I was so excited to get back to Rebecca’s studio, it had felt like ages since I had been there. Rebecca did not disappoint, straight away we were working out the calculations for an independent project using the new wool yarn!
This was the first time I was really quick and did everything correctly. I felt so so proud of myself. When I think back to when I first started with Rebecca, I barely knew a thing and had no confidence. Rebecca has believed in me and allowed me to mess up, ask silly questions and explained things slowly. I couldn’t be more grateful that I am completing a placement with such a lovely person.
I also met a new intern at Dobby and Rose. It’s nice to be working alongside another student. I do feel as though she is constantly trying to do things quicker than me so Rebecca is impressed. Hopefully she calms down once she settles. I really don’t want everything to become ‘who can do it faster’ etc.
16/01/2025
21/01/2025
Let’s get weaving! 2 metres long…
I felt so proud once I started weaving… nothing had gone wrong, I wasn’t worrying so much and I loved the pattern I had designed. Using 100% British wool feels so lovely, I am excited to continue using it over the next few months.
23/01/2025
Continued weaving away!
28/01/2025
Off the loom, I was super scared there were going to be mistakes, but there weren’t. For the first 10 minutes I sat analysing every section to ensure it was perfect. The relief after I knew it was all good was amazing. I can’t wait to wash and brush it. So grateful for Rebecca, she has given me so much confidence when weaving. She’s so food at explaining things so that it’s easy to understand. Now onto the next warp!
30/01/2025
New set up, I have done this practically on my own, only asking a few questions to clarify. So far everything is going correctly… We are threading 2 yarns through one heddle. This will create a really chunky feel to the fabric. I am excited to see how this turns out. I also love this warp, it took a long time to wind with all of the colour changes, but definitely worth it!
Today we were preparing pieces for the Conolade House Christmas Pop up shop. I just finished off a load of baubles and eye masks. Then I started planning various workshops Lucy could prepare for before she has her baby. Then she wouldn’t need to worry so much when she’s busy with the baby. Having projects people can pay for would ensure she would get cash flow without having to do 101 things.
13/12/2024
This morning I completed more research. I fear Lucy wants to get a lot done before her baby, however, having worked with her she’s not the most time efficient. I wonder if she will be able to achieve all of this. It’s also quite difficult finding a gap in the market for online teaching. Saying this it makes a lot of sense to be able to make money when not working.
After a couple of hours, we joined some other creatives for a Christmas lunch. Lucy really kindly paid for my lunch. I was nervous for the lunch as it was a load of couples, however, tried to remind myself it’s a good opportunity to chat to more people and get to know local creatives. I was really proud of myself for going.
20/12/2024
The last day working with Lucy. Gosh time has flown. If I am honest I was quite glad I was ending my time with her. I felt out of all my placements I had learnt the least. I often felt as if it was a pain I was there. The tasks I was given were chosen on the day and didn’t benefit Lucy in any way. I often felt as though I had no purpose or that I wasn’t good enough. I am a massive over thinker, people have told me not to worry. But, I want to feel as though I have helped her and that me being there has been beneficial. I will really miss the view of the sea from the studio.
I finished sewing in the ends to a few pieces I had woven and watched Lucy set up her new Mirrix Loom.
Today was a lot of experimenting. I was testing differing materials over and over again. One day one of the experiments will click, then it shall be worth all of the time spent. I finished transferring the plastic scanes. We had a lot of fun today.
09/12/2024
Continued experimenting. I am enjoying the freedom of this. I worry if I was to do this within my own work I wouldn’t make enough money to cover the hours spent experimenting. However, in Ann’s case that is exactly what people like about her work. It’s always something new and never done before. So it’s worth spending the time now, as she will reek the rewards once pierces go up for sale.
16/12/2024
Today we had a lot of fun trying to work out how to use a battery caulking gun. At first it didn’t work very well. We soon realised it was because we used an open filler tube, the contents had become very hard. Using other unopened and in date fillers it started working. It is difficult to ensure you keep a steady line, but something we will get used to. It was a lot of fun trying to problem solve.
I continued preparation for the up coming events. My time at Rebecca’s is definitely slowing down as it’s getting closer to Christmas. She’s been very kind suggesting I have next week off to complete some of my own personal projects. So have lots to crack on with!
