Patience

One of the lessons that weaving teaches is patience.  All kinds of patience – the ‘take a deep breath and count to 10’ patience when something easily preventable happens;  the ‘am I dedicated enough to the quality of this piece that I unweave those picks to sort...

What is Courage?

I’ve been reading an old book by an author called Eric Williams.  He was a pilot in the Second World War and his book is called The Tunnel, and is about escaping from captivity.  His first confinement was in a small cell and brought back to my mind Nelson Mandela’s...

Expanding Horizons

I susbscribe to VAV Magasinet. This is a recent subscription and during my perusal of the latest VAV magazine, I realised how narrow my awareness of the weaving world actually is.  I thought that I was relatively up on weaving traditions internationally, but then I...

The Power of Words

I love words.  They have the power to harm or to heal, to empower or to reduce, to inspire or to deflate.  I try to write a journal most days and I do that in the mornings, before the day’s tasks and “must dos” get in the way.  It’s a stream of consciousness thing –...

Weaving Genius?

One of my students was talking about the artistic temperament at lunch today.   It started a discussion about differences in how we all perceive the world.  I remembered some of my experiences with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and going on tour, and how some...