Last weekend I took part in a Meet Your Maker event at the National Museum of Scotland under the banner of #StylingtheNation.
We had to set off early on Saturday morning to get to Edinburgh by 9 am.
My station was on the north side of the Grand Gallery facing into the middle…
…so I had the most fantastic views.
I had a grey linen warp on the loom, and visitors rolled the dice to determine the weft colour – red, blue, yellow or green – and whether there should be one, two or three rows of that colour, where a ‘row’ is five picks since the pattern was a five-end huck. I was quite tickled to find a three-sided die, which looks a bit liked a half-sucked sweetie. When there was nobody there to roll the dice, I wove in grey.
I started out keeping a written log, but kept forgetting about it. However, from my partial records I reckon that over the course of two days about a hundred visitors contributed a random element to the weaving – mostly children, but only because their adults are too shy. And I spoke to several times that number, so is it any wonder I was tired by Sunday night?
The grey linen frayed a good deal more than I would have liked, so I cut off Saturday’s piece and wove Sunday’s separately. I need to finish them both, just as soon as I have finished this pile of scarves over here…
“Magic Dobby’s Grand Day Out” was posted by Cally on 17 Nov 2016 at http://callybooker.co.uk
Christina Suter
It was great to finally meet you!
Cally
And you, Christina!
Norma Dean
I was in Dundee a couple of years ago but that was before I was aware of your blog. I would have loved to have met you if you were open to that at the time. I live in BC, Canada and my ancestors come from Forfar so I wanted to explore that area of Scotland when I had the chance. I also visited Edinburgh and went to the Museum so seeing your pictures brought back many memories. We fell in love with Scotland and hope to return on of these days. I read your blog with great interest. I have been a weaver for about 35 years.
Cally
What a shame we ‘missed’ each other. Glad you had the opportunity to explore Scotland.
Dot
Wonderful project, what fun! One of my sisters had a flat 2 mins walk from the museum, one of my all time favourite places.
Cally
It was a real treat to weave there. The new exhibits on design are great, should you have the chance to visit!