We were lucky to be able to have a meeting with a great authority on interlace weaving patterns a couple of weeks ago, Katherine Forsyth, who is currently a reader in Celtic and Gaelic at Glasgow University. Damn – she knows her stuff! Her talk with the Weaving Truth team was fascinating, and as well as mentally opening up the creative possibilities of interlace, helped us to see the Govan Stones within a broader cultural context and as part of an lineage – and indeed to understand the significance of Govan as an ancient seat of power, as the Capital of the Kingdom of Strathclyde. For so many Govanites, the concrete ‘reality’ in front of them precludes seemingly romantic notions of ancient Kingdoms, mysticism and potent symbols – but the evidence is all there! There WAS life here before the ironclad machismo of the shipyards, before people were compelled to become cogs in the machine of industry. I’m not knocking that industry – people will also express themselves through their acquisition of skills through large scale processes, and people here are rightfully proud of Govan’s status within the Shipping Industry, which opened up the world.

But we only have to look at Govan’s long history as an important site of worship to know that in its History, Govan and its people have also looked deeper and harder for meaning, and I don’t think these resonances are even all that far from the surface. Look at this image here,of the Sun Stone from Govan Old Church – it is not very refined, as carving goes, and the logic of the weave doesn’t seem quite there somehow. The arms look wonky. This doesn’t prevent it,for me, to seem a very touching symbol of an imperfect human hand reaching towards light and power and understanding.

We had a fantastic visit this morning with Morton Young and Borland, a Scottish Lace and Madras manufacturer based in Newmilns, in the Irvine Valley in Ayrshire! To say that we enjoyed this visit is an understatement, we were inspired by the depth of knowledge and creativity of the members of the design team we met, Margo and Hazel, who were very friendly and generous with their time, and we were thrilled to see the looms and operations of a working mill. What was wonderful to see was that they have a traditional product, but have been able to maintain viability in the modern world by making necessary changes, without compromising the beauty and integrity of their product.

The design process is fascinating –  Margo took some time to explain how the charted image she processes on her computer becomes programming information on punched card which would effect the physical processes of the weaving on the loom. I think  anyone with an interest in early computers would probably find this and the use of any jacquard loom of great interest.

They have a really wide range of beautiful products and it was really interesting to see lace and madras being used in a really dynamic way. It’s certainly opened my eyes up to the possibilities of these fabrics, which are sometimes regarded as being a bit kitch and frothy.

Frankly, I was gobsmacked with what I saw, and am revising my attitude about lace!