Heritage Days at The Piccadilly Mall, February 19th - 24th.
Heritage Days at the Piccadilly Mall kept our Spinners and Weavers very busy. Friday February 23rd the ladies waulked their woven blankets. We have had a couple of new weavers involved in this blanket project. Anyone walking by this demonstration was encouraged to participate. Looks like they were all having fun!
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Ann was getting the ladies ready to start waulking the woven blankets.
Ann, Jackie, Elvie, Lis, Loanna and Marie. |
Waulking is the technique of finishing the newly-woven tweed by soaking it and thumping it rhthmically to shrink and soften it - all done by hand in the old days. Usually songs sung in the Gaelic language. The songs served to keep the rhythm and lighten the work. This practise involved a group of women beating newly woven tweed against a table or similar surface to soften it.
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Ann, Noelle, Elvie, Lis and Marie. |
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Trying to beat to a rhythm. |
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Looks like a lot of hard work! |
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After they are done waulking, they brush the fabric. |