The Cutting-Off Ceremony of 'The Unicorn at Bay', at Stirling Castle

On the 7th July 2011 we had a memorable cutting-off ceremony for our third tapestry woven at Stirling Castle. For the last nine and a half years, I have been weaving on ‘The Hunt of the Unicorn’ series and this one, ‘The Unicorn at Bay’ commenced four years ago. My colleagues and I began the preparatory work by drawing the cartoon, then sampling, warping up and weaving the 3.30m x 3.60m tapestry. The last thing we wove were our initials in the selvedge, along with the date of completion plus the West Dean’s Tapestry Studio’s logo, to whom we are employed.
 
We work in front of the public, allowing visitors to admire the skill and time involved in making such a piece, and some of our regulars, who have supported us throughout the project, were invited along to the ceremony as well as British Tapestry Group friends and family.
 
The evening began with speeches before we began the lengthy process of cutting over a thousand cotton warps. Once cut, the handles controlling the bottom roller of our high warp loom were turned anti clockwise. Glimpses of the front of the tapestry could be seen on the beam as the acid free tissue paper was expertly removed between each rotation. Once it had been gently folded on a sheet in front of the loom we took it in turns to cut the warps at what was the beginning of the tapestry before moving it on to a large table.
 
This is the moment when the image will be seen for the first time, and I find I have a mixture of apprehension and an element of sadness, as we are moving to the end of working so closely with it.

Her Majesty the Queen officially opens the
Royal Apartments at Stirling Castle
6th July 2011

I was introduced to the Her Majesty the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh in the Queens Inner Chamber where tapestries adorn the walls.

The Balvenie Master of Crafts Award CeremonyTextile finalist

 On the evening of the 1st June 2011 I attended the inaugural awards ceremony for The Balvenie Masters of Craft, in London. It was a wonderfully lavish affair to celebrate and shine the light on craftsmanship within the categories of glass and ceramics, wood, metal, stone, leather and textiles. I was there as a textiles finalist, having been  nominated by Historic Scotland. I weave my own tapestries, teach and give talks, however, this award came about primarily because of my position as Senior Weaver at Stirling Castle

One of the judges, television's Kevin McCloud, spoke about his “belief that a beautifully crafted object - whatever it may be - has a soul.”
He went on to say, “In my experience, a great craftsperson has a healthy mix of eagerness to learn, a sense of humour, passion, pride, dedication, precision, patience and a willingness to succeed. They also tend to have an infuriating perfectionist streak in them!’