Tapestry Share

Happy New Year! A new tapestry book to mention...

2012-01-01T18:11:00.002-05:00

My New Year began in a lovely way since my copy of a book I'd ordered arrived yesterday. It's Joanne Soroka's book, Tapestry Weaving: Design and Technique. It's published by The Crowood Press in the UK. Here's a link to the place from which I ordered it at The Book Depository.

permission to show book cover given by Ms. Soroka

The book has wonderful photos of many of Soroka's tapestries along with those of a number of other tapestry artists working currently. Historical aspects of tapestry are briefly touched upon and there are enough references mentioned to get one going on exploration for further information, if desired. I'm glad to add it to my library and recommend it as an inspirational and informative resource.

Happy Holidays to everyone!

2011-12-24T15:03:00.000-05:00

I hope your holiday season is turning out to be a very good one for everyone of you. May you celebrate the new year with lots of ideas for tapestry making and many happy hours seeing those ideas grow on your looms.

Speaking of looms, here's a link to a posting on my web site about setting up my large 60" loom. This is the method I usually use for warping my upright tapestry looms. The warp that was being done in the photos has been woven off now. It turned into the tapestry called Leaf Dance that I finished in 2010.

http://web.me.com/tmscanlin/web.me.com_tmscanlin/Preparing_to_weave.html

Leaf Dance, 54" x 53", wool and cotton

Here's my little studio Christmas tree, by the way. The teeny lights decorating the tree were sold at our local hardware store as "Flashing Holiday Necklace"--but I thought they'd be perfect for my little Norfolk Island Pine that lives at my studio. Although you can't really see them, there are also three vintage glass ornaments on the tree that came from my grandmother's home. They're fragile and quite special so I only pull them out occasionally. I thought I'd enjoy them here this year.

So... have a happy and safe rest of the year! Celebrate tapestry whenever and wherever you can!

Happy Thanksgiving--and an addition to Tapestry Share

2011-11-25T17:59:00.003-05:00

Hello all,
I hope your Thanksgiving was great and that you're well energized for a good winter of tapestry making! I thought I'd do an addition to the blog's first page so that a few of the posts that might be particularly useful can be easily found. If you look in the left margin under the Search box you'll find the heading Jump to Helpful Hints Here at Tapestry Share with a few links below that. I'll add blog posting links to this in the future as things come up.

See what you think!

Little tapestry started at Folkschool

2011-11-19T05:42:00.004-05:00

This is a small tapestry about 3 inches wide, in-progress, on a 1/2 inch Archie copper pipe loom. I began weaving this while taking Tommye's tapestry design class at John Campbell Folk School in January.

I began by using a cartoon that I traced from some brushstrokes of paint on paper that we used in our creative exercises in the workshop. I was intrigued by the colors coming through and fading out against the background paper. I chose the colors from the weft yarns I had brought to the workshop.

As I got further into weaving the piece, I set the cartoon aside and allowed the colors and wefts to do the talking. This intuitive way of choosing color and blends has been very freeing and fun, but at one point, I got stuck and didn't know where to go with it. I met up to weave with Joan Griffin in October and she suggested that I begin to fade out the colors to paler ones as I progress and that's what I've been doing here.

Mounting/finishing method for small tapestries

2011-11-18T19:01:00.005-05:00

I'm preparing for an exhibit soon and have lots of small tapestries that I'm getting ready to hang. I thought I'd share some of the process here. There's a good collection of articles about hanging methods for tapestry included at the American Tapestry Alliance website at this link. The method I was using a few years ago was the one I described at the ATA site and it's just a bit different than what I'm showing here. But... there you go... always looking for a different way... if not better! So here are my steps:

For the mounting board I've used 1/2" foam core board. It works fine for small pieces; the largest one in this group is 41" long x 4" wide. I measured and cut the mounting board using a fresh blade in the utility knife. A cutting mat is quite helpful for this process as is a metal yard stick.

Next, I stretched a layer of cotton flannel (prewashed/dried) over the board using 3/8" staples. I clipped the ends and trimmed excess cloth away.

The mounting fabric in this instance is a natural color of cotton twill canvas. It was also washed, dried and this fabric was steam pressed (no need to press the flannel since it smooths out when stretching and stapling it.)

Excess fabric was clipped out of the corners, then the edges folded over and stapled at the back. This step is a bit tricky--you want to pull the corners as tightly and smoothly as possible. Staple and then you're ready to stitch on the tapestry.

The tapestry is laid onto the mounting board and pinned in place temporarily with t-pins. The mounting boards are about 1/4" to 1/2" larger than the tapestry so there's a small margin showing around the edges of the weavings.

Before mounting, the ends of the warps are dealt with... for small pieces that aren't four-selvedge woven (which leaves no loose warps to deal with), I usually use a half-Damascus edge that Peter Collingwood describes in his book, The Techniques of Rug Weaving. It's shown on pages 484-486. The process is done with the face of the tapestry down and it makes the warp ends lay against the back/body of the tapestry. Then I whip-stitch the warp ends down, four to six grouped together. And wefts that are near the edges are also tucked to the back with a whip stitch.

Using a curved needle, the tapestry is stitched to the mounting fabric, moving around the edges. A color of sewing thread that will blend with the edge colors as well as possible is what was used, although I changed color of stitching thread if the value contrast of the weft at the edges was great. On the pieces with the warp showing at the edge, the stitching color was changed to the warp color (usually natural color).

The curved needle will slip into the mounting fabric, travel up about 1/4" and then come out between the first and second warp. Pull the needle out, bury the sewing thread between wefts, then put the needle across to the mounting fabric again where you'll take another stitch under the fabric to the next point of attachment to the tapestry.

This is a curved needle... although looks straight here.

The back of the mounting board was covered with a piece of illustration board (mat board will work also) that was glued down. To glue it in place, the illustration board was quickly painted with slightly diluted craft glue, brushing it over the entire board and immediately laying the board on the back of the mounting board/tapestry. You need to be prepared to weight the whole thing down immediately--have wax paper torn to sightly larger size than the board (this is a barrier to keep any bits of glue from your weight) and put the wax paper on top of the whole thing. Weigh it down with something heavy (I use books). Leave it all alone overnight and when you uncover it the next day, all should be fine.

For hanging, there are several solutions... you can use an adhesive hanging system, sawtooth hangers, or velcro. I was able to locate enough push pin sawtooth hangers to use for the tapestry diary pieces at the local hardware. This is an easy method to use and should stay in place just fine.

The mounting board may also be put into a shadowbox-like frame. That's what I'm going to do with several of the smallest tapestries--frames will have to be built to size by a local craftsman in this case since I haven't been able to find shadowbox frames as small as I need.

And... here are the framed pieces... Jeff just delivered the frames a short while ago. They're exactly what I wanted for these pieces.

A few photos from the Sutherland Studio workshop

2011-11-12T17:16:00.000-05:00

Rita sent these photos... more to come soon. It's hard to believe a week has passed since we were all hard at work in Asheville!

Pat winds a bobbin

I'm photographing Rita as she shoots in return!

Liese chats with Pat while Hardy is concentrating on his shaped tapestry

Cindy and Barb

Betsy and Tommye

Diane's lovely smile

And Liese's smiling face.

Wonderful workshop at Sutherland Handweaving Studio

2011-11-06T20:58:00.001-05:00

I'll post photos soon... but a quick update to say the two 1/2 day workshop went well and that everyone had a good time.

Photos from Recent Four Selvedge Workshop

2011-10-23T14:26:00.001-04:00

We had a wonderful group who met yesterday at my studio for the four selvedge workshop that Pat Williams and I were presenting. There were five of us squeezed into my small studio house but we all fit into our own places just fine. Six were enrolled but one person, unfortunately, had a death in the family and wasn't able to join us.

Pat and I have both worked with four selvedge method of set up for tapestry weaving for several months now. We've both learned the process through watching Susan Maffei's demonstration on the DVD, Woven Tapestry Techniques, and also by reading her articles about the method on the Brennan-Maffei website.

I spent a day with Pat earlier in the week so that we could do final preparations for the workshop... these first few photos are about that:

Pat's worktable with some of our examples laid out

Pat completes a four selvedge piece (the black warp is the supplemental warp, not the tapestry warp).

Pat's pulling out the supplemental warp remains from the small tapestry...

... and she's using Susan's alternative finish method to end the piece.

Next, are a few photos from the workshop. The day began with a demonstration of the process, then each person worked with their own loom to set up a 1" wide sample, at 6 ends per inch. The height of the piece was up to them but we suggested that they make it 4 or 5" tall.

Gail and Ann Lynn set up their looms

Everyone wanted to be together to work, so once the looms were set up we all squeezed into my front room for doing the weaving of the sample.

Rosemary and Gail

L to R: Ann Lynn, Sidsel, Genie, Gail, Rosemary

L to R: Ann Lynn, Pat, Gail (Rosemary behind Gail)

L to R: Ann Lynn, Pat, Rosemary, Gail, Sidsel, Genie

Sidsel and Rosemary

The first piece was completed before noon and we had a quick sandwich from a local shop. After our lunch break everyone took off the first sample and rewarp the loom. Eight ends per inch was the next challenge everyone tried and some warped a bit wider. Almost everyone was able to rewarp to take home for completion and one finished a second 1" wide piece before the end of the workshop at 5 p.m.

Pat and I hope everyone will be able to now continue to use this method. It's a wonderful way to eliminate the warp ends on small pieces. And, just like any skill, the ease with which one uses it develops through practice (practice, practice, practice...!)

And, Pat and I are considering another one day workshop together, possibly in about six months, to be held next at Pat's studio. We'll announce details of schedule and cost in the future--but if anyone's interested, please let us know. That will help us with planning.

Our next confirmed teaching date is coming up in less than two weeks, a two day and one evening class at Sutherland Handweaving Studio in Asheville, NC. The class is filled with 15 participants and Karen Donde is collecting waiting list names. Possibly we'll be scheduling another class at Sutherland in 2012.

Four selvedge workshop a big success!

2011-10-22T18:14:00.001-04:00

Photos to follow soon... !

