Our Textiles Workshop at Inchmore

Here in the north of Scotland, we have been in a covid lockdown for a month.  We have been told by the government to work from home if we can, so as I had lots of design work to do and no urgency on any of the making, I brought the computer home - good excuse because it's warmer here than in my workshop! The only interaction I have had with the rest of humanity has been through the medium of Zoom - for conversations with family, for church services and the occasional face-to-face with a client. A couple of weeks ago one such meeting took place and my client has commissioned me to design and make her ordination stole.   In the past she had worked on the Hilton of Cadboll project which was a "millenium project" - part archaeological excavations and part having stone mason Barry Grove carve a replica of this famous Pictish stone. The original stands on display in the National Museum of Scotland.  The "new" one is not so new now.  Looking for my photographs of the r

This post is aimed at those who may never have purchased a stole before.  Perhaps you are preparing for ordination or maybe you are commissioning a stole as a gift.   There are so many possibilities for a stole that it is difficult for some people to know where to begin.   Here I try to guide you through the process and ask you to consider many different things so that you can arrive at the right decision when it comes to making that purchase or placing an order. The stole is an ecclesiastical vestment worn by ordained clergy in most western Christian traditions during church services. The wearing of stoles goes back to the very earliest times of the Church and references Jewish traditions as described in The Old Testament.   "And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty" (Exodus 28:2).  It is a long, narrow strip of cloth, usually embellished in some way and is normally in the specified colour for the liturgical season - although some P