05/12/2024
Today was the last day at Rebecca’s until 14th January. I put together some weaving kits, and also worked on the website. This was the first time I had added products onto Shopify. I found it very user friendly. It was a lot of fun, but again very monotonous. Very useful to learn if I ever wanted to use it. I helped Rebecca design the website. I suggested she changed the layout as it was easy for customers to find products. So that was good to get done.
I am so excited with potential of this loom. It needs some fixing up which shall be a great way for me to learn.
Then I was thinking of taking it to the care home for a period of time to allow people to hop on whenever they want. Then allowing us to continue working towards the collaborative art piece. This is also a wider toolmaker than I currently have so shall give flexibility when deciding the size of pieces etc.
Today was a very good day… it was confirmed that the care home would be delighted if I could teach some weaving workshops to all areas of the home. With the aim to create a large collaborative art piece to be displayed within the space.
Activities, Lee approached me in the morning at work and said how wonderful the idea would be.
Now I need to start collecting materials! Typical, I always see yams in charity shops etc. as soon as you need it… NOTHING!
Later when I was on my lunch break I received a call from one of the nurses saying that the manager would like me to join in on the residents meeting to explain what I shall be doing. I was really nervous, felt like I blanked out and said a load of waffle. Apparently I did get the point across well thank god!
I am super excited for this! This is just me all over, working with those living with dementia to try and better their quality of life while using textiles, weaving to do so.
29/01//2025
Tutorial with Lisa
Discussed SIPs, suggested I needed to think of a way to credit all of the people collaborating in the piece. I had assumed I was just going to write ‘Collaboration between all staff and residents at Westergate House’, however, after we this meeting I was made aware, not everyone was credited. I do have concerns listing everyone’s name. It will be very long as we have a lot of staff and residents. Could look too cluttered and also, how do we know who did what?
Another comment I made, was data protection… would everyone want their name on the wall?
03/01/2025
I decided to ask An Sutton and Rebecca who also works at Gallery 57. They both have slot of experience in terms of crediting and presenting your work. At first they agreed with me, saying a comment at the bottom of the woven piece would be enough as it’s within the care home and isn’t going to be sold etc.
I explained from my tutorial what my tutor had reminded me. They suggested creating a graph of the final piece and putting a number within the graph and then listing each persons name. They said, continue with the short credit including everyone at Westergate House… but then add, ask as reception for a list names of the people that collaborated within this project.
They agreed writing everyone’s names under the work would look cluttered and unprofessional.
Notes from DPS session on SIPs
These workshops have been doing really well. I have these images either posted on facebook by Westergate House, or images taken by me of the set up. I have found that sometimes people become confused with the idea of twisting the headle so have now warped two of the looms without this. Then people that have a better understanding of it can use it. In the beginning I found it quite difficult to explain it as residents would forget. I have decided that the most important thing is that people feel as though they can be playful and have a go. Some people in the house would worry too much about getting it wrong.
I also found that when completing sessions in the house members were less enthusiastic about completing the sessions. I preffered working in Memory lane as everyone was up for trying something new.
I have also been thinking about framing the pieces. I quite like the idea of a simple frame with 10x10cm squares to showcase each woven piece. I have taken an image of some of the pieces together and think it looks a bit messy joining them all. I really want it to look really proffesional.
Another issue I have found is having 4 people at the sessions is sometimes a bit overwhelming. Depending on how adventerous the residents are some just wait until you are sat next to them to carry on. To have that extra bit of reasurrance. It’s been useful having carers and activities sometimes sitting there also as an extra pair of hands. I had thought 4 people was very managable, so have been a little surprised by this.
Lucy is selling all of her table looms, so the first task was to get one of the looms being sold ready to go. I took off the coasters I had been working on. After the loom was downstairs I started tying in the ends of the coasters. This took some time as there were 10 to complete.
I then continued weaving on the floor loom. The warp never ends! I feel as though I am becoming more playful and appreciate the freedom she gives me.
I mentioned creating woven bags as a workshop idea she could complete, Lucy really liked the idea so ordered some supplies for next week so we can test it out.
15/11/2024
Today we experimented by weaving round a box to make a bag. It was fun problem solving together and seeing how customisable the bags were. It was quite difficult to weave the yarn through near the end as the tension was then very tight. We decided we made the spacing too close and should have been more relaxed about it.
After this I continued weaving on the floor loom… the warp doesn’t seem to end! Lastly, I collected the loom that Lucy was giving me. Quite a few people asked me about it as I was walking to my car and it only just about fit!
