A workshop with William Jefferies

In November 2006, I attended a workshop led by William Jefferies at the Handweavers Studio in London. A renowned weaver, William incorporates a variety of textural techniques into his tapestry weaving and works with materials such as wool, linen, jute, cotton, silk, coir fibre, steel and hemp.

The weekend was inspiring. William taught each of us according to our needs. He imparted a great deal of information about weaving which we were able to quietly absorb whilst engaged in our individual weaving projects. I learned several textural techniques such as whipping, wrapping and tufting, and my understanding of weaving moved another step forward and came away with a batch of invaluable notes. Shown here is the sample I produced that weekend.

About the artist
In his 2006 artist statement on the Craft Council website, William says: 'I use tapestry weaving like a method of building to produce small pieces. I am interested in the traditions of tapestry which use illusion and picture making but I also like texture and the substance of fabric. I like to use fibres which have character as well as conventional dyed wool. Problems of hanging and shape intrigue me. Inspiration comes from numerous sources. I use drawing and collage to arrive at a committed design.'