From Khiva to Kashgar - Talk by Jim Gaffney

At our last Guild meeting I had the pleasure of hearing a talk by Jim Gaffney of Textile Techniques about he and his wife, Diane's, recent trip along part of the Silk Route. It was a fascinating talk, liberally illustrated with fabulous photographs, lots of gorgeous textiles (um, and some very nice items for sale).

Particular highlights for me given my current interest in feltmaking were the beautiful cut-felt rugs, garments and of course the yurts. I also loved the amazing embroideries and hand-stitching, natural dyeing - well, all of it really!

Very briefly....
Khiva in Uzbekistan was the start of the journey. Jim mentioned a book by Christopher Aslan Alexander called Carpet Ride to Khiva. Definitely one for my booklist as the author worked with UNESCO to establish a successful natural dyeing, weaving and embroidery workshop there. For a wider read around the issues facing this area and how textiles have been integrated into the UNESCO initiative, this report makes a good read. Also, interestingly, I came across a great article in Turkey Red Journal about the dyers of the Khiva project (made even more interesting by the fact that the workshop was organised by two of my lovely dye suppliers, Kathy Hattori and Michele Wipplinger. Truly it is a small world!). Another great read for more info on the history of the area, local dyestuffs etc. (and Turkey Red Journal is a super free resource for anyone interested in textiles).


Suzanis
Traditional Uzbek embroideries - so detailed and intricate it takes your breath away.

Zarduzi - hand-stitched goldwork from Bukhara
Having done a tiny bit of goldwork and knowing how painstakingly slow it is, this exquisite suit was just so amazing. My photos are pathetically inadequate at capturing the quality of the workmanship and beautiful construction.

Hand-stitched hat - Osh

Kyrgyzstan
Fabulous felt - Amazing yurts!
I love a bit of felt-making but I can only imagine the time and work that goes into making a genuine yurt. When you consider that the starting weight of the fleece needed for a yurt is a staggering 500 kilos that ends up with 250 kilos of finished felt sheets, it makes my little felt bootees look pretty tame! What is particularly special about yurts is that not only is the fabric of the dwelling made of felt but much of the furniture and decoration will be textile-based, too, including screens, beds and bedding, doors, bags and, of course, rugs.

And speaking of rugs, here are some photos of amazing cut-felt rugs called Shyrdaks. Layers of thick felt are cut into traditional patterns. Both the cut-out and the outer fabric is retained so that two rugs can be made from a single design, one a positive image, one negative. The layers are then quilt-stitched (all by hand) to create the spongiest, warmest but sturdiest rugs imaginable. I'm very keen to try this technique (but maybe I'll start on a smaller scale!).

Oh, and before I leave yurts behind it was most interesting to learn that the tunduk or roof dome of the yurt features on the Kyrgyzstan flag.

This is just my quick snapshot. For the real deal, I'd strongly recommend curling up alone with your laptop/ipad and a nice hot cuppa/wine/something stronger and read the full story of this amazing journey - Prepare for a virtual journey that will warm any textile enthusiast's heart! Of course we'd all love to have done the journey ourselves, but if, like me, that's not likely to happen in this lifetime (I'm not ruling out other lifetimes), Jim and Diane's blog is the next best thing. Thanks to Jim for a great talk, for sharing some beautiful textiles and giving us a tantalising glimpse into the lives of the makers and their stories (and for the printing blocks and antique natural dyed fabric that might just have found their way into my essential textile hoard for future use!).

I passed! - Arts for Health & Wellbeing

 Readers of my other (more business-y) blog, Hue & Dye, may have seen that I recently passed my Arts for Health and Wellbeing course. Squee!

As part of the course which was run by Bolton University, we were asked to produce a series of pieces for a public exhibition at the end of the course. This was the brief for the exhibition.... (apologies for the blurry photo of the exhibition intro - no idea what happened there!)

I focussed my part of the exhibition on felting and made a series of felted pieces to express the personal creative journey I had taken during the course.

 For me, felt is such a tactile media - it has so many applications. How many products can there be that can be made soft enough to wear close to your skin, diaphanous, delicate and lacy like my merino/silk scarf, but can also be moulded into three dimensions to make the warmest, cosiest footwear like my little bootees, or my representation of a felted woolly shroud? (Yes, they really do exist).

 Not forgetting the more familiar uses of felt for decorative art - here is a felted landscaped made with soft felt embellished with needle-felting. It is destined to be a cover for one of my art journals in due course.

A personal favourite use of felt is for jewellery and accessories. Some of these pieces are made from simple wet-felting using merino roving in a range of colours. Other pieces incorporate stitching and embellishments with shisha mirrors and beads. I've also included additional fibres such as silk noil in the cuff, to give added texture.

Felt can, of course, also be stitched and sewn like a fabric. The purse on display is made from pieces of flat felt, cut to a pattern template and stitched. And no felt need be wasted! The small brooch is made from offcuts of an earlier project, this time torn to give more freeform edges then stitched and embellished with a brooch pin on the reverse.

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When I teach children felting we usually begin with felted balls for bracelets (or caterpillars!) and then make flat felt for purses. But, being a school project, I like to throw in some history and geography too. When I ask about where they can find felt today, Fuzzy Felt is usually the first answer! The students are always amazed to discover that felt is used to make homes, even to this day. They also love to hear anecdotes, such as the origins of "mad as a hatter" (from the extremely harmful mercury used historically in the hatmaking industry).

These are a couple of videos I like to use to illustrate some of the uses of felt....

Making a traditional yurt in Mongolia



The original stetson, made from, yes, you guessed it, felt...(Please note, this process uses rabbit fur)