Penelope Syndrome

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

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!!

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!

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

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

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

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!