Collage workshop with Liz Dulley, 11 March 2026

After her talk about Kimonos a few weeks earlier, the lovely Liz returned to Guthrie to deliver a very creative workshop where we learned artful ways of creating gift tags, bookmarks and mini works of art using bits and bobs collected from travels or left over from other projects... Or just anything that was meaningful to us in some way. 

Everyone was asked to come along with a theme in mind, such as a holiday, hobby, family event, journey, etc. and some interesting scraps or remnants, including tickets, texts, coloured/textured paper, fabrics, buttons, or anything else that took our fancy. 

Liz also brought along a very interesting selection of the above, many with a Japanese flavour. 

We started covering the base of a label and then building up the layers with various scraps and objects along the lines of our chosen themes. 

Liz demonstrated and suggested a variety of ways to complete our projects, particularly using the "1/3" structure of artistic placements. 

Everyone had a fantastic day that tested us and delivered fabulous outcomes.

 (more photos to follow, hopefully!)

talk by Jillian McEwan, Lunan Bay Farm, 4 March 2026

4 March 2026

Did you know? It takes 30 pairs of hands to make a ball of cashmere! And each goat only produces around 100-150g of fibres. 

Cashmere usually originated from Asia, but Scotland is starting to make its mark in the local market 

Lunan Bay farm is family owned and had been raising livestock for 50 years. The livestock helps improve soil health, fertilizing it as the livestock is moved around, and was a secondary source of income.

The focus on goats was the result of much research as they are very selective browsers, with brambles and willow being their favourites. They eat what cattle and sheep leave behind and are great land improvers. Lunan Bay Farm are hoping to get to around 500 goats. 

Kidding takes place in early spring, similar to lambing, and indoors as it's easier to manage. This year 66 kids were expected from 33 mums, mostly twins, occasionally triplets. 

The goats and their kids will all go out to grass once weather improves and kidding is done. 

Research into cashmere in Scotland showed that there was a 1990’s project to bring cashmere production to Scotland. In Asia, especially Mongolia, millions of goats were being treated for their cashmere, causing environmental impact and resulting in bad management and care of the goats. So there's a lot of interest in the local, more sustainable and respectful productions of cashmere.

Raw cashmere is the undercoat grown in winter. Each goat produces just one 1 litre bag, or 100-150g. 

Casting off these fibres is triggered by daylight patterns, starts with curls around the neck and the stopping they start shedding. Shearing not great Because it's harder to manage. 

Lunan Bay farm is just small scale so there's no need to shear. They just need to walk around the farm looking for shedded cashmere fibres.

Raw cashmere fibres are then scoured, but contain seed heads, guard hairs, and other fibres and these have to be removed by hand before the next step which involves separating the fibres to keep just the pre fibres.. the fluff. Only one facility in the UK does this “industrially”. The fluff is then carded. All of this is very expensive, and they need to sell the fibres at £200 per 50grams. 

It's so expensive that it's mostly blended with merino and other types of wool. So they have teamed up with other regenerative farmers who rear sheep for merino wool. The mix is usually about 10 percent cashmere. Merino and cashmere fibres mix easily as they are quite similar. 

What is not blended is sold to Johnson's of Elgin who turn it into garments

GOATS IN COATS

it all started with a knitting competition where they asked people to knit jumpers for the kid goats, especially the triplets or weaker ones, as wooly jumpers were cheaper than electricity! The response was overwhelming, with over 500 coats having been sent from all over Scotland! 

Besides helping to save energy, the colourful jumpers make it easier to spot the weaker ones! 

Because of the response they decided to arrange viewings so the knitters had the chance to see the goats in their coats. Tickets sold out in no time! The 2nd year they sold 200 tickets and 3rd year 3000 tickets... With 70% of visitors being adults and visitors, including specialty knitters, coming from all over the world.

This year they even had Ailsa, winner of the first Game of Wool,  judging the knitting.

With more and more people keen to support sustainable and animal friendly local production, it would seem Scottish cashmere has a bright future. 

