Last spring I had a visit to my studio by an Episcopalian priest from Minnesota in the USA. We spent a lovely couple of hours looking at photographs of things I have made, fabrics that I use and discussing various making processes. He was impressed with what he saw and left promising that he would be in touch when he had discussed possibilities with people back home. I was surprised and delighted when he got in touch a couple of months later to ask if I would be willing to travel to Minnesota (at their expense) and visit their church - St Martin by the Lake, meet the congregation and come up with design proposals to make two sets of vestments and paraments. In October I packed my suitcase with sketch pads, paints and pencils and got a flight to Minneapolis. I was blessed with stunning autumn weather and the trees put on a magnificent display of reds and golds. Whenever I am asked to make paraments and vestments for a particular location I always try to have conversations and look
The process of designing and making a stole has many steps. In this post I hope to give an insight into what is involved so that you will understand how I work. The first step is a discussion with the client. This might be in person at my studio or at a vestments fair at one of the theological colleges. It might all be conducted through emails, or it might involve a combination of zoom chats and emails, with perhaps the odd telephone call as well. Whichever way the discussions take place, the important thing is that we arrive at an outline of what the client wants that works with what I am able and willing to make. Designs often evolve through this discussion process. A client might start off simply asking me to make a design exactly as they have seen in an earlier photo of my work, but then through discussion they become aware of different variations. In one of my Google Photos albums I have posted photos of my Celtic Angel design so that you can see the huge range of design