Day 4

Day 4 Friday April 13
Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh: Douglas Grierson, head weaver, has been working at Dovecot for 46 years. He told us about the history of the studios. Founded in 1912, except for a break during WWII, the studios have been weaving tapestries for commission for 90 years. After the war, they began collaborating with well-known artists, a tradition that continues through today. A masterful weaver who is drawn to geometric forms, Douglas believes that “the (artistic) translation of tapestry only comes by the weaving of many, many tapestries.” It was a delight to view a number of Douglas’s personal pieces hung around the studio.

While we visited, David Coughlin was working on “Two Views.” This 4’ x 8’ tapestry is translated from the painting of Victoria Crowe. David works from viewing the original painting which stands nearby, in addition to the cartoon behind the warp. He showed us how he sews up the slits between the woven motifs at the same time he is weaving. David was an apprentice at Dovecot for 5 years and has been weaving tapestry there now for 22 years.
At the end of 2007, Dovecot Studios is moving near the center of old town in Edinburgh. This will give them more gallery space, allow them to train new apprentices and have wider exposure to the public. www.dovecotstudios.com

Locharron of Scotland: One of the few weaving mills left in the Borders, this Selkirk based company weaves tartans and fashion fabrics for designers and companies around the world. A guided tour starts with the dying process of the wool. The process continues with cone winding, winding the warp and then tying onto the looms. If the current order has the same number of warps per inch as the previous job, a machine can tie on the entire warp in one hour. If an order has an unusal set, a worker has to hand thread the heddles, about an 8 hour job, just like us labor intensive hand loom weavers have to do inour studios. . The reel that had just come off the warping machine had 9 different warps on it, one tied to the other.

The Swiss power looms the company weaves on are quite new. But still much hands on work and checking is required to retain the high standard of quality the company demands of their cloth. The women in quality control handle and inspect every yard of fabric after it comes off the looms. If an error is found, they may have to hand needle in yarn to fix the problem for up to a 40 yard length. The finishing of the cloth is jobbed out to another company. Locharron has their own inhouse design team. The head designers spend half their time in New York and Japan. When I asked the guide how Lochcarron has survived when most other mills have closed, he answered simply “quality. When companies buy from us, they know what they are getting.”
www.lochcarron.com

Just down the road from Lochcarron is Andrew Elliot Ltd. When you walk through the door of this original mill building, you sense a special spirit here. And no doubt that comes from the owner, Andrew Elliot and his love of the trade. Although Andrew purchased the business in 1975, the mill started in 1838 as George Roberts Mill. At the peak, the vast mill complex employed 300 workers. Now the operation is scaled down to one main building for the winding, warping and weaving. Andrew, a daughter, and his son Robin, run the business. Although in his eightie’s, Andrew’s hands are still the heart of the business. He is a master designer. He has been designing for 60 years and continues to be excited about the design process. He is currently working on the Organic Tweeds project for a large UK company that specializes in “organic wool.”

Walking up the creaking stairs to the 2nd story warehouse, a bulletin board proadly displays a letter from the filmmaker and photos of the costumes made from Andrew Elliot cloth for the movie “Greyfriar’s Bobby.” The sun filters onto the shelves of bolts of finely crafted tweeds, tartans, twills, and novelty weaves. Human life is finite and change is a constant, but one hopes that the remaining vestage of this family business can continue on, bringing old world quality that carries the pride in the work, well into the 21st century. www.elliot-weave.co.uk

We couldn’t leave the boders without stopping at Shirley Pinder Studio. Shirley went back to school as a mature student. She graduated from the Scottish College of Textiles, now Herriot Watt University in Galasheils, 11 years ago, and immediately opened her own business. The exploration of fibers, weaving and finishing techniques she began in college continues today in her delicious line of specialty scarves. Weavers now recognize this kind as “fabric that goes bump.” But Shirley was making fabrics that crinkle and pleat and bubble before it became fashionable.

Each year she spends a month designing a new line of work. Much of the weaving is subcontracted and then the fabric comes back to her studio for finishing. Just last year, the Queen was gifted one of Shirley’s scarves when visiting the Borders. Most of us walked out with at least one scarf fit for a queen. I believe the coach driver was convinced by the end of this day these education tours today were just a front so we could shop until we dropped! www.shirleypinder.co.uk

Day 3

Day 3 Thursday April 12
We headed north to Stirling Castle. The site of many famous battles, it rises out of the lowlands as the entrance gate into the highlands. The statue of Robert the Bruce you see here, stands outside the castle walls. I had not realized that many different buildings and fortifications have stood on this site since the 1200’s. The web is full of endless information about Stirling Castle. www.instirling.com/sight/castle.htm.

