Shielagh Tacey Handwoven

I was amazed when I saw these photographs of woven spider silk currently on display in London at the V&A.

It takes the silk from 23,000 golden orb spiders to weave just 25 grams of silk. These spiders are found in Madagascar and are borrowed from the forest to extract their silk before returning them unharmed.

Photographs: John Brown/Nicholas Godley/Simon Peers

See more photographs here.

A Christmas treat for your eyeballs, enjoy! See you all in 2012…

Animation by David Shrigley

I was in Bristol last weekend and saw some brilliant street art. Above is yarn bombed pillar and below a whale wearing a Cosby style jumper.

This fox carrying away the dry riser inlet really tickled me and was my favourite find of the day. This may have something to do with my love of foxes due to my Leicester roots.

I  visited  Summerlee last weekend and was pleased to see these weaving artefacts. Above is a window display of shuttles, yarn and woven fabrics. Inside I could see a dobby and tapestry loom that appeared to be in use. I’d like to find out who uses these looms as I also saw some handwoven items for sale in the gift shop, I’m always on the hunt for other weavers!

Below is a banner I saw inside the main Summerlee museum, it caught my attention because of the shuttle in the hog’s mouth. It is a banner for Airdrie Weavers Society. Founded in 1781 the Airdrie Weavers Society helped weavers get better work conditions and pay.

Below is a photograph of a four shaft floor loom in the main Sumerlee museum. This is what it said on the display information:

“Loom: Cloth has been woven in Scotland since prehistoric time. Until the industrial era, weaving was a task performed at home by housewives. Women used local wool or flax to make clothes and blankets for their families and local communities.

Weaving was one of the earliest industries in Lanarkshire. Like domestic weaving it was done at home, but often by men. Weavers’ cottages were even built with a room especially for the loom.

Even after spinning yarn for the loom was done on a large scale in mills, most of the cloth made in Scotland came from handlooms. In 1838 there were still 48000 handlooms in lowland Scotland. These were soon replaced by power looms and weaving moved from home to the factory.”

I enjoy looking at the Guardian galleries for incredible photographs of current events. Recently I saw these photographs of weaving in Egypt related to this article and thought I should share them here. These photos are part of this Guardian Gallery, photographs by El-Dakhakhny/UNICEF UK.

I spend far too much time looking at the beautiful items on Etsy lovingly handmade by talented artists and designers. I am trying to resist buying the earrings below made by Huiyitan, I love them, if you do too BUY HERE!

I’ve also just added these two scarves to my own shop. Buy them HERE.

The scarf above use a blended colour warp in pinks. It has a diamond pattern twill and the weft uses a soft beige yarn. The scarf below is an ideal gift for any man, a beautifully crafted herringbone scarf in classic stripes.

Yarn bombing makes me smile! Here are some of my favourite yarn bombs on another one of my favourite things, bicycles.

Photos from Yarn Bombing on Facebook.

Yes, it really is sunny here in Glasgow today! I’m enjoying sitting in a sunny window weaving away whilst listening to the radio, I am incredibly pleased that both Adam and Joe and Radcliffe and Maconie are now on the Big British Castle’s 6 Music.

I am currently using my new yarn to make new spring/summer scarves and I have taken icecream flavours as my reference for colour. As a child I remember eating Gino Ginelli Icecream and singing the song loudly, Gino oh Gino Ginelli… My favourite flavour was Mint Choc Chip but others included Tutti Fruiti, Toffee Fudge and Choc and Nut. Here’s the 1996 advert which bizarrely stars Alistair McGowan:

Another of my favourite icecream flavours is Neopolitan, the vanilla section was always left till last in our house. Sometimes we were lucky enough to get a block of Neopolitan icecream and wafers.

Below is a scarf I have just finished in Neopolitan colours (chocolate/strawberry/vanilla or brown/pink/cream) using a Gothic Cross pattern. Next I am planning on using Mint Choc Chip colours.

I spotted my first snow drops of the year yesterday, in the middle of Glasgow city centre too! Snow drops are a favourite flower of mine because they are one of the first signs of Spring. Here’s a hoping!

With Spring approaching I am currently working on a new selection of spring inspired scarves suitable for warmer weather, I really am feeling optimistic! Also I am designing a selection of items in time for Mothering Sunday.  I will be doing a GIVEAWAY just in time to give your Mum the perfect gift (or grab yourself a cheeky treat) so do keep an eye out here.

As I’m on a flower and Mum theme here’s a photo of an Amaryllis I grew from a bulb my Mum gave me for Christmas:

Just in case anyone was worried about my travels in Tunisia I thought I’d better make a post to say I’m back in rainy Glasgow. I had a fantastic week until the last few days when the recent protests spread to the town of Sousse where we were staying and we had to cut our holiday short.

It made me realise what incredible power people can have and I will be interested to revisit Tunisia in the future to see what changes have hopefully been made. Sadly it also meant I wasn’t able to see as much weaving as I would have liked because we were advised not to leave the hotel once the protests began. However, I did see this one lady:

And also this groovy scooter!

My shop is reopen – I’ll be back to the loom this week so they’ll be new lovely things very soon…