Four Selvedge Workshop is tomorrow

2011-10-21T16:28:00.000-04:00

Six people will be coming to Dahlonega to have a workshop with Pat Williams and me. Pat and I have been working with four selvedge warping since early summer, using Susan Martin Maffei's instructions from the DVD and also her written notes from her website. We're going to share what we've been learning along the way.

Here are three recent little pieces I've done as I've tried something different in each one:

This is a Spelsau warp. I noticed the hatching I was doing seemed to suggest fingers so I did hands at the top of the piece above the pick and pick area. EPI is about 7.5 for this. I was trying the alternative finish that Susan suggests on her website--using crochet hook to chain through the top of the loops to end. I didn't allow for it at the bottom so it's only used at the top on this piece.

The warp for this is 12/6 cotton seine twine in a dark blue. I added scrap picks of twine at both ends to give allowance to chain through the loops on each side. I continued to see where I could take the hand designs, thinking of hand gestures but not using a cartoon. This is about 8 epi.

Again I used the chaining of the loops to finish the little piece; this warp was a yellow-green linen and the sett was about 8.5 epi.

I've done about 20 of these small pieces now; earlier in the summer I was working with landscapes. These last ones have been simpler. Maybe by the time I do 20 more, I'll really feel comfortable with this warping method!

Playing around with Repper!

2011-10-13T12:06:00.000-04:00

Many of you may already be familiar with Repper. I've just learned about this pattern generating website through Alice Schlein's blog, Weaverly. She's been designing with it and interpreting the designs with her TC-1 loom... fascinating! Here's a link to one of her blog entries about it. She's also teaching an online class through Weavolution in the use of the tool.

I played around with the free demo version a bit yesterday, using a photo of a recent tapestry for the image source. I cropped into the tapestry and then turned the pattern generation over to Repper... here are some of the results that I saved:

Does this have potential for tapestry design?? Maybe! I'll have to work with it a bit more to decide. I haven't yet committed to buying the program, though... even through it's not too expensive. Looks like it may be more for others than for me. But I wanted to share a bit about it, anyway. Take a look, if you want to, and decide for yourself it might become a useful designing tool for you.

John C. Campbell Folk School class in January

2011-10-10T08:42:00.001-04:00

I wanted to mention again the class I'll be teaching at John Campbell in January. Here's the description:

Comfortable with basic tapestry methods and want to try others-maybe pick-and-pick, Soumak, weft chaining, or clasped wefts? These and other methods will be used to create a textural tapestry “doodle”, allowing you to audition them as part of your expressive tapestry style. Ability to warp and experience in tapestry is required for this intermediate to advanced class.

The Folk School website has more information: http://www.folkschool.org

Maybe I'll see so of you there! The Folk School is a wonderful place to have a class and I'm looking forward to returning.

Books about tapestry

2011-09-21T16:07:00.000-04:00

Cathie Beckman recently asked a question on Weavolution about tapestry resource books. I've catalogued most of my studio books at LibraryThing. I've put tags on most of them, especially the tapestry ones. Here's the link, if anyone's wanting to see what my library holds. I can't say truly that I've read each and every one from cover to cover but have done so with many of them.

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/tmscanlin

I continue to add books when I find good ones. I just picked up a copy of the ATA Small Tapestry International 2/Passages catalog at the current exhibit location for the show, the Cultural Arts Center of Glen Allen, Virginia. It's an outstanding exhibit, by the way. Thanks to Lynn Mayne for letting me know that the show was there--and it fortunately coincided with a planned trip to Richmond for my husband and me.

Four Selvedge Workshop is FULL

2011-09-12T10:58:00.002-04:00

I've received six deposits now and that FILLS the class for October 22! Thanks, folks. Pat & I are looking forward to it.

Tommye

Sorry about the Hambidge posting...

2011-08-25T09:14:00.001-04:00

... I was using BlogPress to post and I didn't notice that it had Tapestry Share selected as the blog for which to post!

I'm leaving the post in place here since I've had one comment from Cathie about it. The thoughts are sharing about some of the ways I use to generate ideas for tapestry. The drawing or painting that I do is a way to discover what I want to do. Sometimes it works better than other times! Oh, by the way... if you want to see more about my time at Hambidge my blog is http://tapestry13.blogspot.com

Work from today at Hambidge

2011-08-24T20:00:00.004-04:00

I had to go to Asheville, NC for a couple of meetings with committees of Southern Highland Craft Guild on Monday and stayed overnight to be at another meeting on Tuesday. So I missed a couple of days work at Hambidge... but jumped back into it today.

I called three more pieces "done" and began work on three new smaller ones. I also continued process on five more that have been underway. Here are photos of what's happening:

As I stop working on pieces I move them to another part of the room... pinning or nailing them up whereever I can. I've had to start coming down the stairs on the railing... and I've only been here a week! I guess I'll have to put them up on top of one another if I keep up at this pace... 16 pieces are either done or underway now and so far 24" x 36" is the smallest dimension.

These are in beginning stages or almost to the point of being taken down:

I did a couple of underpaintings on two of the 18" x 24" canvases today:

I'm really struggling with this one:

This one, too:

And, believe it or not... am pretty happy with this one.

This is a 36" wide x 60+" long one that's had the beginning steps... more work on this one tomorrow.

I also sat outside with watercolors and a clay board I got at True Blue Art Supply in Asheville yesterday... It's the only piece I've done so far that was from observation.

Tomorrow I'm going to do some things that will involve my drawing from observation... at least that's what I'm thinking right now! That should slow me down since it takes so much concentration to see what I'm seeing--and then to find a way to represent it. But whatever tomorrow holds will be with tomorrow.

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

4-selvedge mini-class coming soon for 6 people

2011-08-23T08:39:00.002-04:00

Pat Williams and I will be teaching a one day workshop at my studio in Dahlonega, Georgia, USA on October 22 at which we'll share what we've been learning about 4-selvedge weaving. It will be open for 6 people only (4 are now enrolled) since it will be held at my studio and there's just not room enough there for more than that there to function in a workshop kind of way!

So... 22nd of October, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pat and I will both have floor stands into which a copper pipe loom or a Hagen loom can be placed for the warping process (will make it SO much easier!) Participant should bring their own frame loom which we'll help you warp for a small sample piece. The goal is to complete the small piece and to rewarp for another one before the end of the workshop day. Here's where I described my beginning journey with the process earlier in the blog: http://tapestryshare.blogspot.com/2011/06/more-on-four-selvedge-adventure.html

If you're interested please e-mail me immediately to see if there's still space available. Cost is $105, and that includes the warp you'll be using. Deposit of $50 is due immediately upon signing up--balance due on the 22nd.

Let there be light

2011-08-06T20:42:00.001-04:00

I got to thinking while I was weaving last month on the loom. I see okay when the sun shines...

But with all that black warp and weft yarn, a cloud can make things difficult...

There could be a lamp or some track lighting above the loom, but the small LED tape was a tempting answer to putting the light right above the work. They came from Inspired LED at http://www.inspiredled.com/. The tape comes in a roll and is only about 1/4" wide. I just couldn't bring myself to glue the tape directly to the maple of the loom. Then, it came to me to glue to one of the spacer sticks.

The final question is how is it on the loom - see for yourself!

The coolest bonus is I can move the light between looms....

Two tapestry classes coming up in a few months

2011-07-26T10:17:00.000-04:00

First, Pat Williams & I will be teaching a 2 + day class at Sutherland Handweaving Studio in Asheville, November 4-6, 2011. Check with Karen Donde for details about the class through the link above; I think there are about 11 enrolled at this point and we're open for 15.

Next, I'll be teaching a John C. Campbell Folk School in January, 2012. The next catalog is now available from the Folk School and the class description is online so enrollment may begin in that. It's during the advanced week and will be directed toward intermediate/advanced ideas (what are those, one may say... I continue to try to decide that!) Here's the link to the class description for that class: https://www.folkschool.org/index.php?section=class_detail&class_id=5269

I'll also be teaching at Arrowmont in June of 2012... details for that will be available soon at the Arrowmont website.

Hope to see some of you in one or the other of these classes (or both).

A Weaverly Path--Silvia Heyden documentary film

2011-07-09T09:57:00.000-04:00

Here's a link to the website where one may see a trailer for the documentary film about Silvia Heyden. I'm eager to have a chance to see the whole film--and to purchase it once it's released for DVD sales.

Four selvedge weave, yet again

2011-06-08T17:08:00.000-04:00

I'm continuing my exploration of four selvedge warping by setting up a warp each day and weaving it off. So far, in addition to the 1" wide sample from the last post, I've done five small tapestries (four are shown below--today's is pinned down to dry after being washed). The sizes range from 1 3/4" wide x 7" high to about 2 3/4" w x 4" h. I'm doing very simplified land/sky things and by making the pieces small I can weave the entire piece in just a few hours time, take it off the loom and then wash it. Although I don't always wash tapestry pieces, I decided to do so with these since they're so small and the twist of the seine twine was making the little piece twist, as well. So I'm washing and pressing them, then leaving them to dry while pinned to the ironing board.

I'm now using 12/6 cotton seine twine in a color for the weaving warp. The 12/6 is small enough that when it doubles for the weaving the sett becomes 8 epi. For the scaffolding warp I'm using 12/12 seine twine, and it goes on at 12 epi. I wrap the bottom with 12/18 seine twine; I found that having a slightly heavier warp for the bottom helps keep the spacing the way I want it. The weft is from my scraps of assorted wools, and I'm finding that the softer 20/2 wool or the Victorian tapestry wool is working well at 5 strands per bobbin.

more on the four selvedge adventure

2011-06-01T15:10:00.001-04:00

OK... so I tried it again today. Calmly and methodically. And... IT WORKED! You know how it is when you sleep on it? Right? Trying to learn a new skill and the first time around, even through your mind knows what's what, your hands don't quite get it yet... can you relate to that? So after getting to the studio today I undid the screw up I made yesterday (thank goodness I followed Susan's advice in the DVD and only had warp of about an inch wide in place).

Here are photos of today's adventure in this process, one I hope to become adept with in the very near future. The progress today was encouraging!

