¿Te interesa realizar un curso online de tècnicas del tejido en telar con Anna Champeney?Si te interesa aprender técnicas de diseño y tejido en telar de bajo lizo online, escríbanos y suscribir a nuestro boletín.
 Contacta con nosotros |  It´s time to say goodbye to Tracey, the AC Textile Studio´s pupil and work assistant over the past couple of months. Tracey, from the UK, first came here to north Spain, with Kathleen McCormick, in 2007, to for the residential 3 week intensive weaving course or “Textile Assistantship” for beginners, offered once or twice a year. 3 years on she decided to repeat the assistantship again in 2010, this time to deepen her knowledge of weaving hand-made textiles and find out more about the reality of earning a living by hand-weaving.
A total of 6 weeks of weaving tuition and immersion in the environment of a professional working weave studio meant that Tracey was skilled enough to help out with some of the professional weaving and other related work of the studio for a further period as a volunteer. This involved a range of varied work including assisting in large-scale batch dyeing with madder, weld and logwood, weaving up several saquitos, mini-Galician textiles and cushions to the studio´s own designs, cleaning and tidying the workshop, helping out with some computer-based work, yarn winding and helping to prepare looms for public weaving demonstrations and private weaving tuition given to Spanish pupils at the studio.  During her time with us Tracey also learned how to photograph her work and the importance of knowing how to develop her work for different markets, how to price her work, and see some of the different options open to professional hand-weavers today in practice – including teaching and public demonstrating at craft fairs. The world of hand-weaving today is one which offers no set career progression and so anyone wishing to make a career of weaving as a designer-maker or maker-educator needs to be able to be independent and be able to find their own way. The photos you see here are of the pieces made by Tracey during her time at the studio, and are very similar to the photographs that she herself took during an afternoon textile photographing course at the studio, as part of her training in professional skills and working practices which accompanied the more direct technical and design-based learning.
 Perhaps the most exacting project we gave Tracey was to work on a made-to-measure curtain project from beginning to end, setting up the loom, weaving sample fabric and then adapting the design for specific measurements. As you can see from the photos Tracey rose to the challenge and you can see the beautiful results in the photo to the left. We hope that this kind of project – and the knowledge gained in doing it – will stand Tracey in good stead when she returns to the UK – and starts to weave her own designs on her own and face the challenge of creating her own career path in hand-woven textiles.
So we wish Tracey the very best of luck in her textile work in the future, warm thanks for all her hard work., and hope that she´ll come back to see us in the future.  Is craft education important for kids? At Casa dos Artesans, the holiday cottage in Galicia (north Spain) with craft activities and courses, we think it is. I was writing an article, last week, about Lotte Dalgaard (the fine Danish fabric weaver and designer) who learned to weave when just 13 or 14 years old. She was just one Danish teenager to enjoy craft activities for kids and other extracurricular activities at the Danish “After Schools”. Lotte loved weaving as a kid so much that she rebelled against her parents´ wishes for her to pursue a more academic career – and went on to become one of Denmark´s finest weavers. I wonder, had Lotte not had the chance to weave as a child, perhaps she would never have become a professional weaver.
Later in the week, on Saturday 1 May 2010 – I spent the day doing interactive weaving demonstrations for children at Ourense Craft Fair (my local city in Galicia, north Spain, where I live), together with my partner, Lluis, who was offering a willow fish workshop! Girls and boys – from just 3 years old upwards – flocked to our stand to have a go on my Louet 4-shaft table loom and convert skeins of hand-dyed yarn into balls, using a ball winder and umbrella swift. Even the 3 year olds were able to pass the shuttle, and in amongst the many 6 – 8 year old boys and girls keen to have a go there were a few who quite exceptional, picking up the skills very quickly and working very well. You can see in this blog post, from the photos, just how engaged the children were, and how much they enjoyed themselves. What I didn´t photograph were the proud parents relaxing in the background whilst watching their children!!! As for me, I remember my first experience of hand-weaving well. I was 8 or 9 years old and my art teacher showed me how to weave basic cloth out of a simple frame loom made out of 4 pieces of wood and some nails. Although craft wasn´t considered (really) a real “career choice” at my school (I was funneled into following a more academic further education) I re-trained in my late twenties and early thirties, to become a hand-weaver. I do wonder whether it was partly my positive experiences of craft as a child, which led me, eventually, to set up my hand-woven fabric studio here in north Spain.
Offering children the chance to experience craft first hand is important today, which is one reason why we offer activities for families with children who choose a holiday at our self-catering holiday cottage – Casa dos Artesans (Galicia, Spain).
Whether you are a parent or teacher, and whether you see craft as developing children´s co-ordination, providing a more physical and creative alternative to video games and TV, or allowing them to follow their innate creativity, there is no doubt that craft work contributes to healthy development. But, as parents or teachers, you may also be helping to create a new generation of professional craft makers in the future. As the example of Lotte Dalgaad and many other makers today shows us; enjoying craft as a child may open the door to becoming a professional craft maker in the future.
