Every year the British Violin Making Association (BVMA) hosts the Makers' Day, a one-day fair of violin makers and traders. On 4 February we all converged on Kings Place, the fine new(ish) concert hall and arts venue which is one of the keystones of the redevelopment of the Kings Cross area in London. This is the second year we've been there and it's a great venue; light, spacious and airy, with a good café and big practice rooms for players to try out our instruments. There … [Read more...]
Archives for February 2018
Vintage violin blanket
One of my colleagues gave me this wreck of a violin blanket recently. It was in a nineteenth century violin case. It's hand embroidered, probably on a silk/cotton fabric. The warp threads are intact but the weft threads, probably the silk, have almost totally disintegrated, held together only by the embroidery. This blanket is a reminder of the time long before television when evenings were long and nobody liked to be idle, so needlework was a good way of filling the time. I guess I grew … [Read more...]
