TASSEL TIME

This evening was our guild meeting and we had a wonderful talk on tassel making - the lady doing the talk is based quite locally and did a talk and demonstration of what she does.

She demonstrated wrapping the mould, then she showed how to make a netting decoration. She also showed us how she makes the skirt and ruff and a variety of embellishments including pom poms, bundles and bows Turks head knots and wrapped shapes and drops.

She also had an amazing array of samples that she'd made which were mind boggling in their detail. She'd made tassels for Windsor Castle & Brighton Pavilion, for Elton John, for rich Arabs and famous designers amongst others. The sample for Windsor Castle was rich gold and red, but there was every colour imaginable in the box.

I went along thinking hum har I'm not too sure about this talk, but it'll be nice to see the girls - and I was blown away by the tassels. Whatever you may have seen in the shops, no matter how fancy they may seem, these are on another level entirely - I so wish I'd taken my camera. Every stage is hand made, the moulds, the weaving and the cords - and almost everything is sourced in the UK - most of it reasonably locally.

We've had many talks over the years, but I'd put this right at the top - really interesting.

Of course it was nice to see the girls - and I also came away with a bag of green tomatoes and a bag of apples (Chutney making tomorrow). and two carrier bags of lovely alpaca fibre (woohoo). I've also been lent 'Three Bags Full' by Leonie Swann which I'd been hoping to read - so a good night all round.