I will tell you about the tapestry project. . We have the current renovation of King James V palace to thank for the Unicorn tapestry project. Historic Scotland is working with the West Dean Tapestry studio to recreate the 7 tapestries in the Hunt of the Unicorn series.The originals are in the Met’s Cloisters Museum in New York. Tracy Chevalier also wrote an excellent historical fiction book called “The Lady & the Unicorn.”

Since records show King James had many tapestries in his palace very likey including of version of the Unicorn tapestries, the Hunt series was chosen to be made anew. Louise Martin, the head weaver of the project, gave us an I- depth look into the scope of this amazing project. The 2 tapestries already completed are hanging on display at the Chapel Royal. The image you see is the Unicorn in Captivity. A temporary studio was built on the north end of the castle for this project. 3 weavers are currently working to complete the 3rd tapestry by mid summer. A 4th tapestry is being woven at the West Dean Tapestry studio in England. The entire project will be completed in 2012 when the whole set of tapestries will hang in the newly renovated palace at Stirling Castle. http://www.westdean.org.uk/tapestrystudio/commissions/historicscotland.shtml

The head weavers go to New York to the Cloisters. They have access to within one millimeter of the original tapestries but cannot touch them. They figure out yarn colors, where silk was used instead of wool and make a detailed plan for each figure and motif in each tapestry. Working from full size color copy, they makean acetate tracing of the tapestry. Then from this they make a paper cartoon. Samples are woven to work out specific techniques to achieve desired effects.
The wool yarn is all being acid dyed at the West Dean studio. Instead of silk, pearl cotton is being used for the shiny parts as it has longer color fastness. Historic Scotland requires that the materials being used in the tapestry hold up for 250 years. From there the loom is warped, the cartoon hung behind and the weaving begins. This process starts fall 2007 for the 5th tapestry. Weaving on it will commence in winter 2008. But reweaving the tapestries is not a matter of copying.

First, the new tapestries are being woven smaller than the originals to fit in the space in the palace. They are weaving with fewer EPI (ends per inch) in the warp) because it would take too long and cost too much money to weave them at the original finer warp set. (A patron in her eighties is financing the project.) Also, the head weavers have to train the weavers who come in to weave each tapestry. Although all experienced tapestry weavers, they need to undertand the specific techniques and develop nuances of skill. There will be about 25 weavers total who have worked on the series by the time it is completed. Each weaver has to leave their own individuality and style behind and try to get into the mind of the original weavers as they work.
Getting this inside look at the current project was really special. The scope, historical accurateness, detail, and dedication is amazing. The sun came out while in Stirling and followed us to Edinburgh where the coach driver and I turned the travelers loose on the Royal Mile which lies between Edinburgh Castle and Holyrude Palace.

As part of Edinburgh’s annual spring Ceilidh Culture Festival, we attended a concert. Cheyenne Brown played harp with Seylan Baxter on cello and vocals. www.ceilidhculture.co.uk
Their traditional and contemporary tunes and songs had varied and interesting arrangements. Cheyenne is an Alaskan who studied at the Royal Academy of Music and Drama and Seylan is still a student there. Although this combination of instruments in this up and coming group might sound a bit unusual, the styles, harmonies and rhythms can are reminiscent in the playing of Bachue Café, Ferentosh, and Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas. I would recommend listening to recordings by any of those artists.

Day 2 New Lanark

Day 2, Wed April 11
Another overcast sky, but no rain for the 2nd day. Feels just like being in the Pacific NW. We are traveling in a small 16 passenger coach. Richard, our driver and guide, enlightens us with Scottish history as we journey. So far we have learned of the struggle for Scottish independence from William Wallace to Robert the Bruce, up through the Jacobite wars until Scotland and England were united in 1707. While we are being enlighted about this bloody history, his good humor still manages to make us laugh.