So, well done to Pablo and Javier, Carlota, Eva, Irima, and all the children (and their parents) who had a go and we hope to see you again!
  This is no ordinary hand-woven linen cushion for every bucle in this loop-pile fabric has been formed completely by hand – by the weaver´s fingers. The technique of felpa gallega, as it is called, is over 1000 years old and in rural Galicia, in mountainous northwest Spain, this macro-pile fabric is still being made in exactly the same way, on wooden hand-looms, by a new generation of Galician weavers. There is no industrial alternative to an authentic Galician felpa textile – it remains a totally hand-made technique, which is why it is becoming so rare in Spain.
How long does it take to make a felpa cushion? An authentic felpa cushion such as this one takes approximately 15 hours to make in total, about 10 of which are spent in forming each of the thousands of bucles by hand. The time involved in making felpa textiles explains why the technique has such a high value and why it is so rare. Modern felpa textiles are not sold via shops, only directly from the weaver´s studio, ensuring best value both for the maker and for the customer. Felpa was traditionally used to make heavy, brightly-coloured and warm bed-covers, colourful “jewels” in the austere stone farmhouses of the Spanish mountain villages and hamlets. Today Anna Champeney Estudio Textil employs the technique to make felpa cushions in both traditional and bold, colourful and contemporary designs. Each cushion, which uses high quality linen and authentic, locally-sourced wool, is made in exactly the same way as centuries ago, with each bucle pulled out of the body of the cloth, by hand. One-off pieces are sold on the internet and directly from the workshop (where you can also spend your holidays in the studio´s holiday cottage, Casa dos Artesans), located in the idyllic Ribeira Sacra, part of north Spain and about 2 hours from the famous pilgrimage city, Santiago de Compostela. The Anna Champeney Textile Studio can also make one-off piecs similar to the one shown, by commission and offers holiday tuition, both for beginners and those with weaving experience. Anna Champeney is able to offer illustrated talks on felpa gallega, based on years of ethnographic research into the technique. This cushion is available for sale and is a one-off, unrepeatable design The cushion has a hand-woven natural linen backing and is fitted with an invisible zip and is supplied with the filler. Hand-wash, without soaking. Inquire about felpa textiles made to order  Felpa Weaving Tuition in Spain
|
Pago seguro
 NUEVO Octubre 2023 Curso presencial setmanal de teixits de baix lliç (Girona)!Un curso nou, setmanal (3h) a Sant Gregori, Girona, amb l'Anna Champeney. Trimensual, plaças limitadas).
Octobre 2023. Ven a aprender a diseñar y realizar tejidos en telar de bajo lizo a mano. Docente: Anna Champeney, profesional desde 2004, con marca textil propia, experta en tejido de bajo lizo, docente en la Escola Massana, Barcelona.
 Haga clic aquí para informarte |
Casa dos Artesans Holiday Cottage and Craft Workshops – Encouraging a New Generation of Young Hand-Weavers and Basketmakers with Children´s Craft Activities and Holiday Workshops in Ourense Craft Fair 2010
Later in the week, on Saturday 1 May 2010 – I spent the day doing interactive weaving demonstrations for children at Ourense Craft Fair (my local city in Galicia, north Spain, where I live), together with my partner, Lluis, who was offering a willow fish workshop! Girls and boys – from just 3 years old upwards – flocked to our stand to have a go on my Louet 4-shaft table loom and convert skeins of hand-dyed yarn into balls, using a ball winder and umbrella swift. Even the 3 year olds were able to pass the shuttle, and in amongst the many 6 – 8 year old boys and girls keen to have a go there were a few who quite exceptional, picking up the skills very quickly and working very well. You can see in this blog post, from the photos, just how engaged the children were, and how much they enjoyed themselves. What I didn´t photograph were the proud parents relaxing in the background whilst watching their children!!!
As for me, I remember my first experience of hand-weaving well. I was 8 or 9 years old and my art teacher showed me how to weave basic cloth out of a simple frame loom made out of 4 pieces of wood and some nails. Although craft wasn´t considered (really) a real “career choice” at my school (I was funneled into following a more academic further education) I re-trained in my late twenties and early thirties, to become a hand-weaver. I do wonder whether it was partly my positive experiences of craft as a child, which led me, eventually, to set up my hand-woven fabric studio here in north Spain.
Offering children the chance to experience craft first hand is important today, which is one reason why we offer activities for families with children who choose a holiday at our self-catering holiday cottage – Casa dos Artesans (Galicia, Spain).
Whether you are a parent or teacher, and whether you see craft as developing children´s co-ordination, providing a more physical and creative alternative to video games and TV, or allowing them to follow their innate creativity, there is no doubt that craft work contributes to healthy development. But, as parents or teachers, you may also be helping to create a new generation of professional craft makers in the future. As the example of Lotte Dalgaad and many other makers today shows us; enjoying craft as a child may open the door to becoming a professional craft maker in the future.
So, well done to Pablo and Javier, Carlota, Eva, Irima, and all the children (and their parents) who had a go and we hope to see you again!