A few weeks ago, as a bit of creative nonsense, I thought I would have a go at designing my own personal versions of y Gadair a Choron for the Eisteddfod Genedlaethol taking place in just a few weeks time in Rhondda Cynon Taf. The Maes will be in Pontypridd, just a few miles down the road from the village where I was born. I was therefore interested to see photos of what the real ones will look like. They were revealed to the press just a few days ago. The ‘Nod Cyfrin’ (secret sign) symbol and the wording are strictly prescribed, but pretty much everything else is up for grabs. The famous old bridge at Pontypridd and coal pit surface winding gear were obvious design elements that are visible in all of the designs. For the crown, I also tried to incorporate a pattern that is supposed to resemble the terraced houses typical of the Rhondda. I was born in one of them, many years ago!
I much prefer your crown Jason (and it’s not just green being my favourite colour that sways it!)
Green is my favourite colour as well for all sorts of reasons. I think we may be in a minority.
My cousin visited me this weekend. She’d heard about a weaving workshop in Bangor, so we went and had a go on Saturday. It was at SAORImôr, a registered SAORI Weaving studio. SAORI is a Japanese freestyle approach to handweaving that encourages people to express themselves intuitively.
We had a fantastic 2 hours there, learning how to work the looms, and being let loose to make our own ‘freestyle’ pieces, and Rosie was a marvellous tutor - a highly recommended experience.
Here’s the piece I made which now hangs on a vertical beam by my staircase.
I’d love to back and do another one - but I think I more or less used up all the green scraps that were in the basket!
weaving - gwehyddiaeth
to weave - gwehydda
Sounds like you had a great time. Nothing like free-styling creatively, in whatever medium or art form, to feel alive! I imagine Welsh has all sorts of equivalents for words like ‘warp’, ‘weft’ and ‘loom’, though probably only textile practitioners would actually need to know and actively use them. I recognise the words in English, but only half-understand their meanings. I can imagine a group of Welsh weavers busily chatting amongst themselves using vocabulary and expressions that would probably flummox many native speakers, let alone a poor ‘dysgwr’ such as myself.
Yes, there are of course Welsh terms, though the lesson was in English, so I didn’t have to worry at the time but I have looked them up since.
warp - ystof or edau groes. These are the vertical strands. I accidently over-tightened the ones on my piece which is why one end is narrower than the other.
weft - anwe or edefion anwe. These are the horizontal strands that are inserted using a shuttle and loose pieces of thread or material.
shuttle - gwennol gwehedydd. a piece of wood that the weft thread is wound onto and which is passed from side to side between the warp threads.
loom - ffrâm wau or gwŷdd (not to be confused with gŵydd 
)