Oh dear its been a long time since I last posted!. Been mad busy with big orders and the summer , nearly at an end, has sped by. This weekend however I did manage to take some time to visit amongst other things, a small village near the Ukraine border which was holding their annual "hemp" festival. This village is incredibly rich in folk craft heritage. My primary purpose was to meet Erszike who is a master embroiderer , I hope that we will be doing some work together in the future. It was a bonus to see the preperation, spinning and weaving of hemp. It just went to remind me what a time consuming process it all is! They still weave in this village, though mostly a hemp and cotton mix. Here are some pictures;
Hemp drying. After the hemp is picked it is soaked in the river of lake for 4- 6 weeks and then dried
The stalks are bashed to releas teh fibres which are then combed
spinning the fibres.....
and finally weaving the cloth, this chap was having a go and finding it very difficult!
This colourful, dense embroidery comes from the Matyo region, a small area in Northern Hungary. The most famous Matyo motives are the Matyo roses which initially gained popularity in 
the 1890s and continue to do so 
today. Recently I visited the "memorial house of a hundred roses" of Kisjanko Bori, who was a famous "rose writer" she drew roses onto cloth to be embroidered. These rose motives were also painted onto furniture and walls. These pictures show tradional Matyo costumes incorporating the wonderful matyo embroidery 