The warp is in place; the scaffolding bar hasn't yet been removed

The scaffolding bar is removed and two shed sticks are in place near the top of the loom. One is for the open shed; the other shed is finger picked in this narrow warp. For something wider, leashes could be set up. The note and arrow on the photo are pointing to the weaving area of the warp.

Here's a detail of the weaving area. The loops are seen at the top and the loops, plus the wrapping of the third warp for spacer is seen at the bottom.

Shed sticks are in place; see how two warps are used as one.

The doubled warps created by the warping process act as a single warp in the weaving.

As the weaving progressess the two warps are combining to make a sett of about 6 epi. I'm using three strands of 2-ply wool as weft.

When the top of the loops is reached more weft needs to be packed in so the loops will be as close as possible to the weaving when it's off the loom.

The last bit of the weft gets threaded through the top of the loops with a needle, then the tail is passed down into the weaving to hide it.

Slipping out the upper warp.

Here's the top; I could have squeezed a pass or two more in before taking the needle through--that would have allowed the weft to schooch closer to the top. Also, if the weft had been softer it would have filled in more.

The lower area of the weaving had two warp ends that were tied to the third warp to secure them together. When finished these get needle woven into the channel of the warp beside them...

... as I'm doing here. The end then gets clipped off.

Here's the little piece... the diagrams are from Susan & Archie's website at this link.

More to come in the next few days as I learn more about this way of warping.

Four selvedge weave adventure

2011-06-01T09:06:00.000-04:00

I'm trying four selvedge warping using Susan Maffei's directions shown in the DVD and also her written instructions that are available at the Brennan & Maffei website. I'll have to say that I mucked it up yesterday on my first attempt! I'll empty the loom and give it another go today.

I want to learn this process since I know it will be a beautiful way to work with small pieces and not have to deal with warp ends afterwards. I was introduced to the method when in the Penland concentration with Archie and Susan a decade ago. But I haven't used the technique since then. I know what needs to happen to set it up right, I can see and hear Susan doing it on the DVD, I read and re-read the instructions--now, just have to get the motor control and the understanding of the process working together!

Archie Brennan & Susan Martin Maffei workshop, May 2011, Georgia

2011-05-21T14:38:00.000-04:00

Members of Tapestry Weavers South spent an enlightening few days with master tapestry makers Archie Brennan and Susan Martin Maffei from May 10 through early afternoon on May 15, 2011. The workshop location was Camp Mikell near Toccoa, Georgia and the weather was beautiful for the entire time with chilly mornings and warm afternoons.

Archie and Susan challenged us with pears... our task began as we were asked to bring two pears to the workshop, along with drawing supplies, colored papers and glue sticks. We first looked carefully and made line drawings of our pears. Then we put the drawing aside and cut freely from the paper to make the pear shapes. Next we began to arrange the cut shapes within an 8" square format. We considered the relationship of the shapes to each other and also to the edges of the format. We thought about adding a shelf or table-top to give another quality to the simple composition.

Finally, we warped looms and began to weave color samples of possible color combinations to use to render the suggested pear design from the collage into a tapestry.

During the week we spent time each evening looking at tapestries. For instance, we were able to see pieces the students had with them either through projected images or the real thing; we viewed a bit of the new DVD about tapestry that Archie and Susan have done (more about that in a minute); Archie showed some of his tapestry pieces from the past few years; and Susan shared images from her body of work.

It was a tremendous learning experience and everyone left with something, whether it was a new bit of knowledge, inspiration and insight or a new friend-in-tapestry. Many thanks to Archie & Susan for their continuing efforts to educate about the process of tapestry making. Thanks also go to all of those who worked behind the scenes to cause the workshop to happen so smoothly!

Now... about Archie and Susan's DVD. It's called "Woven Tapestry Techniques" and holds 16 hours of instruction about tapestry, contained on eight DVDs. It will be available through their website in the very near future; those of us at the workshop were lucky to be able to purchase some of the first ones. So far, I've watched DVD 1 about looms, warping, basic weaving and leashes, as well as part of DVD 8--the section about four selvedge weaving.

Can't travel to a workshop? Well, this series now gives an incredible chance to have a workshop experience with Archie & Susan... in the privacy of one's own home studio, where ever that might be! The depth of knowledge about tapestry making that both Archie and Susan have is being very generously shared through these DVDs, adding to their grassroots efforts to educate in tapestry. I very highly recommend it to anyone interested in furthering their understanding of tapestry making.

Traveling tapestry studio

2011-05-09T18:51:00.000-04:00

I thought I'd post a quick few photos of my traveling studio. I almost always have a small loom with me whenever I'm on a road trip in a car. I usually weave while riding along -- key word is riding since I haven't yet figured out how to safely weave and drive!

This little loom is 8" wide x approximately 14" high (the nuts on the threaded rods at the sides can be screwed together more or less to make it slightly shorter or longer). I usually place the loom between two pieces of foam core board and stick it in a bag for traveling. I've found that a bungee cord works well to hold the sandwich of foam core/loom together.

The warp on the loom this time around is a hemp thread that I bought at Southeast Fiber Forum from Lunatic Fringe. It's sett at 10 epi and I'm using two pieces of 5-strand embroidery floss as the weft. The piece is about 4" wide and will be around 6 or 7" high. Because the warp is quite short the pick shed is more challenging to make and as I get nearer the top I'll probably use a weaving needle for that shed. I may also change the size of the open shed holder--right now I'm using a thick pencil for that, as you can see.

So my traveling studio consists of a book bag into which I put a set of small scissors, a small bobbin or two, a package of assorted tapestry needles, a couple of zip lock bags with assorted wefts, and the loom. I can sling it all over my shoulder and lug it along just fine. In the car the bag of stuff sits by my feet and I prop the loom in my lap to weave. Oh... a recent discovery... a Subway napkin hanging from the sun visor in the car gives just that extra blocking of the low position of the sun when the car is headed southwest in the late afternoon!

Recently tapestry commission woven at the West Dean tapestry studio

2011-05-09T16:23:00.003-04:00

Here's a link to an article about a commissioned tapestry recently completed at West Dean. I got to see a teeny bit of it on the loom when I was there last fall. It was "Top Secret" at the time--it couldn't be reveled who it was being woven for ahead of time. But the news is out now!

"The Last Grasp"

2011-05-01T06:54:00.000-04:00

Not a tapestry loom but based upon Archie's copper pipe looms...

2011-04-30T12:46:00.000-04:00

Evelyn posted this link on Weavolution:

http://www.wormspit.com/blog/2007/06/21/copper-tablet-weaving-loom/

Another interesting variation to using copper pipe pieces for loom components.

I've also made a beading loom using the copper pipe--here's my beading loom:

The nice thing about using copper pipe is that it's easy to find, not too terribly expensive, easy to cut with an inexpensive pipe cutter and looms can be made in a short time. I have about 15 of the small frames for tapestry now.

James Koehler, [1952-2011]: Work of acclaimed weaver evoked sense of stillness

2011-03-30T18:46:00.001-04:00

Rebecca Mezoff posted this link to an obituary and notice of memorial for James Koehler:

James Koehler, [1952-2011]: Work of acclaimed weaver evoked sense of stillness

and yet another YouTube

2011-03-28T07:53:00.000-04:00

This one was mentioned on the tapestry list this morning by Ixchel Suarez. There are several other videos you'll find related to this one.

another video of interest

2011-03-25T10:32:00.001-04:00

Helene Hernmark and assistants are shown in the video that's linked to this website:

http://browngrotta.com/Pages/hernmarck.php

The video link is located at the right side. Very interesting to see! I'm going to see if I can embed it here:

video that's quite interesting--despite annoying ads!

2011-03-22T11:16:00.000-04:00

Just saw this link posted on Facebook:

Stages de tapisserie de basse et haute lisse by sandrine-pincemaille

Erin M. Riley's tapestry-- her talk coming up this week at NGCSU

2011-03-11T09:02:00.010-05:00

The latest issue of Fiberarts magazine (Spring 2011) has an article about the tapestry work of Erin M. Riley. Her work is described as "...beautiful but (showing) arresting glimpses of a generation out of control."

More information about the artist talk to be held on March 24 at NGCSU:

Artistic Freedom of Speech: A Conversation with Stanley Bermudez and Erin Riley

Wednesday, March 23, 6-7:30 pm

Rm. 407, Hoag Student Center, North Georgia College & State University, Dahlonega, GA

Erin M Riley, a tapestry weaver who lives and works in Philadelphia, PA, and Stanley Bermudez, a multi-media artist who teaches at Gainesville State College, will be speaking on artistic freedom of speech on Wednesday, March 23, 6 pm, in 407 Hoag Student Center on the North Georgia College & State University campus. The event is co-sponsored by the Department of Visual Arts and Liberty Tree Initiative.

Riley’s hand-woven tapestries have been exhibited internationally, her work has been featured in such magazines as FiberArts and New American Painting, and she has completed several artist-in-residencies. She will be talking about the Internet and how image, video, and text sharing has been brought into a personal sphere. images meant to be private or images taken without the subject’s permission but sent as mass texts, posted on blogs, Facebook and websites devoted to "late night mistakes" can be devastating. While acknowledging that, Riley is also interested in how these pictures can be used constructively.

Bermudez, who works in pastels, paint, clay, and metal, has had work exhibited throughout the United States as well as Venezuela. He enjoys expressing himself through a variety of media in art that reflect his interest in artistic traditions of the western Venezuelan state of Zulia, where he was raised, and in characters from history, literature, music, politics, religion, and family. Bermudez will be speaking on his experiences with censorship and the relationship between censorship and his art.

