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 Contacta con nosotros |  Some new cushions are available from the AC Textile Studio. Some of the “Spots & Squares” cushions are commissioned pieces and have been sent on by post. As hand-weavers, we are often asked the question “why weave textiles by hand”. One simple answer is that, unlike industry, we are able to personalize textiles for clients with individually-chosen colourways (even if we don´t actually colour-match colours). Some clients feel unsure about choosing colour schemes themselves and welcome some support and advice, but many find that choosing the colours for “their” cushion is really fun and becomes part of the “craft experience”. It certainly gives the finished cushion – especially if it is for a new home or ordered as a gift – a whole new meaning and significance than a cushion bought “off-the-peg”, however pretty it may be. Commissioning textiles whilst on holiday here in north Spain is an extra special option for guests who come on holiday to Casa dos Artesans, our self-catering craft cottage, which is just a short stroll from the textile studio itself.
As you can see the “Spots and Squares” cushion design woven at the Anna Champeney Textile Studio is a simple but modern interpretation of a traditional weaving pattern and uses 4 different colours. The natural-dyed wools contrast beautifully with the crisp white or grey linen background. Clients who visit the studio in northwest Spain can choose the individual balls of hand-dyed yarns for their commissions, but those who order by internet can still select a general range of colours – “earth colours” or “purples and reds” “all pastels” or “black through to light grey” and we will do our best to interpret these choices. Today, 19 March 2010, we are weaving a cushion in a range of indigo blues, from dark through to a pale greeny-pastel blue. Next week we will start on weaving other versions in different colourways….
 Further Information:- Cushion Orders – “Spots and Squares” cushions, Anna Champeney Estudio Textil- lluisyanna@terra.es. 65€ + p&p
- Weaving Courses – Learn to design and hand-weave your own cushions at Anna Champeney Estudio Textil in a week´s course or a 3-week assistantship.
You may have heard about the red alert storm warnings in north Spain yesterday, 27 February 2010. Well, Xynthia, as the storm was called in Galicia, raged all around us yesterday afternoon and evening. We battened down the hatches – well, closed the shutters on our stone workshops – and weathered the storm. here in north Spain we have escaped much of the snow affecting more northerly European countries but we have had torential rains which have led to severe flooding in some areas. Here in the Ribeira Sacra, at 600m up, it is the wind which affects us most, and not least during Xynthia, where winds of up to 200 km/h were recorded. In fact, I was so carried away with my weaving during hurricane Xynthia that the constant roar of the wind and the flickering on-and-off of the electric lighting and the radio didn´t really affect me, except when the light began to fade and I had to go and get a candle. Such is the excitement of weaving fine singles silk, linen and 52/2 overspun wool into a gorgeously-textured scarf. 
I´m going to take it with me when I demonstrate next week at Xantar (= “Lunch”) the 5 day food festival in Ourense, the city 40 minutes away from Anna Champeney Textile Studio.
Bye for now!
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!!
Further Information about the Textile Assistantship – Click here
 kathleen weaving
 Sample weaving
 Ribeira sacra in north Spain
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Pago seguro
 NUEVO Octubre 2023 Curso presencial setmanal de teixits de baix lliç (Girona)!Un curso nou, setmanal (3h) a Sant Gregori, Girona, amb l'Anna Champeney. Trimensual, plaças limitadas).
Octobre 2023. Ven a aprender a diseñar y realizar tejidos en telar de bajo lizo a mano. Docente: Anna Champeney, profesional desde 2004, con marca textil propia, experta en tejido de bajo lizo, docente en la Escola Massana, Barcelona.
 Haga clic aquí para informarte |
Customised cushions – hand-woven with natural dyes (Design ref. “Spots & Squares”)
As you can see the “Spots and Squares” cushion design woven at the Anna Champeney Textile Studio is a simple but modern interpretation of a traditional weaving pattern and uses 4 different colours. The natural-dyed wools contrast beautifully with the crisp white or grey linen background. Clients who visit the studio in northwest Spain can choose the individual balls of hand-dyed yarns for their commissions, but those who order by internet can still select a general range of colours – “earth colours” or “purples and reds” “all pastels” or “black through to light grey” and we will do our best to interpret these choices.
Today, 19 March 2010, we are weaving a cushion in a range of indigo blues, from dark through to a pale greeny-pastel blue. Next week we will start on weaving other versions in different colourways….