Weaver Tessa Smith delighted members of Arran u3a with a fascinating talk and demonstration on working with textiles.
Originally from Tyneside, Tessa worked in Yorkshire as a primary school teacher until her retirement, moving to Lochranza in 2002. Tessa has always been interested in textiles and learned to weave at Bradford College of Art. During this time she visited Peru and discovered Alpaca yarn which she continues to spin, dye and weave on Arran.
A fascinating part of Tessa’s talk, at Arran u3a’s November meeting, was about the dyeing process and the different plants she uses, including sorrel, nettle, bog myrtle, dock leaves and bracken which she gathers on her walks. Other plants are grown for dyes in her own garden and in the dye garden she tends in the Lochranza Growers Garden.
Tessa also likes to incorporate items she has picked up on the beach in her designs.
Her talk was followed by a lively question and answer session, with members interested in how to fix a dye and how to prepare a fleece before spinning. Members were then invited to touch and look more closely at the examples of yarn and textile design Tessa had brought with her before a demonstration of how to use a spinning wheel.
The next u3a meeting will be on Tuesday December 12 at 2pm in Brodick Hall when Geopark guide Franny Schlicke will give a talk on Gaelic in the Landscape.
Karyn Wilson Hill.
U3a members get hands-on with some of the textile materials presented by Arran weaver Tessa Smith. No_B49U3A01_23_November_meeting