weaving at Stirling Castle | Emma Jo Webster

Its nearly the end of January and I am only getting round to updating my website now! Weaving full time since August at Stirling Castle is really filling up my time! Its a fantastic job and an honour to be working on the project again!

In this picture I am at the very back next to Sandy the steward.. at the front is Rudi Richardson who is now working for the Dovecot in Edinburgh. In the middle is Ruth Jones the team leader – we now have been joined by Louise Trotter who like me worked on the tapestry project at the beginning.

Billie Dove 1920s Film Star – tapestry woven by Emma Jo Webster 2013

2013 was an unbelievable year of opportunities – including the Sky Arts – where I got interviwed by Frank Skinner and I took the chance and wove a portrait of one of my favourite film stars – Billie Dove for the programme- Frank Skinner even wove a bit of the back ground!

2013 was also the year of my 1st ever ecclesiastical piece of art work – I was asked to create the design based on my great granfathers window at lansdowne Church Glasgow. Alf Webster was a stained Glass artist who was killed in the 1st world War but had already made a name for himself in the world of stained glass. The design I was asked to weave was to fit onto a prayer scarf. Small commission but a very enjoyable one! I would love to do more!

Alfred Websters image from window which I based my design on

Roy Henderson modelling the prayer scarf.

SO – if 2014 is anything like 2013 then life will be fantastic! I love weaving and just can’t get enough of it!!!!

I am also taking part in the Falkirk and Stirling open Studios – so watch this space and I”ll let you know the details ……….

As some of you might know – about 11 years ago I worked as a weaver at Stirling castle on the tapestry ‘The Unicorn in Captivity’ which was the start of a long and inspiring project – to weave a set of ‘The hunt of the Unicorn’ for Stirling Castle. The project by Historic Scotland – who employed West Dean Tapestry studio to weave a set of tapestries partly to be woven at West Dean and partly at Stirling Castle I wove the top right hand section – almost down to the fence – we wove it on its side and I wove up to the tree before I left the project because of work commitments in my own work.

Since January 2002, the Tapestry Studio at West Dean College has been working on a recreation of The Hunt of the Unicorn tapestries. The tapestries that are completed so far, are hanging in the Queens Inner Chamber at Stirling Castle, as part of a project to furnish the castle as it would have been in the 16th century. Historians studying the reign of James IV believe that a similar series of ‘Unicorn’ tapestries were part of the interior design of the castle at that time. The team at West Dean Tapestry visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York to inspect the originals and researched into medieval techniques, the colour palette and materials. This project is due for completion in 2014. The weavers are working at West Dean Tapestry Studio and at Stirling Castle.

Well – today I had an interview to weave on the last tapestry being woven at the Castle! The last tapestry they are weaving is ‘The mystic capture of the Unicorn’ and is due for completion in summer 2014 – so – I am going to start practicing my medieval weaving skills again before I start!

Its a very exciting project and I feel honoured to be part of it once again.

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2014

Full Circle –