New chapter for Kendal's Quaker Tapestry (From The Westmorland Gazette)

New chapter for Kendal's Quaker Tapestry

8:10am Tuesday 31st January 2012 in Art By Adrian Mullen, Arts correspondent

THE Quaker Tapestry is back on the road with the majority of the panels on show at Ely Cathedral until February 29.

Since its first public airing in 1989, the Kendal-based tapestry has graced the interiors of 150 venues across the UK.

However, the Cambridgeshire trip will be the final roadshow in the tapestry’s present format due to the huge financial and logistical undertaking of moving the panels around the country.

QT general manager and textile expert Bridget Guest said that once the panels are remounted as part of this year’s major conservation work they will be much more versatile and easier to maneourve.

The Quaker Tapestry panels - which chart 350 years of social history - have been delighting audiences and visitors to the award-winning attraction at the Friends Meeting House on Stramongate since they were first created 30 years ago. Since they were first mounted and framed, textile conservation techniques have improved significantly so in 2011, funding was raised to allow all 77 panels to be remounted and framed.

During 2012 Bridget will lead a small team of volunteers through the painstaking process.

Bridget explained that they had been researching and designing the project for the last two years and after consulting various experts along the way were able to come up with the perfect design solution for preserving their own embroideries.

She added: “Our small team of volunteers are gradually gaining confidence in their abilities and becoming quite the experts with the process of this conservation work, which begins with preparing a new ‘cushion’ or ’bed’ for the tapestry to be seated upon. The cushion is made by bonding acid free foam board and card together for strength, using conservation PVA glue, which is then surrounded by a padding of cotton bump and cotton calico, secured again with the glue and the use of conservation textile tape.

“One of the most exciting aspects of the work is when we cut the offending laces at the back of the old mounted tapestry, which are causing too much stress and tension to the artefact, to allow us to see the reverse of the embroidery.

“The main objective with conservation work is to remember that in another 50 years or so textile conservation ideas will change again so whatever we do at this stage needs to be able to be unpicked without causing harm to the artefact itself.”

For those who would like to see the conservation work in progress at Kendal, there are a number of programmed sessions throughout 2012 where people can combine a visit to the exhibition with an opportunity to see the work taking place.

For further information visit www.quaker-tapestry.co.uk.