With Erin's permission to post, here is one of her tapestries:

Three Strikes, 2010, 36" x 25"

Erin is currently artist-in-residence at McColl Center for Visual Art, Charlotte, NC. Here's a campus map of NGCSU; the Student Center is building 3 on the map:

Kathe Todd-Hooker's YouTube videos about bobbins

2011-03-08T15:07:00.000-05:00

Kathe just posted on the tapestry list news of a couple of YouTube videos she and Pat Spark have done about bobbin winding. Here are links (and, hey Kathe--cool nail polish!):

Sad news for tapestry

2011-03-06T14:50:00.004-05:00

As most of you have probably heard by now, James Koehler passed away on March 3, 2011. Several people who have blogs are writing about their experiences with him. Here are a few that have been posted at this point:

Rebecca Mezoff's blog

Lyn Hart's blog

Janet Austin's blog

Kathy Spoering's blog

Tommye Scanlin's blog

If any of you also have studied with James and have memories and/or photos you'd like to share, please do so. He was very inspirational to many and his passing is a sad loss.

tapestry pix

2011-02-24T15:10:00.003-05:00

I'm going to try and post the new tapestry I just finished. It's called Please Don"t Shoot Me: Portrait of a Young Man, As Witnessed by the Artist, Cincinnati Riots 2001

More news from Dahlonega

2011-02-24T12:07:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Karen Donde, the loom company which manufactures the Baby Wolf loom that collapsed when I was unfolding it and causing my recent injury has made some changes to printed instructions that may help prevent it from happening to anyone else. Karen, of Sutherland Handweaving in Asheville, is a Schacht dealer and she contacted the company with news of my injury. Within 24 hours I had an e-mail from Jane Patrick at Schacht saying that they were sorry to hear about the incident and they were immediately making changes to the wording of the instruction manual; they're also considering a possible change to the loom to make it impossible for the same thing to happen again. Below is the latest e-mail from her, reprinted with her permission:

Dear Tommye,

Here's the new copy for the instruction manual for the Baby Wolf, Wolf Pup, Wolf Pup LT, and Mighty Wolf Looms. These changes will be made in our instruction booklet tomorrow. I've also included the notice that we'll attach to the outside of the loom on all new loom shipments.

Best regards,

Jane

Jane Patrick

Schacht Spindle Co., Inc.

6101 Ben Place

Boulder, CO 80301

303-442-3212; 800-228-2553

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Change for Wolf Pup, Wolf Pup LT, BW and MW instructions—printed and on-line instruction change.

Unfolding the Loom

Remove all plastic wrap from the loom. Slightly loosen the two black plastic fold knobs on both sides of the loom. Generally, a single turn will do. Note: loosening the knobs all of the way or removing them will cause the loom to collapse which could cause injury. Hold onto the front and rear beams and pull them together slightly. Pull the slide lock bars out toward the back of the loom. Continue holding onto the front and rear beams and allow the loom to unfold all the way. If there is a warp on the loom, you may need to step on the brake release pedal while unfolding the loom to loosen the warp. When the loom is all the way down in the open position, push the knobs down to the bottom of the slots and tighten them.

Tag to add to side of loom used for shipping.

Caution: When unfolding the loom, slightly loosen the black knobs (generally a single turn is enough). Loosening them too much or removing them may cause the loom to collapse and cause injury. For the proper unfolding instructions, see the Assembly Manual included with your loom.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This effort on the part of Schacht Spindle Company to address a problem is to be applauded. I hope no one else has to have such a gruesome experience with ANY weaving equipment in the future. I appreciate what Schacht is doing toward that goal with their products. I also very much appreciate Karen Donde's quick response in contacting the company after she read about the accident at my blog. Contacting the company wasn't on my agenda--should have been but wasn't. So a big thank-you to you, Karen!!

news from Dahlonega

2011-02-22T13:29:00.000-05:00

As some of you may know I had a fluke accident on Sunday. I wrote about it today in my other blog... here's the link to that, if anyone's curious: http://tapestry13.blogspot.com/2011/02/warning-this-post-contains-blood-and.html
Hope all are weaving away happily! I will be again, soon, I know.
Tommye

Pat's chickens

2011-02-19T20:55:00.003-05:00

a few days late but...

2011-02-17T11:12:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you!

A few photos from the recent tapestry workshop

2011-02-15T12:29:00.000-05:00

Pat Williams graciously opened her studio for six students as Pat and I co-taught a one-day workshop, February 12, 2011. Although each person was working on individual challenges on their own looms, we talked about meet and separate, several texture and/or line making methods (twining, soumak, weft chaining), using different textures of weft materials, and mounting small tapestries. Pat also gave us a guided tour of her looms, works in progress, and some of her many small sketches from which she designs larger tapestries.

Here are a few photos taken during the day... our thanks to all who came and shared with each other in this workshop! Pat and I hope to schedule another workshop in the future to be held at my studio. Again, the number of participants will be limited to six.

Pat talks about different textures of weft

Dinah Rose's lovely tapestry used her own handspun wool; Gail is in the background pondering meet and separate on her tapestry.

Gail and Pat discuss the Kirsten Glasbrook tapestry book.

Dinah at the left... reaching for weft; top of AnnLyn's head next, then comes Ann and finally Gail around on the other side near the computer. Several of Pat's tapestries hang in her studio... you can see four of them in this photo.

Nancy is barely visible at the upper left talking to Terri. In the foreground is Ann, with AnnLyn and Dinah at the end of the table.

Pat discusses mounting small tapestries for display.

Pat pins the small tapestry down to the fabric covered mounting board.

2011-02-14T17:10:00.003-05:00

Saturday, February 12, 2011 a group of us were fortunate to have a day long tapestry workshop with Pat Williams and Tommy Scanlin. We reviewed some old skills and learned some new ones. It was a terrific day of sharing. Even the weather was perfect. Many thanks to Pat for opening and sharing her studio with us and to Pat and Tommye for leading us forward!! Favorite saying from Tommye: "Any forward gear will do!"

Penelope Syndrome

2011-02-10T20:25:00.002-05:00

The other day my husband noted that I never seemed to make any progress on a tapestry that I've been fiddling with a long time. He wondered if I had really been weaving. I explained to him that I was working from a photo and I was having a difficult time with weaving it. I was "unweaving" as much if not more than I was actually weaving. Finally, the light dawned---I was trying to force a weaving to be like the photo. That's not going to work. So, now I am using the photo as a "guide" not as an actual pattern. My goal is to let the weaving be a weaving perhaps inspired by photography. We'll see what happens. So much to learn about this "just plain weave" and design.

thanks for much needed guidance

2011-02-10T14:12:00.002-05:00

Hi Tommye

Thanks for all your help. I'm sewing up the slits today. Now that I know how to block from your great description (and Pat''s gorgeous video), I should be firing up the iron tomorrow!

thanks again.

Help for Cathie!!

2011-02-10T09:36:00.000-05:00

Cathie, congratulations on finishing the tapestry!

Let me say that blocking can be your friend. I resisted blocking after my unsuccessful early attempts but through the link at Kathy Spoering's blog here and also Pat Williams' encouragement I have been happy with the process. I don't block everything I do, especially the ones that are 60" or so is either width or length. But those that are under 25" or so I have started blocking. Even if nothing needs to be shrunk to fit (and that's the key... shrinking the wool weft, not trying to stretch it) the pressing gives a crispness to the surface that's nice.

I've briefly described about the way I block on my website at this link .

Also, if you've watched the YouTube video of Felix Haspel that Pat posted a short while back, you'll see the tapestry artist steam pressing his tapestry.

Good luck with the finishing off of the tapestry... and be sure to post a photo to the blog, if you could!

Help!

2011-02-09T13:12:00.003-05:00

I've woven a tapestry(yeah) 29 x 37. I decided to finish the edges(bottom and top) by darning the warp threads back into the heading (it was already twined). Unfortunately the tapestry started to buckle along the horizontal(terrible:( I took out the darning and the darn thing was still buckled. I realized that in darning and undarning I pulled the warp threads so as to push the weft in tighter through out the piece. Now, I have tried to smooth this out with my hands running them along the warp threads trying to get the wefts to move back. However this has only helped a little bit. My next thought is to hang the piece for a day and let gravity help. Would ironing with steam and press cloth on the back help? I hate to really block this since I've never done that before and sounds pretty aggresive, would that screw it up further? Help please!

workshop ideas being sought

2011-02-02T15:33:00.001-05:00

Hello folks,
I'm currently scheduling for my teaching gigs for 2012. So far, I've locked in January 22 of 2012 as the start of a weeklong intermediate class at John Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC. I'm also in discussions with another craft school in the Southeast about another intermediate level class and don't want to make it a repetition of the one at JCFS. So... my question to any and all who might read this and who might want to attend a week-long workshop targeting "intermediate" level (whether it would be one I'd teach or someone else)--what would you like to learn???

My own "tool kit" for tapestry expands constantly. I am, of course, only comfortable teaching techniques I use in my own work. There are some topics I wouldn't touch at this point since I've only briefly experimented with them (wedge weave, for instance, since Connie Lippert and others do such a wonderful job with this method in their work and also in their teaching).

SO... any thoughts from anyone? I will appreciate it greatly!

Another YouTube--this one, an interview with Susan Martin-Maffei

2011-01-27T12:14:00.000-05:00

Pat shared the video I'd discovered on YouTube in an earlier post; she alerted me to this one this morning -- and those of you who are going to be at the Archie & Susan workshop that Tapestry Weavers South will be hosting in May may especially like to take a look. By the way, there are quite a few YouTube videos about tapestry weaving on the web. I've only viewed a few but I found more when I did a search for "tapestry weaving" rather than just "tapestry" (although you can't go wrong remembering Carole King and her album, Tapestry, from the 1970s, can you!?).

Wealth of information about tapestry techniques

2011-01-27T09:27:00.001-05:00

I have to continue reminding myself that I have a wealth of information about tapestry techniques on my bookshelf in my Peter Collingwood book, The Techniques of Rug Weaving. I've had a copy since the book since late 1970s and have used it many times for rug techniques.

Over the past couple of years I've gone back to it to search out detailed discussion and diagrams of wedge weave, clasped wefts, and--most recently--soumak. Pat Williams just pulled out her copy of the book when I was at her house a few nights ago so we could look up variations of soumak. Lo and behold, many more options were shown there than in the other books to which I've been referring as I do my month-long study of soumak in this year's tapestry diary.

If you've got the Collingwood book... take a look! Tapestry techniques are covered beginning on page 141. Soumak and other raised surface techniques begin on page 183.