We headed south to New Lanark World Heritage Site. New Lanark is the site of a former mill where cotton was spun. Today, in one of the restored mill buildings, there is a small production of wool yarn being spun on a large spinning mule for the sake of education and for profit.
The community was built below three falls on the River Clyde in the late 1700’s by a Mr Dale. The mill ran on power generated by the falls. Today New Lanark still produces hydropower that runs the community, with enough left over to sell back to the power grid. .
The mill was purchased and run by Robert Owen from 1800-1825. He was a social reformer and forward thinker far ahead of his time. He ideas were not popular with other mill owners. But his efforts gave him the title Father of trade unionist movement in Scotland. He banned children from under age 10 from working in the mill. He started the first nursery school in the UK. Children from ages 2-9 went to school while their parents and siblings worked in the mill. Once children reached age 10, they worked in the mill and then attended classes at night. Mr Owen treated his own 7 children no differently than he treated the children of the mill workers. The school was built by money generated from the company store which was run as a cooperative. New Lanark was the first cooperative that lead to the foundation of The Co-op, a grocery store still thriving around the country today. In school not only were reading, writing, and arithmetic taught, but the children studied dancing, music, and nature studies.
www.newlanrk.org/

The workers lived in buildings just across from the mill. A family of 10 may share one room, but they were warm, well fed, and had healthcare provided by the mill doctor. The work day started at 6 a.m with a breakfast break at 9 a.m. and lunch break in the middle of the afternoon. The work day ended at 7pm. The mill ran 6 days a week and was closed on Sunday. The mill operated until the middle of the 20th century until it could not operate profitably. The mill buildings sat empty and fell into disrepair from the elements and vandalism. A foundation saw the value in restoring the site and started the vast restoration of the mill in the 1970’s. The restoration still continues today. The site is a glorious example of public and private cooperation to preserve an important part of Scottish history and to educate generations to come. Today 150 people live on the site. Many visitors may only take the Millenium Ride. But I encourage you to view the movie, The Annie McLeod Story, in the school building, visit Robert Owen’s house, spend time looking through the exhibits in Mill buildings 1&2 and the housing block and take a hike up to the top falls. I was very struck by this place on my first visit 10 years ago and today deepened that impression. . I think it is the most tasteful and educational tourist site in Scotland.

When we arrived back in Glasgow, travelers were free to explore either the newly renovated Kelvingrove Museum or the Huntarian Gallery & MacKintosh House at the University. Kelvingrove is experiencing record high visitation numbers since reopening. But you’ll have to ask my travelers about it as I didn’t go. Ruth and I visited the MacKinstosh house. Here again, it had been 10 years since I visited this site and I was more impressed than before. When Charles and his wife Margaret MacDonald left Glasgow in 1914, one of his patrons bought the house. When the owner died, the family left the contents to the University of Glasgow. The actual house, located just a few blocks from the Univeristy, was torn down in the 1960’s. But in the early 1980’s, the museum built this addition to the gallery which replicates the rooms of the MacKintosh house. Each room is decorated with the furniture, light fixtures, artwork, textiles, and colors true to the original house. The sense of light and unity in the house gives a sense of sacred space. The popularity of MacKintosh and his designs today is amazing considering he died in London, almost entirely forgotten and poor.
www.hunterian.gla.ac.uk

On Wednesday nights Scottish musics rings out at a session at the Ben Nevis pub. Here I mostly listened as the tunes were played blazing fast on fiddles, guitar, flutes, the box, small pipes, and banjo. The smoking ban of 2005 certainly hasn’t hurt the popularity of pubs. The pub was literally overflowing with merry makers.

I'm posting this from a most unusual site...standing in a hotel kitchen on the cook's laptop while a Scottish country western band plays in the room next door!

Day One Paisley Area

Finally online here in Edinburgh to fill you in on a wonderful first day of our trip. By the way, the kind B&B owners who are letting me on the computer late at night is Priestville Guest House on the the road of the same name here in Edinburgh. They also bake wonderful cheese scones and banana bread!

