Tapestry in Bulgaria

Here is the next instalment of my retreat in Bulgaria.

As I have said, the retreat is owned by Silvia, a tapestry weaver and acrylic artist from Pazardzhik in Bulgaria.


On the left is one of Silvia's lovely tapestries. She uses only natural yarns in her work which has a very distinctive folk art feel.



Having spent several lunchtimes and evenings spinning my tapestry weft and weaving the tapestry, I eventually finished it on the afternoon before we left. On the right you will see it finished, but still on the loom.


This close up shows the unwoven warp. I wanted to keep the yellow of the sky quite soft, as it was in the design. So rather than spin more weft, I felt the unwoven warp would look much better.

Unfortunately, I'm not so sure about the white in the free areas! I can't quite decide whether to unpick the white, which was finger crocheted with the colours, or leave it as it is!

I have now just got to sew in the end that will work to the front, the warp ends at the bottom and secure the warp ends at the top, so as to keep the free warp straight and even.

Back From Bulgaria

Well we've got back from a very relaxing 2 weeks in Bulgaria, one week on the Black Sea Coast at Balchik, one week at Silvia Haralambova's Artists Retreat near the Rhodope mountains and two days in Sofia.

I've just got to tell you how lovely Silvia's Artists Retreat is and yes I did manage to spin the weft for a small tapestry and weave it too!


The Cottage at the Retreat.


Here is the equipment and materials I took, in my suitcase, to work with . I took white, black, red, yellow and blue fleece, my carders, a 25g Michael Williams top whorl spindle and my Andean Plying tool. Oh and some yellow 3ply tapestry warp!









This is the design I work on before I left. It is taken from a lovely print by Guiliana Lazzerini. I planned to weave a much wider piece, but realised that it would be too ambitious for the week I had, so decided to make it narrower and so folded back the right hand side.














The Studio is across the garden from the cottage and barbaque area. It was lovely and cool inside the building, a real retreat from the hot sun.

It was equipped with a frame loom, artists easel, sink, workbench, chairs, radio/CD/ tape player and a whole load of tapes.







I spent the first few days, usually just before and after lunch when it was very hot or in the evenings when it was much cooller, blending the coloured fibres into the colours to match my design.

You can see a few of the yarns I blended and spun using Michael Williams 25g spindle. I am sure you must think I go on too much about the spindle, but it's a real work horse.





The frame loom was warped with the yellow 3ply tapestry warp and here is the work in progress. You can see that I had planned to make the work wider, but changed my mind when I realised I would be push for time to finish as I was spinning all my weft yarn.

I will post more about the retreat and the tapestry soon.

Another month gone by!

Oh, dear, another month has gone by and I've not managed to post, but things seem to be settling down now.

Woolfest went really well. The dyes seemed to be well received and sales were good, so lets hope that now they are beginning to be know that will increase. I was teaching a Learn to Weave course last week which also went very well. One student from Leicester went home on Friday afternoon and was so excited about her weaving she spent the evening finishing a set of place mats! We took the Japanese student sight seeing on Saturday up into the Peak District of Derbyshire, which included the tapestries of Haddon Hall, the Carnival at Bakewell and a visit to the market and antique shops of Ashbourne. On Sunday we took her to the local Lavender Patch and Staunton Harold Craft Centre, where she purchased some fabrics for her hand made bags, then on to Heathrow for her 12 hour flight home!

I now have three weeks to get my house and studio back into order before I go on holiday to Bulgaria. I can't wait to spend a week on the Black Sea Coast, really chilling out, before we drive to an Artists Retreat in the foot hills of the Rhodope Mountains. Silvia, our host, and her husband are artists, Silvia being a tapestry weaver and acrylic artist. Their lovely retreat consists of a small cottage set in a walled garden with an artists studio across the courtyard. The studio has a couple of tapestry frames, so I am trying to design a small tapestry that I should be able to complete in a week! Of course, I am sure I will be distracted by the lovely countryside which we are told is very suitable for walking.

Must go, lots to clean and that design to complete.