If you don't have the book--don't despair! It's one of the many included in the On-Line Digital Archives of Documents on Weaving and Related Topics. Here's the link to the books page. Click on "C" and scroll down to The Techniques of Rug Weaving. Peter Collingwood allowed the book to be placed in the digital archives before he passed away. The digital version of the book is great. While it's not a substitution for having the big, thick one in hand to flip through, it gives immediate access to the information if the book isn't available.

Hope all tapestry thoughts and actions are proceeding wonderfully for this first month of the new year!

Sooo Beautiful to see this video!

2011-01-25T09:53:00.000-05:00

Enjoy.

Fantastic Class at John Campbell Folk School, January 16-22, 2011

2011-01-23T14:43:00.000-05:00

I'm back from a week of teaching at the Folk School. The class was about design for tapestry and although not much weaving took place, I believe quite a bit of learning happened. Nine students came from all over the country to take part in the class. Everyone worked hard and the wonderful world of designing options opened to all of us.

I've invited those in the class to become authors to the blog, if they wish. I hope we'll begin to see more and more posts from others. I've also added a search option at the top of the left column. Try it out with key words and see if it make it easier to locate information from earlier postings.

And now... a few photos from last week's class:

Portable tapestry & idea

2011-01-13T11:04:00.003-05:00

Pat, Thank you for making this list more interesting and active. I'm going to add a note here. Reading this and the blogs is helping me keep going.

Not long ago I was reading Robin Spady's blog. On it she was discussing "et tui's" or little cases. I was also interested in finding a more portable way to take weaving with me as I go places. I remembered some little bookmark looms that my husband made for me to use with our girls and their friends when they were younger. The design was from Osma Todd Galliger's book The Joy of Handweaving. I was also inspired by Sidsel Moreb's little loom that she showed us in the fall TWS workshop. I didn't want to weave bookmarks--wanted to try tapestry on this little loom. So, I made me a small et tui from a pencil box that fit this little bookmark loom and supplies. It is working so far. The sett is 8 epi. There's a small pair of scissors under the loom that you can't see. So nice to learn from others!

Rescheduling the textile exhibit at NGCSU

2011-01-13T10:17:00.000-05:00

This was in my NGCSU e-mail today:

Due to inclement weather, the reception for New Traditions in Textiles, which opens today (January 13, 2011) at 12 p.m. at the Bob Owens Art Gallery, is being rescheduled for Thursday, February 3, 5-6 p.m.

An informative discussion will follow at 6 p.m., by the exhibition curator and NGCSU Textiles Instructor, Ms. Jo-Marie Karst.

Please stop by the art gallery at 315 Hoag Student Center to enjoy this wonderful exhibition that demonstrates the versatility and richness of contemporary textiles created by artists from the North Georgia region.

RECEPTION POSTPONED BECAUSE OF WEATHER!

2011-01-10T19:46:00.002-05:00

Karen Donde, who was with us at the Camp Mikell workshop in October made this very nice post at her blog about the weekend--here's the link: http://sutherlandhandweavingstudio.blogspot.com/2010/11/slow-weaving-in-north-georgia.html

Hope everyone is warm and cozy in spite of the several inches of snow that's fallen throughout the Southeast! Good time to be weaving, isn't it!

RED ALERT ON RECEPTION MENTIONED BELOW!! POSTPONED BECAUSE OF WEATHER!!! I'll post new date when it's announced. :((

If you're near Dahlonega, Georgia this week (and if the weather conditions improve), please come join Pat and me at a reception for a textile exhibit, "New Traditions in Textiles" that's opening at North Georgia College & State University. Pat and I both have pieces in the exhibit--and I think several of you may have work there, as well!

Dashing All Around!!

2011-01-04T22:09:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the New Year! I met it with a baaaad cold--stayed in bed for first 48 hours of the year, but am feeling much better. Not even sniffling much.

Today, being my feeling-all-better day, I got a call from my niece, Ingrid--she's in an Atlanta hospital with probably sepsis infection--a life-threatening thing. So, off I drive to Atlanta for the day. She's doing much better and I think she'll be fine. BUT!! I'm supposed to get 5 pieces of new tapestries to North Georgia College and State U. in Dahlonega ready to hang by holy moly Friday. Can it happen?? I have begun building the frames, begun cutting the foam core mounts, covering them with the diaper and cloth, but only one tapestry is sewn on board ready for frame. I will get up tomorrow and work like a dervish to get the other 3 ready to sew on, work on frames, etc. BUT, I am compelled to return to Atlanta to check on Ingrid again tomorrow but get back before predicted ice storm. I'm her substitute mother since her mom died 2 years ago.

Whew. A true race to the finish!!

Other news: I have both my 60" wide Leclerc and 48" wide Fireside warped and ready to weave. Am working on a 60 square inch cartoon, 6 epi for the Leclerc; and on the Fireside I expect to weave two, if not four more of my flower series-- each about 24" high by 10 or 12 inches.

My best wishes to all of you!
Pat

Goals for the New Year with tapestry diary

2011-01-03T08:16:00.000-05:00

Hello one and all,
I hope your new year is off to a good start. Do you have "blank" warp on the loom ready to have wefts sing through it? I do... two of the larger looms have warps in place, in fact. I also have started my new year's tapestry diary on a frame loom. I've completed two years now of doing a daily tapestry diary. Each of those was on a continuous warp. In 2010 my out-of-town days almost equalled my in-town days so I have many empty warps as a result of that. I've determined to weave daily this year and so a frame loom will be the thing.

Please post what you're up to!

Happy New Year to all of you (well, almost...)!

2010-12-30T12:44:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone will have a grand 2011 with many tapestry adventures in the making.

Pat and I will be sharing with a group of six people at her studio in February, the first of what we hope will be many occasional sessions at either her or at my studio. Our limit will most likely always be six while we are at our studios because of space considerations. We'll post some comments following each session and hope those who take part will also post.

As we begin to share back and forth in this blog we can consider ways to do that to make it easy to read comments. Of course, anyone can make a comment to a post and those will appear below the post itself. But those of you who I've invited to be blog authors can also edit into a post that's been made, adding your own comments within the body of the post itself. You can also make a new post, of course.

About editing into a post, my suggestion would be that each one who does so in the text of a post begin the comments with their name. For instance, if I wanted to add a comment into a post, I could do it like this:

TOMMYE SAYS:
and then go on with saying whatever pearls of wisdom I was going to ramble on about...

then Pat might reply:

PAT SAYS:
Tommye's comments are interesting... and to add to that, I've found....

to which Terri might say:

TERRI SAYS:
Well, both of you have given some food for thought. I've also found that ...

then I might reply...

TOMMYE SAYS:
Great idea, Terri! And, Pat... can't wait to see what you're working on in person to see how the example works.

Do you think something like this might work to keep our thoughts flowing but to also know who said what and when? Other suggestions are of course very welcomed!

So, to end this New Year's post (in advance of the New Year)... let me leave you with a pearl of wisdom from someone else:

Three Strands in the Braid

Reach out with your Mind

And touch the edges of each thing

as it exists

See

The configurations

of form and color

Bend and shape Awareness

Reach out with your Hand

And sense the depth

of the texture of Life

The nature of warp and woof

The weaving of one way of being

with another

Celebrate the compelxity

of Wholeness

Reach out with you Heart

And sense

the essence of things

Hear the throb of the Life Beat

The Universal pulse

That paces the beat of your heart

and mine

Reach out with Mind

and Hand

and Heart

And see how it is

that Life is One

Undivided

by the divisions of our perceptions

Reach out with Mind alone

or Hand alone

or even with a lonely Heart

And see how it is

We limit ourselves

Celebrate the joining

of the Three-Way Path

Mind

and Hand

and Heart

Weave into a full perception

Join Wholeness

and Dimension

and Diversity

Into a singularity of Vision

Let it be so...

Paula Underwood, from Three Strands in the Braid: A Guide for Enablers of Learning

Sue Parker Wants to Know

2010-12-16T21:07:00.003-05:00

Hi Pat,

I truly enjoyed the Camp Mikel experience. My original intent in coming to the class was to learn enough about tapestry techniques to do the 3 samples required for HGA's COE in weaving. But now I think I'm hooked on tapestry.

I had Bob help me put tpgether 2 copper pipe frame looms since he's kind of selfish with his tools and I do not currently have a pipe cutter. I got the warp on OK and even make a half-way acceptible cartoon for a sampler. I have a gracious plenty worsted yarns suitable for tapestry and began this sampler while I wait for skeins of different yarns and color cards to arrive. One can never have too much yarn. I have several new and some new to me tapestry books than I have been studying too.

Now my question. Is it important to keep the weft yarns parallel when making passes? Most of the pictures show this but I am sure having trouble doing it. The yarns want to cross over each other when I make the bubble in the weft and tap them into place. I'm currently using 2 yarns in a weft bundle with a warp sett of 10 epi.

I wish it wasn't so far to come again as I would surely be there in February. I am planning on the May workshop. I have even postponed the breeding season so my lambs won't arrive until I get home. I long ago gave up on winter lambs in the frozen north. They don't seem to mind the cold but I sure do.

Thank you for all your help and guidance.

Sue Parker Bassett

I've copied Sue's inquiry from an email she sent me with her comments and question. It feels sooo goood to have a convert!

Crossing wefts--is it ok? As usual, it depends on what you want.

1. If you have two threads (say light gray and black) in the weft that are high contrast to one another and/or very different colors, like light yellow and dark green (this ischine, pronounced shee-nay), and would like to have a random distribution of those colors in an area, then just wind those 2 colors together and let them rip at random to give a really nice heather-like look. Two threads next to each other just seem to naturally twist around each other--depends on how they are pulled from the balls or cones.

2. If both weft threads are the same color, it doesn't matter if they cross.

3. If one thread is a light shade of a color and the other thread a bit lighter or bit deeper shade of the same color, then the random showing of the twisted shades will give the area more depth than if both weft threads are exactly the same color.

4. If you manipulate the 2 threads to stay parallel and they are contrasting colors, then you can create a look of the lighter color making a line and the darker color making a line--which you might want to do in a small area without adding 2 additional weft bobbins of one color for such a small area. Therefore, you'd have the chine surrounding 2 lines of the same contrasting colors. Is this clear as mud? This example is hard to explain--be a good thing to try. Like this: You've got black and white threads parallel to ea other. In the first shed lay the weft so the black is at the bottom and white at top. Change sheds, lay white at bottom and black at top. Next shed black on top, white on bottom and so on. Keep doing this and see what happens.