Day One was full. We started at the Paisley City Museum. This is a free museum that houses one of the best collections of Paisley shawls in the world. The collection Curator, Valerie Reilly gave us a detailed talk and slide presentation of the history of the Paisley shawl from the design origins they think in the Middle East, how it spread to the Kashmir region of India, and then finally to Europe. The town of Paisley in the height of popularity of the Paisley shawls had hundreds of weavers making these wonderful cloths, first on a draw loom, and then on the Jacquard. I took detailed notes from her talk and hope to write a more compete article I can post in the future. www.renfrewshire.gov.uk

From there we visited Sma Shot Studios just down the road. The name Sma Shot comes from the binding weft hread that was thrown every 7th pick to hold the rest of weft threads in place in the paisley fabric. A society has resurected and preserved one of the weavers cottages from the era when linen was woven Paisley, (1700's) and then another other rooms depicting life in later years. www.smashot.co.uk

The Thread Mill museum tells the story of the huge thread industry in Paisley that shut the last door in 1992. The Coats and Clark company which was a combination of the Anchor Thread Mill and the Ferguslie thread mill at one time produced 90% of all the thread made in the world. Most of the volunteers who run this museum worked in one of the mills.

The day finished at Kilbarchan Weavers Cottage, a National trust site. Christina McLeod is the weaver and guide to the fascinating history of this town not far from Paisley who had a thriving cottage weaving industry. Christina weaves tartans on a huge old wooden loom. She showed us her skillful weaving technique, carrying on an eloquent history and description talking to us while working the flying shuttle at top speed with her hands.

Although jet lagged and having tired brains from all the fascintating information of the day, I convinced 2 of my group, Carol and Martha to join me at the Arlington Pub. Each Tuesday night a group of Glaswegians who play Irish tunes gather for a session. I met these fine folks last year and they welcomed me and my fiddle back to join their merry band. We even managed to get Carol step dancing to a tune and I found out Martha is a Guiness fan! If you come to Glasgow, no doubt you will find Paul, Steven, Malcom, Eileen and others there most Tuesday nights from 10 pm to midnight. Arlington Bar, 130 Woodlands Road, Glasgow.

More updates from days 2 and 3 to follow soon along with some photos. I must go to bed to be ready for our trip south to The Borders tomm.

Monday April 9 Day 0

Posted by singingweaver at 03:51 am on April 9th, 2007.
Glasgow airport makes it so easy, clear, and inexpensive to get from the airport to one of the downtown bus or train stations. I wish all city public transit authorities had this figured out for airport travelers. Just walk outside the small terminal building and signs direct you for the city bus stop. For just 3.50 pounds, your single ticket gets you to the heart of the city where you can take a train, bus, taxi or walk to your lodging location.

Tonight I'll meet my 15 travelers in Glasgow for trip orientation. Folks asked how the group came together. Listing the trip on my web site http://www.singingweaver.com/ was the best advertisement. Word of mouth, and handing out trip brochures when I gave presentations at weaving guilds were my other effective methods. Although I did advertise in the weaving magazines, I can't say if this was effective. Today with websites and blogs, direct communcation gets easier every day.

Why am I leading this tour? I first visited Scotland in 1997 and concieved this idea. I kept meeting such interesting fiber artists and musicians and thought it would be great fun to share this wonderful country and my special interests of fiber and music with others who want to visit. Coming back 3 times to teach weaving in recent years added further contacts. So now, 10 years after the birth of the idea, Threads, Ruins, And Tunes is about to commence. It should be slightly less complicated than leading backpackers through the wilderness as was my guide job in a previous life. But my hiking books are still on my feet, preparing me for the rugged urban terrain of Glasgow!

Day 0 Monday April 9 addendum: The 15 travellers gathered in Glasgow from California, Washington and New Hampshire. Glynn Donnelly and her mother Nancy treated us to song and dessert at our trip kick-off meeting. That is Glynn in the photograph. I met these women the first time I came to Scotland 10 years ago. Kind and generous people like them are a big reason I keep coming back. We learned that the Clootie in Clootie Dumpling, simply means “cloth”. The dumping is cooked for a long time wrapped inside a cloth. Served warm with thick cream you’ve got a comforting treat.

Scottish shortbread and Nancy’s heavenly Apple Tart also graced our palettes.

Travel with me in Scotland

Starting April 10th follow along as 15 travellers and myself tour the cities and backroads of Scotland. We'll start in Glasgow and visit the fibre venues of Paisley. Every few days I'll update you with pictures and anecdotes and trip adventures. Throughout the 14 day tour we will visit weavers, knitters, felters while exploring the ruins of Scotland's rich history and, of course, a tour with the singing weaver would not be complete without Celtic music.