Weaving Assistant Kathleen McCormick on Learning To Weave in Spain

An intensive 3-week weave course or Textile Assistantship at Anna Champeney Textile Studio in Galicia, north Spain enabled Kathleen McCormick to turn weaving into a part-time career in Ireland. Here she tells us about the experience .

What made you choose to do the 3-week Textile Assistantship in Anna Champeney Estudio Textil in Spain, as opposed to a conventional beginners´ weave course? I wanted to become immersed in the whole process and world of hand-weaving. Another factor which influenced me was knowing – from a previous visit – that the studio was in an attractive setting in Spain. I had got to know Anna through a previous visit and I fell in love with Galician Felpa (loop-pile) weaving. Also, I had met Anna´s partner, basketmaker Lluis Grau, and so I was able to combine weaving tuition with basketry. You have been a professional basketmaker in Ireland for many years.

What attracted you to weaving on a loom? I used to spin my home-grown fleece from my own sheep. I hand-dyed it but could only use it by knitting it. When I discovered that I could learn to weave this opened up a whole new world to me. Now I could do something with the homespun fleece and dye wool to my requirements. On the course we did some natural dyeing – which I already knew about, albeit in a somewhat haphazard way. Anna taught us to chronicle what we did and how we came to get the resultant colour. Anna also taught us to use other dyes. I now dye Irish fleece in white, mid-grey and dark Jacob´s fleece.

What did you learn during the three-week assistantship course? What didn´t I learn is the question on the three weeks of the assistantship??? One of the really important things I learned, which is very personal, is that “no-one could take this from me” – meaning that I was actually there, I was actually doing this course and the value of it would always be with me, whatever life threw at me. I learned discipline in work methods – Keeping time is essential (being up early and at the textile workshop is a very important thing), but then Tracey, my co-assistant, and I both had a good work ethos. I learned about the history of Spanish felpa weaving and some of the social structure of the women who not only wove the felpa bedcovers but also grew the flax for the linen yarn. I learned about the structure of weaving. Making a warp on the warping mill and the method of warping a loom (one of several methods), weaving various patterns which I found very difficult due to age and lack of ability to retain patterns in my memory beyond two minutes, and several different fabric finishing techniques. Anna gave us tasks she would have done herself thus giving us a good view of the life of a professional weaver. Tracey and I brought humour into the workshop, seriousness in our intention to learn. We spent the mornings doing jobs for Anna as weaving assistants and the afternoon was spent doing and learning weaving.

Tell us about the most challenging part of learning to weave and use natural dyes. The biggest challenge for me in learning to weave was that I suffer from dyslexia for numbers and patterns – I do not know when my children were born nor in what year I got married or what year anything happened. If I try to remember how to read a pattern I panic, really, but give me a job of weaving and I can do it, can read th at pattern, and work out what needs to be done to create one particular job. I am actually quite a good weaver of rugs.

The asssistantship was fairly intense, but did you have the chance to explore the local area during the 3 weeks? If so, what were your impressions of the Ribeira Sacra in Galicia, north Spain, where Anna Champeney Textile Studio is located? I did have some time to myself for walking. The Ribeira Sacra is unbelievably beautiful, especially where Anna and Lluis live. the birdlife was second-to-none and I was there in the area twice, so I heard the cuckoo and the hoopoe and several other birds whilst out walking in the vineyards.

You now make and sell your own work from your craft studio in Ireland. How did you make the leap from being a beginner to actually starting to sell your work? Well, I have always made and sold whatever I have made. I think it´s just part of my character. Perhaps I am a “Chancer” too! Really, my friend Maire ni-Neachtain was a great help and encouraged me to sell and exhibit. I have been part of two Crafts Council of Ireland exhibitions and hope to sell rugs to the public through going to a national sale in May. Also, I sell my wares everywhere by talking about them to interested people, as well as getting the odd private commission.

You used a Louet table loom during the textile assistantship in Spain. What is your opinion of these looms and what looms do you now use? I think the Louet table looms that Anna has in her studio for courses are excellent to learn on or to use if you have limited space. I prefer a floor loom – especially for my rug weaving. I am using an old Glimakra floor loom but in the next few days I am to get a second loom which is Finnish.

What weave projects do you have planned for the future? I have in mind more rugs and I have the wool for them already. I did a five-day course with Jason Collingwod, who is the son of famous weaver, Peter Collingwood. Jason is an accomplished rug weaver, having learned fro mhis father, and he taught the technique of “Shaft Shifting”. I would love to set up one of the looms I have as an experiment in “shaft shifting”. It makes for a wonderful rug. I would also like to explore the world of tapestry weaving but have ideas to try which require time and time-out.

Can you offer any advice to those thinking of learning to weave themselves? Go to Anna and learn the basics of weaving and enjoy every minute of the experience!

And for more information on your work? I have two websites – one for weaving and one for baskets www.basketbarn.ie. Although the two crafts have things in common they are as different as glass blwoing and wood carving!!