22/11/2024
Today I wrote another blog for Lucy’s website, The Weavers Gift Guide. It was a lot of fun curating a range of products that I found useful or that could be useful or fun! I then continued weaving on the floor loom, with hopes of it coming off that day. However, time ran out and there was still MORE!
You can now see the sea more clearly now the scaffolding is down! My ideal studio…
29/11/2024
Today I took all of my weaving off the loom. I then hand the task of setting it up again. I did enjoy it, however forgot to tie the cross sticks to the loom, so they stayed at the back of the length of yarn. It’s not the end of the world, and is something I shall remember for next time.
After having the last week off due to it being half term and Rebecca being off with her children I returned to threading up the countermarch to make two lampshades. Rebecca had already tied up the loom so unfortunately I did png get the opportunity to do that. She has said that she will teach me as soon as the Christmas rush is over.
While I was threading up Rebecca was teaching a morning session of basic weaving. I have listened in one time before this and found it so useful just refreshing my memory on all of the key information. Today I helped out a little when any of them had a question. I always enjoy chatting afterwards as I learn a lot.
I then started weaving… was a lot of fun. I had to really keep an eye on threads not lifting as one of the feet didn’t lift up the highest. There were multiple times I would have to go back because it would have skipped slightly. This was time consuming, however, I felt much better once it was done. It was have really frustrated me knowing there were a few mistakes.
07/11/2024
Today I continued weaving. I told myself I needed to be a lot quicker. I do worry I am a little slow when weaving. I think it’s because I am constantly checking the quality etc. I compare myself to how quick Rebecca is, she could have woven what I did in half a day in an hour. I don’t want to be a hinderance as opposed to help! I finished both lampshades by 11:45. So around 2 1/2 hours for a just over a metre of fabric…
I then had the task of getting yarn wound for the loom kits to be sold at the next few weeks Christmas events.
Rebecca was so pleased with the quality of the cloth and said I had been super productive which was nice to hear.
12/11/2024
Threading up the loom for a commission lampshade. While I was doing this Rebecca was teaching a hand loom workshop. It was so useful listening. I’m trying to learn how to create a smooth sailing workshop so picked up some good tricks.
After this I continued winding samples of yarn for the kits.
14/11/2024
Today my tasks were to get the weaving kits ready and make the baubles. Rebecca and I sat listening to Christmas music and chatted all day while getting the endless list of tasks done. It was really nice just being able to speak for a while. I really really like Rebecca, we just get on so well. I can see myself in her when I am older, we just have very similar views on life and what is important to us.
19/11/2024
Mor bauble making… although quite a monotonous task it’s Ben really fun choosing what colours and patterns go together etc. It’s nice that Rebecca feels as though she can trust me to choose the colour combinations
21/11/2024
Today I travelled to The Maltings in Farnham. Rebecca was there for the Christmas Fair. I was joining her for the second and last day of the event. My task was to weave and speak to potential customers. I felt a lot more confident than last time as I knew the kind of questions I would be asked. I do really enjoy speaking to people at these events, it’s always really interesting hearing people’s experiences with weaving and their creative journey. I also started taking orders and helping with pricing. I felt proud of this as the last time I was at the Maltings I was worried to be left alone in case of a potential customer. Growth! I then stayed an hour later (despite Rebecca saying I really didn’t need to stay) to help pack up the car and transfer everything down the stairs. She was so great fun for my help. I then received a message in the evening saying she has sent me £70. It was very sweet as it’s an unpaid internship.
This event was really successful, it was so nice to see how busy it can be at the Maltings. Definitely a big change from the Festival of craft.
26/11/2024
Today we were prepping for the next event that Rebecca is completing at Guildford Cathedral. I completed some more baubles; took scanes and turned them into balls of wool; then wrapped them into smaller sizes. Today was quite monotonous, however, was useful to get done.
A lady also collected her made to order lampshade today. It was interesting chatting to them. Previously, she had sent a harsh email, asking to change the colours after the fabric had been made up.
Rebecca kindly explained that she had already spent 10 hours on the lampshade, she was happy to remake it for an extra cost of the yarn.
It was interesting to see how you deal with tricky customers. I realised how important it is to sleep on a response. You then don’t become defensive and work with the customer, meaning everyone feels happy in the end.
28/11/2024
More baubles today. The last day I shall be completing this…
I have realised how repetitive some tasks can be, and how little time the creator can actually be doing the things they want to be doing.
For example, weaving. Because there are so many other things to do, it gets pushed to the bottom of the list.
