Priscilla Jones Part 1

(Photos taken and reproduced with the permission of Priscilla Jones. Images are the property of Skipton Branch of The Embroiderers' Guild)

At our June meeting we will be welcoming Priscilla Jones for a workshop on waxed spoon sculptures. We are all really looking forward to having a go and producing our wired and decorated spoons.
Priscilla's work is lovely, not just sculptures but mixed media pieces incorporating fabric, paper and stitch too.
You can visit her website here, which is full of gorgeous stuff!
There's also a great article about Priscilla here, well worth a read.
See Priscilla Jones Part 2 later in June to see the fruits of our labour at the workshop.

Creating a fairytale on the High Street

An early and somewhat soggy start on Monday for our trip to the M&S archive at Leeds University. We started with a talk about the development of the window display and merchandising from the start of the business as a Penny Bazaar up to today. Lots of of interesting information and images from various periods - some great fashions and not so great - knitted swimsuits! A tour of the galleries which have examples of vintage clothing items and household goods. Really interesting to see how they take inspiration from vintage labels and incorporate them into current designs; this goes for clothing too - fabric and style sources for the current collection. We were really interested to hear about Plan A which is basically a sustainability and environmentally friendly policy; new stores channel rainwater to flush the toilets and some stores have a sedum roof and walls, along with fair-trade cotton products. Well worth a visit.

 Lots to see and take inspiration from. We then made the short journey to the Lakeside cafe at Roundhay park for lunch, which was delicious.

Lots more pictures on our Facebook page (permanent link in the lefthand drop down menu)

(Photos taken and reproduced with the permission of the M&S Archive. Images are the property of Skipton Branch of The Embroiderers' Guild)

Craven Museum Visit

What a great afternoon at Craven Museum (in Skipton Town Hall) we had today. Lizzie Dawson, Community Heritage Curator, and Rachel Terry, Museum and Collections Officer, gave us a behind the scenes tour of the collection. The Museum's bid for Heritage Lottery Funding, "Stories and Treasures of Street and Dale", is to open up access and turn the Museum into a cultural hub.
The museum moved to the Town Hall in in 1973 from the Library where it created in 1928 by Craven Naturalists and Scientific Association. The collection is very eclectic with something of interest for everyone; it contains many important and rare items, including a Shakespeare First Folio.
Our tour covered items from the Geology and Archaeology collections - a mammoth tooth to a beautiful iridescent Roman bottle; a flint arrowhead to an ichthyosaur! We also ventured into the store rooms where there is a large costume collection with some particularly gorgeous pieces pictured below; there is a large social history collection with some really interesting items giving insights into the lives of ordinary people in Craven.
You can access the collection for research purposes by arrangement when the museum is closed to the general public on Tuesdays - well worth it if you're looking for a bit of inspiration or want a closer look at some items.

Ichthyosaur head - eye on the left, teeth just visible!

 (Images are the property of Skipton Branch of The Embroiderers' Guild)