Personally, I'm too lazy to fool with too much weft manipulation unless it's a critical area. Hope this helps!

Pat

Thanks for the question and thanks for the answer, Pat!
It does make a visual difference if you put the wefts in parallel to each other rather than in a random (twisting here and there way). Good to experiment with and see what you like. The parallel way of laying in several wefts is more time consuming but if you like the effect then that time is well spent. Several tapestry artists use that method (Marcel Marois, for instance). Others use chine but without particular concern about the twisting of placement. Where the multiple wefts can give a problem is when one (or more) in a bundle get out of whack in that one (or more) get ahead of the others... in other words, the weft bundle doesn't stay together and you have to constantly pull the butterfly apart or unwind the bobbin to get them all to pull off at the same rate/length. Careful winding of not a too full bobbin helps to avoid that. But if something gets too loose (as happens!), deal with it when it happens and save grief!

All that being said, I don't particularly watch for parallel arrangement myself... unless there's a light/light or dark/dark stacking up of the placement of weft where I don't want it to happen. I watch how it goes into place and if there's an that stacking up I'll lift up the weft, rearrange the twist, then pack in again.
Tommye

FLASH ALERT!!

2010-12-16T09:34:00.000-05:00

By Golly, the "Weaving On Your Own With A Little Help" workshop has filled. Got six people signed up. BUT, if you would like to come, we can put you on a wait list and if someone has to drop out, then we can crack a deal.

Hey--anybody out there? This blog could be sooooo cooool if we'd use it.

pat

2010-12-15T07:59:00.002-05:00

Tommye and Pat had a special treat lined up for us---John and Joy Moss, makers of the "Brassy Bob" tapestry bobbins. John and Joy brought their beautiful special bobbins and left plenty that we could sample and purchase if we chose. I am still happily remembering a terrific tapestry workshop.

2010-12-11T20:01:00.004-05:00

I want to help keep this going and look forward to another post from some of you. Here is a detail of the finishing technique that Pat demoed. It is a detail of cutting every other warp thread short and weaving its alternated back into the tapestry. I hope this is a useful photo.

WooHoo. THREE signed up already!!

2010-12-11T11:26:00.000-05:00

FYI: The Studio Workshop: Weaving On Your Own With A Little Help has 3 sign-ups already!! This is Terrific good news because it's so much fun to get together.
Pat

Weaving On Your Own With A Little Help

2010-12-09T10:30:00.002-05:00

All Day Saturday, Feb 12, 2011, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tommye and I are offering a workshop for polishing and expanding techniques approached in the Camp Mikell workshop in late October. We need a minimum number of 4 people (maximum of 6), and the fee (including yarn) would be $105. Our goal is to problem-solve and reach a comfort zone with designing & weaving tapestry. Individual attention for each person is emphasized. Please note in an email what you’d like to study to either Pat (patwilli@gmail.com) or Tommye (tmscanlin@mac.com); OR, we will be glad to design a set of tasks for the day.
We ask that everyone bring their own bag lunch so that any special requirements can be taken care of by each person. There will be cokes, decent water, coffee, tea, and so on. If you need to come the night before, we can discuss that via private email.

I live at 319 Hollywood Hwy in Clarkesville, in bee-yew-tee-full NE Georgia. [You could google-map it!] In February it's still probably going to be cold, but there's a fireplace in the studio if it's chilly enough, a walking trail, great chickens, and the dogs will let you scratch behind their ears to your heart's content. Pat Williams

2010-11-22T09:02:00.003-05:00

October 28-31, 2010 was indeed a time of tapestry magic at Camp Mikell near Toccoa, GA. In addition to eight members of the Chattahoochee Handweavers Guild, there were seven attendess from as far away as Illinois, Ohio, North Carolina, Florida. It was a delightful and compatible group. We had a wonderful time weaving and sharing. I want to post a few pictures to share as well.

Class made; a few spaces open

2010-08-24T06:25:00.002-04:00

I emailed with Pat Williams yesterday. The class that she and Tommye are teaching this October at Camp Mekell is a go with a couple of spaces remaining. Should be loads of fun and I have heard that the food is wonderful. If you are interested but were unsure if you could attend, but now know that you can be there, contact Pat or Tommye to see if the spaces are still available.

Tapestry Workshop-Beginners to Intermediate

2010-08-11T12:09:00.002-04:00

Pat Williams and Tommye Scanlin are teaching a tapestry workshop October 28-31, 2010. It will be held at Camp Mikell near Toccoa, Georgia. This is a wonderful opportunity to learn from experts and have lots of fun too! If you are interested, please contact Tommye, Pat, or even me, Terri Bryson. The workshop is sponsored by Tapestry Weavers South.

Weft Interlock Details

2010-05-31T22:38:00.003-04:00

I recently did some research on how to best use the joining technique known as "Weft Interlock." It turns out that it's a little more complicated than I had thought. I've posted details with photos on my blog, Tangled Web. Check it out.

Thanks for the tip, Jan! Yes... this little trick is one that I finally learned from Archie Brennan. I did a few photos about it at my website.

The Archie Brennan Project

2010-05-04T06:32:00.002-04:00

Check out the new blog about Archie Brennan at:

http://www.archiebrennanproject.com/

American Tapestry Alliance Educational Articles Link

2010-04-07T08:12:00.000-04:00

I'm putting a link to this at the side bar to make it easier to find in the future. But I wanted to note it here:

http://americantapestryalliance.org/Education/Edu_Articles.html

There are several informative articles at this page, including a glossary of tapestry terms, mounting solutions for finished tapestries, Archie Brennan's copper pipe loom diagrams, and more. Check it out!

Hanging method--from Textile Museum's website

2010-04-05T16:29:00.002-04:00

This description for hanging a textile with velcro might be of interest:

http://textilemuseum.org/care/brochures/hanging.htm

Show & Tell at the Folk School

2010-04-03T17:52:00.000-04:00

This week of John C. Campbell Folk School classes ended yesterday with show and tell by all studio areas. Here's the tapestry weavers' display--we were all very proud of everything accomplished--lots of hard work!

Posting to Tapestry Share blog

2010-03-30T17:17:00.000-04:00

I wanted to mention to all who've found this blog--Tapestry Share--that it's one that I began a couple of years ago as a private one among several of my students and me. I opened it for public viewing after about a year and have invited several other people to be authors along with me, folks who have been my students at some point or other tapestry teachers. I welcome comments made to posts for the blog. I'll be inviting others to be authors at some point in the future. I hope everyone who finds their way here finds helpful and accurate information!

Teaching and learning about tapestry is very important to me. I appreciate the wonderful teachers I've had in the past and hope to be able to share some of those skills that were so generously shared with me. So... here's to teaching and learning! Along those lines, I want to show the beginning of a class I'm currently teaching at John Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina:

Tapestry Weaving Ergonomics from Ruth Lathlean

2010-03-29T08:50:00.000-04:00

This is a tip for those tapestry weavers who have trouble getting low enough to see what they are weaving at the bottom of a frame on a table. I thought I would join Tapestry Share Blog and add it there but couldn't find out how to do it.

To weave low down on a frame attach it to an ironing board which can then be easily raised high so you can look carefully at the work you are doing without doing damage to your back. Likewise you can lower the ironing board to easily weave at the top of the frame and see closely what you are doing. Hope this is useful - it may be posted to the other blog by Jennifer.

New Author

2010-03-27T20:28:00.003-04:00

Hello Tapestry Sharers

I am excited to be joining this excellent adventure. I've been weaving for 38 years, and exclusively tapestry for the past 27. If you want you can check out my blog, Tangled Web, at http://www.austintapestry.blogspot.com/. I hope to share some useful stuff, or help to add some links to stuff that's out there at other sites.

Jan Austin

PS I'm a firm believer in having lots of photos on blogs, so here's a photo of the mini-bobbins my husband helped me to design and make last week. More on that later.

Next step after warping--half-hitch at beginning

2010-03-20T13:03:00.038-04:00

Here's another set of photos of the preparation steps I show in classes. These are pretty much the same as I use for most of my tapestries, especially on smaller frame looms. Larger tapestries warped on the larger, vertical looms have different warping methods than the one described in the last post. I will write about those sooner or later in this blog. However, the half-hitch beginning steps shown below are used on my larger tapestries, as well.

These photos show the half-hitch I use at the bottom to secure the weft of the tapestry. The same method is used at the top of the tapestry when it's completed. This is the being shown with a larger thread than I actually use for this so that it will be easier to see in the photo. This beginning and ending method is one I learned from Susan Maffei and Archie Brennan in a workshop. I use this technique to secure the start of a tapestry whether I'm going to use a hem and turn it back; turn the warp ends back and stitch them down to the back of the tapestry; or use the half-Damascus warp finishing described by Peter Collingwood in The Techniques of Rug Weaving, pages 485-486--(a method similar to what Kathe Todd-Hooker calls it braiding in her book Tapestry 101, pages 85-86). However, I don't use this method if I'm going to stitch in every-other warp thread into the channel of its partner, then clip the extending one off. Although I don't use that finishing method often many folks do--to be able to get that warp up into the space beside the adjacent warp the weft needs to have some give to allow for that passage... the half-hitches won't allow for that. Collingwood calls that method of warp treatment "Swedish Tapestry Edge" and shows a clear diagram for it on page 497 in the The Techniques of Rug Weaving; an online digital version of the Peter Collingwood book is at the On-Line Digital Archive of Documents on Weaving and Related Topics.
The link here: http://www.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/books.html#C takes you to the "C" listing where you'll scroll down the page to find Collingwood, The Techniques of Rug Weaving. The pages showing finishing techniques are in the Part 4 PDF.

As with the warping steps shown in previous photos, please bear in mind that many people do things differently--this is just my way, learned and adapted from many others, especially from Archie Brennan and Susan Maffei.

Lay the thread the half-hitches will be made with behind the first warp of the tapestry (note: I'm leaving out the first warp on the loom... that is a visual guide to use as reference for width--it is not incorporated into the tapestry and does not get included in this end finishing. It is included in the twining and the 1/2" of header.)

