Flax Spinning at the Durham Guild

 The Durham Guild of Spinners Weavers and Dyers meets every month. Our February meeting was a real treat.  I am not a spinner but the talk and demonstration was about  flax spinning. 

Cath Snape 

Our talk was from Cath Snape from the York Guild who became fascinated by flax spinning. She showed us some of her woven materials and different types of carded flax. She demonstrated how to wind carded flax onto a distaff. The traditional distaff was harder to fill, but the distaff made of a bound tree branch made winding on

 the carded flax seem easy.

winding flax onto a bound branch

First I must show you a recently restored double flax spinning wheel. This is a German 'double-flyer "wedding" wheel. This type of wheel was typically given to a bride as part of her trousseau and would have a name plate on the front. It is designed for two-handed spinning of flax. 

German 'double-flyer "wedding" wheel.

This wheel was bought by a wonderful Guild member who enjoys renovating old weaving and spinning equipment.  He has also built carders and plyers of his own design.  The Guild is enriched by his love of craft and his engineering skills. He had to mend and sometimes reconstruct broken or missing parts.  

dressed distaff

She demonstrated how to spin flax on a modern spinning wheel. However it was her demonstration of two handed flax spinning which was amazing. She told us about the history of this type of spinning and said that she was not an expert but her smooth action and the resulting linen thread was wonderful. She had her own double-flyer wheel. It must be quite unusual to have two such wheels in the same place. 

She had placed her carded flax onto a towel which she explained could be flopped over one shoulder for spinning. However, the flax could also be rolled up in the towel and placed on her lap.  Her dexterity was amazing. 

A truly inspiring talk.

Susan J Foulkes

February 2024

Bolivian weaving

 I was given a wonderful Christmas present from a friend in the USA. It is a ch'uspa made by a Bolivian weaver, Alicia Solis in Huancarani, Bolivia.

It was purchased from Dorinda Dutcher who was a Peace Corps worker in Bolivia.  She worked to assist spinners and weavers to support them towards becoming independent by arranging classes in spinning and dyeing. Dorinda has wound down her work and helped the weavers towards organising themselves to have full responsibility to determine what comes next. 

Here is a link to the work that the project accomplished. 

https://pazaboliviablog.com/author/dkdutcher/

On the web site there is a few short  documentaries.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA2_ugjuQHg

I searched the web site to see if Dona Alicia is mentioned. 

Here is a picture of her. It shows Doña Maxima Measuring Doña Alicia for a Pollera in Huancarani.  

As Dorinda writes on her web site.  'The weavings are a highly personal gift because the weavers weave a bit of their story into their work as they sit at their loom.'

Here are some pictures of the beautiful bag. 

The ch'uspa

Close up of the strap

Sides of the ch'uspa finished with tubular weave.

Close up of pattern in centre of ch'uspa

Close up of tubular weave pattern

This beautiful ch'uspa is my first example of traditional Bolivian weaving.  It is a perfect present for me. Thank you so much.

Susan J Foulkes    February 2024