And everything is used: Guard hair is being used to create bedding and duvets, and a local artisan in Laurencekirk felts her goats milk soap. 

Great to hear such a happy local story.

Crochet day school with Lesley Crawford (11 Feb 26)

We had a great turnout for our crochet workshop (day school) with our very own Lesley, who taught us the basic crochet stitches. 

It was not an easy task teaching so many of us at once, although thankfully some of our members were not complete novices, and Isobel provided support to those of us who needed a bit more of it. 

The morning was spent practicing chains, doubles and trebles, and after lunch we started on our scarves. 

There was a lot of concentration and counting going on!

Hopefully we'll soon have pictures of everyone's finished scarves! 

Thank you Lesley! What a great workshop. It's always great to learn a new skill! 

Talk by Liz Dulley: Japan and Kimono (4 Feb 26)

We were delighted to welcome the talented Liz Dulley for a talk on the influence of Japan and Kimono in her work.

Liz is a watercolor artists whose delicate detailed paintings are layered with texture and detail. 

Weather permitting, she likes to be outdoors, in nature, painting flowers, manipulating paint to create interesting surfaces. 

But after being dressed in a kimono, sleeping in a kimono textile studio, and visiting a kimono exhibition in Ueno, a whole new painting style emerged. 

Somee of Liz's recent work doesn't even include the use of a paint brush. For example, it sometimes includes Japanese paper on the painting surface, collected during visits to Japan. 

And recent work also explores using symbolism such as the ties used in kimono and shoes that each have different purposes

Drawing on shape and pattern with attention to detail, Liz finds a place, through Japanese style, she can really relate to. 'Sometimes I think I was already living in a parallel world, without even knowing it!'

Through an abundance of slides, short movies, fabrics, kimonos ( One which an AETA member kindly gifted to Liz! ), architecture and artifacts, Liz was delighte to share her explorations and unique journey behind many of her most recent paintings. Some of which have already been exhibited with The Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour. 

After the talk, we had the opportunity to try on some of the kimonos that Liz brought in....

We look forward to our upcoming workshop with Liz creating miniature works using bit and pieces! 

Meanwhile you can admire Liz's work in person at upcoming exhibitions: 

And find out more at www.lizdulley.co.uk

Thank you Liz! 

cyanotype workshop with Jeni Reid (14 Jan 2026)

We started 2026 with a cracker of a workshop with the lovely Jeni Reid. Jeni is a multi-talented artist who works with a variety of mediums, including photography and cyanotype prints, which share some elements.

While conventional photography captures images via lens and film/digital sensors, cyanotype involves directly exposing sensitized material (paper, fabric) to UV light, resulting in a vibrant blue and white print. 

Jeni had prepared various fabrics and paper with the chemicals in advance, so we immediately got stuck in experimenting with a huge variety of items... Everything from grasses, leaves and dead seed pods, to discarded bits of lace, Xmas decorations, beads, crystals, netting, feathers, wool curls and much more....

We layered our items onto the pre-treated fabric, covered this with a sheet of glass to hold everything down firmly and ensure close contact with the fabric. 

We then placed our creations in a box or tray and exposed it to a UV light over the top for about 10 minutes.

The fabric or paper could also be placed outside in the sun, but then it would need to be left a bit longer (about 90 minutes) and it would really need to be a sunny day. 

The chemicals on the fabric react with the light. The items placed on the fabric block the UV light and therefore leave a negative print. The fabric is then immediately rinsed to remove the remaining chemicals, and the print reveals itself. 

After the first trials, which were already amazing, the group became increasingly experimental and the variety of designs produced was fabulous. 

Sally even experimented with a drawing of a fish on a sheet of acetate and bringing in some other elements to create an "under the sea" themed print, which was very clever indeed! 

who would have thought that wool curls could look like seaweed?!?

We all had the most amazing fun time. Thank you Jeni for sharing some of your vast knowledge with us and giving us the chance to play. What a brilliant way to spend a cold and damp winter's day!