Thread crosses over the warp, going from right to left, and the long end is pulled through below it, passing from back to front, between first warp and second warp. Pull this down snugly (hold on to the tail at the left because it will slip out since nothing is holding it until the hitches begin.)

This is done twice around the warp before moving to the next warp.

The hitching thread moves to the second warp that will be used in the weaving (remember, the very first warp end is not included in these hitches), then...

Both hitches are done, as with the first warp... here the second one is about to be pulled down snugly.

End at the opposite side, making sure to leave out the edge warp that will serve as the visual guide on this side.

The tails of the hitching thread can be woven into the first shed to be used and tucked away to the back. At the top of the tapestry, the same half-hitches will be used and the tails of that thread can be sewn back into the body of the tapestry for a 1/2" or so to hide it.

Finally, here's a diagram of the stages of the process... please notice that each step shown represents the same warp thread, not three separate ones.

Warping a small frame loom

2010-03-17T13:13:00.015-04:00

Thanks to Jennifer for posting about Kathe Todd-Hooker's new book, available very soon. Kathe has addressed the process for warping of many kinds of tapestry looms in the book and I look forward to getting a copy. Her other three books are full of valuable information and I know the So Warped will be, as well. Her other books are Shaped Tapestry, Line in Tapestry, and Tapestry 101. Kathe sells the books at her website, Fine Fiber Press .

As I prepare to teach at John Campbell Folk School in a few weeks, I'm updating my handout. I asked the young woman who will be my assistant, to come over to the studio this week so I could do a few new photos for the revision process. I thought I'd post these to the blog and ask for your feedback... do they seem to clearly show the process I'm trying to describe? My handout booklet describes in text and photos what I demonstrate in the class. The booklet isn't meant to be a self-teaching tool but rather a reminder of what I cover in a class. And since I'm making the photos myself with a very inexpensive point-and-shoot digital camera, I don't expect print production quality of images. All those disclaimers out of the way, here goes!

Frame loom and parts, including two threaded rods and nuts (will be inserted in the two U-shaped copper pipe pieces, two PVC legs for the loom, shed stick, rubber band to hold legs together.

Legs are placed with the Tees slipped over the copper pipe and the legs extending diagonally behind the loom--the long part of the legs is to be unscrewed and set aside while the loom is being warped.

Insert the threaded rods and slip the top part of the loom over them. Remember, nothing is holding the loom together at this point--so don't pick it up from the top! The frame will be held together by the warp, once that's on the loom.

Tie the warp onto the bottom of the frame using a square knot at the edge of the width desired. Lena Grace, my assistant, is left-handed so she's starting at the right and will move to the left as she puts the warp on the loom. For right-handers, you can start on the left and move to the right.

When warping it's helpful to put the warp into a basket or bowl on the floor, and place the edge of the loom at the side of a table with the edge extending over the warp source. Again, Lena Grace is left-handed, so she has the loom placed with the left side over the floor, the right edge on the table top (there's a small bit of rubber mat under the edge of the frame to keep it from slipping as she warps). Be sure to use an even tension when putting the warp on.

Loom is now warped for 4" wide, with the end of the thread tied at the bottom. There are four warps at each inch spacing as the warp goes around the loom frame. The warps at the back and those at the face will be come together for a sett of 8 epi. Notice this is a continuous trip around the loom with the warp rather than a figure-8 warping method that's sometimes used.

A shed stick is placed into the warps to create a shed that is always open. As this stick is inserted, the two planes of the warp, face and back, are coming together as one.

Here Lena Grace picks up the back warps and places them on top of the shed stick that's being inserted; the front warps go to the back of the stick.

Shed stick is in place creating the "open shed." This may be tied to the top of the frame to keep it from slipping out, if desired.

Three picks of the warp thread are used for a foundation. Pull each pick very tightly from one side of the loom frame to the other side and tie each around the other (slip up the Tee of the loom legs a bit so that the foundation can be tied near the bottom of the loom). These picks will not be part of the tapestry. The second pick is being tied off in this photo... third is yet to come.

After the three picks of foundation, space the warp ends evenly for the sett to be used (8 epi in this case). This initial spacing will be followed by a row of twining, using the same thread as is used for the warp. Then about 1/2" of plain weave is done, again with the same thread as the warp. Remember, only the three foundation picks go from frame to frame; the twining and the plain weave will be done only in the warp area, in this case, 4" wide. As with the foundation picks, the twining and the 1/2" of plain weave header will serve to space the warps and will not be part of the finished tapestry.

So Warped

2010-03-17T08:50:00.000-04:00

FYI - Kathe Todd-Hooker has a new book on warping a tapestry loom....

http://finefiberpress.blogspot.com/2010/03/so-warped-book-cover.html

Shaped Tapetsries

2010-03-13T10:19:00.000-05:00

Ruth Lathlean in Canberra, Australia uses cardboard for creating the edge for a shaped tapestry. Check it out at:

http://ruthlathlean.blogspot.com/2010/03/weaving-shaped-tapestry.html

Weaving for Reversible Fabric: Sewing in Ends

2010-03-08T18:57:00.001-05:00

I am at the beginning of creating a wedge weave that I would like to be reversible. I’ve decided to work with the ends as I go rather than waiting until after it’s off the loom.

Here’s where I came to the end of one bobbin of yarn:

I did secure the end with a half hitch around the warp and brought the end to the front of the weaving.

I then split the yarn into it’s number of plies and distributed them around the warps.

The chocolate yarn breaks down into 4 plies, so I distributed two in either direction. The far left and the far right ends were woven to hide them within the weave.

From there I threaded each ply through a needle and fed it through the middle of the weaving next to a warp. In this picture I’ve already finished the first and am about to pull through the second.

The ends are carefully trimmed and i even pull a bit on the half hitch to hide the very tip of the yarn into the fabric. Then same is performed with the start of the next piece of yarn.

Great ideas!

2010-02-25T08:40:00.003-05:00

Tommye,
I think those are terrific ideas!! I will just have to learn how to post pix and other things. My husband and I have been taking Lynn Pollard's class, "Weaving Fabulous Cloth" this quarter. I am learning quite a bit from the class but I am exploring Moorman technique combined with shibori instead of tapestry for this class. The interesting thing is that it makes me think of tapestry. I have found that weaving has many "Ah So" moments for me and I'm weaving those characters. Naturally, there's a lot of "Ah So" in tapestry. This class is over at the end of March. I am really glad I'm taking it. It's helping me with focus as well as just plain learning a tremendous bunch of new stuff.
I am also working on tapestry but not very quickly. I'm finding tapestry very closely allied to photography in my mind and translating some photos into tapestry. I'm slow as Christmas but having a wonderful time.

Terri

a website with small loom shown -- and a plug for Weavolution

2010-02-11T09:53:00.000-05:00

This website was noted on Weavolution today:

http://angeltelar.blogspot.com/2008/09/especial-telar-tobatcnica-bsica.html

Although written in Spanish (which I don't read) the photos showing how to set up a small, wooden frame loom are quite informative. The loom seems to be one that could be easily constructed, if you're handy with saw and drill. The advantage is the tensioning of warp possible with the moveable top bar.

And, by the way, if you haven't yet discovered Weavolution you might want to check it out. It's a social network for handweavers and free to sign up to be able to post comments. However, there's quite a bit of information you can see and read without signing up. I've been a member for several months now and one of the things I like about it is that there are people of many different interests in weaving who read and post to it and quite diverse experience levels, also. I learned about the website above from a Weavolution posting, for instance. I've also just bought a loom from someone who noted it as for sale and in the fall, I posted a couple of tapestry looms for sale for friends. There are several special interest forums--for instance, there's one for Georgia Weavers; others forums for those interested in tapestry, for Navajo looms, for backstrap weaving... almost anything one could imagine being interested in you'll either find a forum where a few other people are also posting--or you can create a forum to seek out like-minded folks!

I hope everyone is staying warm and warped!

Greetings -- hope everyone is happily weaving tapestry!

2010-02-06T12:31:00.000-05:00

I hope you're doing well with life and weaving as we get well underway into the second month of the year--can you believe it?! I also hope all of you are getting a small piece ready for the ATA small format exhibit. Entry deadline has already passed, so if you didn't send your intent to participate already, sorry you missed it! Actual pieces are due by March 15. I'm entering--haven't missed one of these small non-juried exhibits since they began in 1996... BUT I have to get it designed and woven!!

I'd love to hear news from everyone. I read Lauren's blog so am keeping up with her adventures through that. Terri just got in touch by e-mail a couple of days ago. I follow Jennifer's blog, also and loved her documentation of the New Zealand adventure she and her husband recently had.
Any one else have a blog or other web presence that shows what you're up to? Please share, if you do.

I'm wondering how we can use the blog with the intent with which I started it about a year ago--to share ideas and to learn from each other. Any suggestions from anyone about that? One of the things that I've done during this year is to have another blog that I've set up with my ATA mentee--we've been sharing back and forth through that private blog since September and we're finding it a great way to communicate. She posts images and asks questions; I reply within the posting, sometimes adding images in response in addition to my written comments.

We could do something similar with this blog, among those of you who are authors to the blog... you could open a posting an edit within it to make comments that would show up in the posting rather than just by doing a comment that's in a pop up.

Here are some ideas I have for possible Q & A things:

--a warping tutorial for frame looms (specifically those like the Brennan-style copper pipe looms)
--a set of photos for setting up heddles
--mounting small tapestries on a fabric covered board
--warping a larger upright tapestry loom

Any other suggestions??

Happy New Tapestry Weaving Year Everyone!

2010-01-05T20:09:00.002-05:00

Happy New Year Everyone!
Our guests have all returned to their homes, jobs and schools. I have been playing with the tapestry ideas and now to get busy weaving after I finish clearing away the holiday celebrations. I have set up 2 frame looms and I am learning that photos are my friend. I hope to get something done and be able to share pix. Our daughter requested a piece of woven shibori fabric to go with a bowl I am still working on for her. I did finish that weaving and will finish the copper bowl soon I hope. I'm looking forward to hearing from all of you!
Terri

more to share in 2010--happy (almost) NEW YEAR!

