Back home in the German rain!

I am back home, now enjoying (more or less) the German rain as opposed to the Italian rain last week...

The Winter School was a wonderful experience, and I got to meet and spend a little time with so many of my colleagues that I see way too rarely! The practical part of the school itself was more like "Textile Technique Speed Dating", as there was only very little time for each small group in each technique. We knew that beforehand and had planned accordingly, so I had compressed the "how to spin" as much as possible, and prepared a lot of spindles so everyone could have a try straight away, with no time lost to prep. That worked almost als well as imagined, except I had counted on a bit of breathing time while everybody span, and had planned to use those two or three minutes to reset the first batch of spindles while the second one was in use. Well, that plan went down the drain almost immediately, because there were too many questions and too much to show - which meant that it got a little more stressful than anticipated. 

It was great fun, though, and also an interesting experience regarding of how much you can teach in the shortest time possible, and where the pitfalls are. 

The programme of the International Winter School "Textiles Make the World go Round" was topped off by a spectacular closing event: A "Catwalk to the Past" in the magnificent Sala dei Giganti of the Uni of Padova. This prehistoric fashion show was planned and organised by Karina Grömer, who has done similar events in the past a few times, and her team Kayleigh Saunderson and Ronja Lau, plus the many volunteer models who took part in the show.

And in case you missed the thing on site and also the livestream, fortunately there is a video recording of the Catwalk to the Past! Unfortunately I was not able to embed it here directly, but you can click this link, which brings you to the point after the Italian opening speeches and right to the start of the presentation.

I hope you enjoy it!