgh. 
More details from Karen at [email protected] or from me here.

Isla is going into S6 and is already preparing for her upcoming A-level in Textiles. Her textile project for the year is Organic Forms, for which she really wants to learn about feltmaking. And so, this week, she joined me for a 2-day course. Our focus was Flowers in 2-Dimensional Felt, using merino wool and silk.