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.

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’m away to London this week and very excited to finally be visiting my pal Rebecca Davies and Eva’s project at the Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre.

LOOK HERE! for more information.

Lots of exciting events and workshops have been taking place including Saskia Pomeroy’s screen printing this week and this Saturday 16th April Plats will be working their magic. See you there…

Photos thanks to Rebecca and Eva.

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…

I’m off to Tunisia with the amazing Rebecca Davies this week. Tunisia is famous for its carpet weaving so I’m hoping I’ll see some, perhaps like this:

(My shop will be closed until the 16th January).

Here’s a photo from Welcome Home‘s website of their pop up shop at the CCA in Glasgow. You can just spot my scarves!

This pop up shop is open until the 23rd of December (inclusive) but closed Sunday and Monday.

Thanks to everyone who I have met this past week at craft fairs and to all of you who have bought something from me. It has made me a very happy sole and so I’m off to buy myself a birthday treat – THANK YOU!

My shop is looking a little bare so it is the perfect time to request items for me to make – even if you simply want to let me know what colours you think I should use.. Contact me here.

Just before I go here’s a photo of my stall at Merchant Square:

Yep the time has come to get shopping – there are only 15 days left till Christmas! But don’t fear there are plenty of lovely gifts to buy and here are some places to start:

Why not pop along to Welcome Home in Partick or their wonderful pop up shop at CCA. I was there the other day and trying hard not to buy things for myself (HINT HINT).

Or pop along to The Shop of Interest who have a new blog here!

Finally and most importantly (teehee) why not come along the the Merchant Square Market this weekend? I will be there selling all sorts of handmade woven things (see the photo above) and my talented pal Carolyn Alexander is also going to be there – even more gift opportunities! It’s open 11am till 6pm on Saturday and 12pm till 6pm on Sunday. Santa’s Grotto will also be there – so do come along!

The Shop of Interest has recently opened in Finnieston — 1058, Argyle Street to be exact. It’s about time Finnieston got a lovely shop selling beautiful arty bits and pieces including my scarves. So please do pop in and say hello to the friendly folk who work there and buy some Christmas presents or a treat for yourself!

The Shop of Interest naturally has a Facebook page too.

Here’s a photo of the beautiful Glenlee on the Clyde yesterday. Although the weather was very cold and a little snowy people did venture out to see me at the craft fair on board. Sadly today the craft fair was cancelled due to heavy snow. My next craft fair is in two weeks time – 11th/12th December at Merchant Square but in the meantime I will be putting lovely things on to my shop – keep checking here.