From time to time we ask our learners to review our workshops. Read Lucy Wadley’s critique of Linen Tassel Making.
Like many people, I had not really considered how tassels were made by hand until I enrolled on the two day tassel workshop at The Good Life Centre. I’ve been to the centre before but still very much enjoyed opening the front door and being greeted by the beautiful workshop and the friendly Alison who was making cups of tea and coffee as people arrived before the workshops started. Introducing people to new crafts & skills, and keeping traditional skills alive is what the Good Life Centre does so well, and I was pleased to be back. This new tassel workshop is the latest new course from the Centre.
On the day, it was clear early on that Anna, our tutor for the weekend, was very passionate about her craft and the amazing history behind the decorative pieces. She was a wonderful tutor who was very patient and friendly with a great deal of experience having made tassels for many years, and her background making commission pieces including some for National Trust houses was fascinating; she also brought some of her owns samples which certainly inspired us all!
The atmosphere during the course was very relaxed, in fact some of the processes were rather therapeutic once you’d got into a rhythm. Anna was very patient, encouraging and left plenty of time for questions.
We even had spare time for her to demonstrate some extra bits and bobs, like pompoms, that although we didn’t need them for this type of tassel it gives another extra little skill.
Day 1 of the course started with learning how to make a simple thin cord using the warp twister, for decorating our wooden mould. We worked in pairs to stretch out the warp and twist the cord, there was a sense of apprehension as cord tightened with every turn of the warp twister but you’ll be glad to know that we all survived without over twisting out first cord 🙂 Once we’d delicately glued the cord in place on the wooden mould we moved onto making the tassel skirt. If you are someone who enjoys knitting you will enjoy the repetitive processes of making the skirt, and later the ruffles, as it involves wrapping the threads round a board and fixing with wire along the top edge. Some people found this a bit fiddly at first but Anna helped to get people into a steady rhythm.
Lucy’s finished Tassel in all its glory.
Day 2 we set about making our main cord, counting is key!!!!! We had to run our threads backwards and forwards between two hooks to create the wrap for making the cord, you could have heard a pin drop as everyone concentrated on counting as they ran the threads out between the hooks 50 times. After having created 3 warps we then had to excitement of twisting them all together to create the cord, the blend of colours all looked amazing together. Once this had been completed everything started to come together and we all started to brush and trim the bottom of the tassel to get the skirt level, great task for any budding hair dressers.
Another fantastic course with lovely people and a great tutor, now to set about making tassels for our spare bedroom!!!
With thanks to Guest Blogger, Lucy Wadley.
Discover when the next Linen Tassels Workshop takes place for yourself.