2009-12-30T08:27:00.000-05:00

The new year is rapidly approaching, like a blank warp waiting to be woven.

My best wishes to all for health, happiness and lots of time to be creative in whatever way makes you happy! And I hope tapestry weaving will be one of those ways.
Tommye

2009-12-09T09:56:00.002-05:00

It will be good to get this going. Like Terri, I am hoping to keep studying with Tommye. How could you not want to at every given opportunity?

Life and other interest compete for my tapestry time, but I have managed to do a couple of tapestries in the last month or two. Here is a link to my blog to see them. You probably have already seen them but... in an effort to post here. :)

http://laurenfinley.wordpress.com/page/2/

http://laurenfinley.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/in-sheeps-clothing/

Looking forward to hearing what you are weaving

2009-12-02T21:14:00.002-05:00

Hi All,
We had our phone line taken down by a delivery truck and were without internet or landline phone service for a bit. I've seen Tommye's invitation to get back to sharing and that sounds wonderful to me.
I am beginning to work on a tapestry and mangaged to have a small hill in the tapestry. Finally, I unwove it and went back to the twined base and straightened it out. You would think that would be obvious wouldn't you? At any rate, one challenge corrected and now to see if I can actually get some tapestry woven.
Terri

Let's start this up seriously, gang... what say?!

2009-11-23T11:27:00.000-05:00

I'm quite interested to make this a forum for sharing tips and ideas about tapestry. You were all eager to join when we began and I was, too. I let the ball drop, didn't I, when I didn't keep posting regularly!! But a few of you faithfully kept up the dialog ever so ofter--THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

Now, I'd like to open this up to others who are on the learning journey about tapestry; what do you say? I've already made it an open blog so anyone can read it but haven't announced it anywhere--I think one or more of you may have mentioned it to others and that's great. But I'm going to make it more visible by posting about it to both the tapestry list that Kathe Todd-Hooker owns and Weavolution. Those of you who have been students of mine in the recent past are authors to this post--meaning you can create new posts at anytime you want to but you can't add to the side bar or make overall changes to the format of the blog--I'm the blog administrator and can do that. If you want to have anything added, please just let me know and I'll be happy to try to oblige.

I would like to add others as authors, as well. Maybe those who are recommended by you, me or others from the tapestry list, ATA, Tapestry Weavers South, etc. In other words, folks as authors who have an abiding interest in the making of handwoven tapestry, whether beginner, intermediate or more advanced in their skill level.

I'd like to do this for two reasons--one, of course, being to keep in touch with all of the wonderful people who've been in classes with me. Another is that I'm finding blogging an extremely useful way to share images with each other--rather than through e-mail attachments. If you don't want design or finished tapestry works on the web in a public way, please don't post them. If you do post your design/tapestry works, please state your copyright note about it. However, I think there are lots of tips, tricks, techniques that we can share with others that will add to the ongoing development of us all as tapestry makers.

So... let's get this car on the road!
Here's a link to my own blog posting about the finishing of my most recent tapestry to get us started: http://tapestry13.blogspot.com/2009/11/tapestry-finishing-process.html

2009-11-13T13:03:00.001-05:00

Hello Terri and Jennifer!
Glad to see you posting.
I'm only checking in occasionally but maybe it's time to crank this blog back up for some meaty sharing... what do you think?
Tommye

2009-11-10T10:20:00.002-05:00

Hi Jennifer,
I really enjoyed your blog about warping your new loom! All that reminds me of when I first tried to warp my floor loom. I think the warping process is what makes the frame loom so appealing to me. I heard from Noel that she is shipping the yarn I ordered and I'm looking forward to seeing it. I have a tapestry attempt planned for the frame loom using this yarn. If it looks like a tapestry as I weave, I will post it when I get some progress made.

Terri

What Peavey is up to!

2009-11-07T11:07:00.000-05:00

Hey Terry! Looking forward to seeing what you will do with that yarn. Me - I'm up to a new-to-me loom and an unconventional project with bamboo and nylon. Check it out at:

http://jenniferpeavey.blogspot.com/2009/11/leclerc-warping-part-2.html
http://jenniferpeavey.blogspot.com/2009/11/leclerc-warping-part-1.html

2009-11-06T19:50:00.001-05:00

Hello,
I just got vavgarn samples. It makes me think of all of you. I was going to use embroidery thread, but my husband said he thought the wool was much richer looking. What are all of you doing these days?
Terri Bryson

Dovecot Studios - A Rich Tapestry

2009-06-19T13:10:00.003-04:00

Weavers Douglas Grierson and Jonathan Cleaver provide perspectives on the history and current state of tapestry, while Dovecot director David Weir talks about the Edinburgh studio's illustrious past and the need for public funding.

http://www.creative-choices.co.uk/server.php?show=nav.561

http://www.dovecotstudios.co.uk/index.htm

NY Times article--Navajo Rugs

2009-06-11T22:08:00.001-04:00

Hope everyone's doing well! I saw this in the NY Times online tonight and though I'd send the link:

http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/06/12/travel/escapes/12Amer.html

Take a look, if you get a chance!
Tommye

Trying to post

2009-05-25T21:07:00.002-04:00

Hi All,
I'm new at this and I am trying learn to post to the Tapestry Share Blog. This is a test. I want to share that I did get to the Rameses Wissa-Wassef Tapestry Center when we were in Egypt. I purchased a wool and a cotton tapestry. It this works, I'll try to write more about it and post pix of the tapestries.

Terri

WeaveZine

2009-05-21T08:25:00.002-04:00

You all may have already found this, but I'll share in case you have not. I've just discovered WeaveZine - an online magazine for weavers. The link is:

http://www.weavezine.com/

Mounted first tapestry

2009-05-20T12:17:00.002-04:00

I've just finished mounting my first tapestry on foam core board and am so pleased to have completed it. What are the rest of you working on?

Note from Lisa and news from Tommye

2009-05-19T08:04:00.008-04:00

Greetings--I wanted to post this note from Lisa although I think you got it in your e-mails. Don't give up trying to post, Lisa!
I'm sorry that I didn't realize Jon was going to be giving the presentation at CHG. I've been out of town for what seems like weeks and was still on the road on Saturday--if that's when the meeting was. Yes, Jon's work is incredible. I'd love to visit his studio again.

Hello Everyone-

I was trying to figure out how to post and gave up. I haven't thought of anything amazing to say yet, but I was blown away by this weekend's Chattahoochee Handweavers' Guild's program by John Eric Riis. Jo-Marie, Nancy, Terri, and Janice were all there (Nancy had her birds from our class for show and tell and they were mounted and looked amazing!! Thanks for bringing them!!). John Eric Riis' work was so different - I really want to visit his studio. Is anyone else interested? It would probably be better to wait for his things to return from Korea. But, if he would let us in, that would be so great! I didn't know people could do that kind of stuff with tapestry. He spoke highly of you, Tommye, and he agreed that you are one of the nicest people on earth! Incidentally, I loved your rya that's going to Winston-Salem!

I hope all of you are doing well - I miss getting together to weave!

Lisa

On another matter... several of the Tapestry Weavers South members are going to visit Sylvia Heyden at her home and studio next week. I'm not sure if there's a limit to numbers who she's willing to see but can find out, if anyone's interested in joining in.

And, Lisa... thanks for mentioning the rya I sent to the Piedmont Craftsmen exhibit in Winston-Salem. It was a challenge to make myself work in something other than tapestry--but have wanted to do something with rya (other than sampling for my class demos) for some time. Now... got that out of my system for awhile!

My latest diversion was my trip to Vermont to have a tutorial with Bhakti Ziek. That was just an amazing experience (wrote about it on my blog) and one that may lead to interesting conversations between those who are weaving plain weave, weft-faced tapestry and those who choose complex woven imagery methods, like hand jacquard.

OK... enough for now! Another deadline looms :)) !

cutting foam core board

2009-05-18T13:55:00.003-04:00

Hi, Everyone. I've just made my first attempt at cutting foam core board and made something of a mess. I used a utility knife and it's possible the blade wasn't as sharp as it should be. Any of you have any suggestions for getting a good, clean cut? I'll be using this for mounting my small tapestry piece, so it may not be important to get a clean cut, since I'll be covering the board with batting and background cloth. I'll appreciate any and all ideas about this.

Thanks for sharing, Jennifer!

2009-05-08T19:50:00.005-04:00

I'm eager to see your wedge weave that you just posted recently in person! Will Mark be at the July Craft Guild Fair? And will you be with him? And, if so, which day--I won't be doing a demo but will most likely be at the Fair for a day.

Here's what I've been doing this week--posted at my blog at this link. And, more about that at my teacher, Bhakti Ziek's blog.

What an amazing experience for me!! Just spending time with such an legend in the weaving world--Bhakti Ziek--and being able to bounce ideas back and forth was almost more than I can take in. I'm certainly not giving up tapestry--in the sense that it's plain weave, weft-faced, discontinuous weft weaving--with this experience. But to have the opportunity to see and develop clearer understanding about the TC-1 loom, and the process of designing for it that Bhakti and Alice Schlein have developed is such a pleasure.

Wedge Weave - Jennifer

2009-05-05T18:15:00.006-04:00

I am presently in the middle of a wedge weave piece. I found I was doing too much planning and thinking. I'm relatively new to weaving, so I realized I was thinking too much about weaving and really need to practice weaving. I also find that the process of weaving is simply a great way for me to rejuvenate. So a couple of months ago, I decide to just weave and a geometric wedge weave become the piece. I still have the others ideas and other looms, but this allows me to not get bogged down in details. What I'm finding though is that it's all I'm doing!!!

Here's the latest progress on it. The final piece is planned to be 8" x 36" and I'm about half was through it. I know it doesn't look it from the picture, but I am working on a pipe loom that is warped continuously, so there is as much on the back of the loom as on the front right now!

What I like most about the piece is the blended areas where one can truly see the weaving is on an angle. Otherwise I think the solid color make a solid block while the blended has ..... movement? Maybe, it's also nice to have the blocks of color alternate between solid and blended. In any case, I'm enjoying it.