Anne began by explaining the technique was particular to a comparatively small area of North West India and Rajasthan where it was used to make strong camel girths. Four ply cords are made and then these the cords are worked together by splitting the ply and threading through one another.

Anne demonstrated how the cords were made, either self coloured, or a mixture of colours, and how the ply was spit and passed through.

Anne had many  examples of items made by ply splitting; bags, jewellery and small decorative items of many kinds.

In 1919 the R34 Airship took off from East Fortune in Scotland in an attempt to be the first aircraft to make the double crossing of the Atlantic to the USA and back. This they achieved but, for not completely explicable reasons, they did not return (as planned) to East Fortune but landed at Pulham near Diss. At the time, the celebration of this remarkable feat didn’t in any way reflect the enormity of the achievement.

Basil Abbott, Diss Museum Manager, is planning a centenary celebration in 2019, and has invited the Diss Guild to create craft items that can be exhibited as part of this celebration. His talk and slide show provided background information and inspiration for the creation of these items. It is impossible not to be enthused by Basil’s projects, and Diss Guild have risen to the challenge!

Anne gave a most interesting and beautifully presented talk. She brought along a comprehensive collection of inkle weaving equipment, hundreds of examples of beautifully patterned inkle weaving, plus craft items made from inkle ‘braids’. She prefaced her talk with a fascinating history of the weaving of inkles, tapes and ribands, highlighting the ways in which the weaving terms have become part of our modern language. There are some great pictures on our facebook page.

Anne Dixon led the meeting on the topic of Weaving Tools and Tips. Anne gave us a whistle-stop tour of the weaving process from warping (demonstrated on her warping mill) to fulling the web into cloth, and there was a selection of weaving equipment on display. Sue Brooks brought along her Saori Piccolo loom, upon which it was possible to illustrate both technical terms and techniques, making the whole topic interesting and informative to both weavers and non-weavers alike. Even experienced weavers learnt a thing or two, whether it was the use of hairspray and/or combs to deal with those sticky warp threads, or filling a 35mm film canister with baking beans to act as a weight for loose warp threads.

This proved to be a most useful forum where members were able to exchange tips and ideas, comparing techniques and asking questions.

Today we met at our new venue in the Methodist Church Diss – it has much more and much easier parking and, for £1, you can have as much tea and coffee as you like! We welcomed a visitor from Pembrokeshire, and a new member who Pam got started with spinning. Once all the new housekeeping and business was over (which was quite extensive as our exhibition is at the end of May) there was the opportunity for ‘spinning fine’.

The mini-workshop at the meeting was Spinning Unusual Animal Fibres, led by Janet Major. Janet showed examples of some of her fine spinning – reaching down to 0.15mm (measured with a micrometer scale and microscope!). She then demonstrated and briefly discussed some theory on ‘wraps per inch’ (w.p.i.) and ‘twists per inch’ (t.p.i.) and encouraged members to gradually spin finer. Fifteen packs had been prepared and at the end only one was left!

Attendees had a pack of exotic fibres to try:

Look at the concentration:

Lots of members were surprised at how fine they could manage. This is some of Pauline’s spinning from the day:

A great start to the new venue.

We had a mini-workshop, led by Janet Major, in which we made silk bowls:

1. 1. At first the silk looked like this:
      
   2. Before the workshop it was dyed blue (one of the colour choices):
      
   3. After the workshop and home to dry:
      
   4. A completed bowl!
      

Jess Johnson, Arts and Heritage Outreach Manager, gave an informative talk to us about the Diss Heritage Triangle and the Corn Hall Project. This is a £3.2m investment programme (with £1.65m from Heritage Lottery Funding) in the heart of Diss. It is in fact 5 projects and the physical aspects of this relating to the Corn Hall are due to be completed very soon (in Spring 2016). Our exhibition in the Corn Hall will be our first (public) involvement with the project. It was fascinating to hear about the research that had been carried out since the start of the project and which has built on previous work done by the Diss Museum and its members into the textile industry of Diss. Many of us were particularly interested in what is being discovered about the Linen industry for which Diss was such a large and important centre.

It was also good to hear about the computer simulation of change in the town over the centuries, the previous (textile related) uses of buildings in the Textile Triangle, and the exciting new facilities being completed in the Corn Hall.

We could have listened for much longer and, as a Guild, we will be involved in some of the further research. It is all very exciting for us and for Diss. Many Thanks to Jess for a brilliant start to the programme for 2017.