Weaving a Thing of Beauty
I don’t know how much you know about the ancient art of tapestry. I’ve been to Bayeux and seen its famous example and I own Carole King’s masterpiece on vinyl. Last year, I wrote a blog for MTW about one of my favourite novels, Edith Wharton’s “House of Mirth” and the scene where the heroine realises that her slow slide down the social scale has brought her to a place where she can see all the hanging threads and loose tufts behind the assiduously woven picture of polite society. You could say I’m a big tapestry fan, and that wouldn’t be too far from the truth. It’s an art form, difficult to do, but which produces a beautiful picture when done right. It’s weft-faced weaving, and all the warp threads are hidden when the whole thing is complete, unlike your standard woven textile where you can see both warp and weft. That takes some skill. Since lock down began, I’ve been to an awful lot of book launches. They’ve all been online, and they’ve all been awesome. As i...