Stratford-upon-Avon Guild of Weavers Spinners and Dyers

  Saint Anastasius the Fuller. Patron Saint of Fulling Anastasius (variously spelled Anastasios) was born of a wealthy Italian family in Aquileia, near Venice during the reign of Diocletian (AD 284-311). He was aware that Saint Paul had told the Thessalonians that the most worthy form of work was that using the hands and he chose to follow this advice by becoming a Fuller in the place now known as Split in Croatia. Fulling is the process of cleaning wool cloth to whiten it so that it could be successfully dyed. In those days, the cloth was immersed in a bath of soapy water and then either beaten with sticks or, squashed and stamped on to remove the dirt.  Anastasius was a very religious man and deeply affected by witnessing the martyrdom of some of his fellow Christians, determined to be a martyr himself, so great were his religious beliefs. He painted a cross on his workshop door to proclaim his faith and provoke the Emperor’s wrath.   www.johnsanidopoulos.com In...

  2022 AGM Challenge The Guild have decided to set the AGM challenge whilst we still have a little garden time and resource.   We have set the members the challenge of producing a small sample of fibre from the plant resources in their garden and surrounding countryside, and to then 'show and tell' at our AGM in January 2022. Nettle and Rhubarb are just two amongst our garden plants that can be turned into usable fibre, but there has to be more and we are looking forward to the inginuity and trials that the membership undertakes.     Enjoy the rest of the summer weather this week.  

Dye Plants  - my part in their Downfall  with Fran Rushworth Fran will be joining us at our July meeting tomorrow, Saturday 17th July. This will be an interactive zoom discussion covering    the dark arcana of the plant dye bath - mysteries of preparing flower, leaf, root and bark dyes and a fearful plunge into acids and alkalis the even darker arcana of mordanting fibre - the why, how and what of alum and aluminium acetate followed by a delicious divertissement of rhubarb leaves iron and copper - mordants, modifiers or metagrobolilising madness          The screens will open as usual at 10.20 am and the meeting will start at 10.30 am. Following notices, we will join Fran with a dive into the dye bath. Guest are welcome for the usual meeting fee, just email us on wsdstratford@gmail.com

 JUNE MEETING - INSIDE THE MEDIEVAL WOOLHOUSE UPDATE:  Due to ill health Penelope is unable to join us now on Saturday.  We wish her all the best for a speedy recovery.  We hope Penelope will join us at a future meeting. Fortunately, Jill Shepherd has stepped in and offered to talk to us on The Domestication of Craft.  The talk explores  How and Why Domestic Handcraft Flourished in Our Homes over the Last 500 Years? It explores a wide-ranging view of handcraft as a marker of status and the cult of the hobby, and why the pursuit of handcrafting in the home was so important for women and children. .  Timings are as below. The June Guild meeting on Saturday, 19th June at 10.30 am, will be a Zoom talk by Penelope Hemmingway “Inside the Mediaeval Woolhouse, Spinning and Weaving in Mediaeval Monasteries.”  Screens open at 10.20, Anna will do notices at 10.30 and will introduce Penelope to give her talk at 10.50. After the talk there will be a s...