Tapestry diary pieces for 2009 and 2010
These are two years of daily weaving that I call my Tapestry Diaries. Each day I've woven a distinct bit, sometimes taking 5 minutes to do, other times perhaps 30 minutes. The daily practice of weaving these small areas has become quite addictive. For 2011 I wove each month as a separate small tapestry (just posted the December one in another project page). For 2012 I will again weave on a single warp throughout the year.
Tapestry Diary for 2011 has finished today
This is the 12th of the tapestry diary pieces completed throughout 2011. I've done small tapestries for each month during the year, a concept a bit different than the year-long and single piece tapestries done during 2009 and 2010. For the tapestry diary process in 2012 I will return to the single piece idea. My warp is ready to begin tomorrow and I'll describe the 2012 process along the way.
Land and Sky Scape
I'm approaching the end of this small tapestry. Yesterday, as I wove, I decided to add contrails to the sky since I'd seen some while walking a few days earlier.
mounting small tapestries for exhibit
Photos of many small tapestries I'm finishing by stitching to fabric-covered mounting boards. Eleven are completed in one photo; ninteen await stitching in the other one.
More about the process is at Tapestry Share blog: http://tapestryshare.blogspot.com/2011/1...
Oaxacan Rug - woven with Churro Wool
In Oct., of 2010 I participated in the first ever class given by Wence Martinez (Martinez Studios, Baileys Harbor, WI), a masterful Oaxacan rug weaver. After a small trial piece, this rug is the first full sized result of using the techniques learned. This rug is 31" x 48" including fringes.
Yesterday, Nov. 6, 2011, I picked it up from Loominosity, the annual show from Wisconsin Handweavers, and it had won the HGA award for excellence.
I used Cchurro wool for this project which gives it the proper hand - the test piece was done with softer knitting yarn and lacked some of the character of this rug.
Next it on to a class with Sarah Natani in Navajo techniques next week at Hillcreek Studios.
Deep Bay - Lake Champlain Tapestry
Our Fiber Guild's summer challenge was to make something inspired by a fiber-related book we have read. When I read Tracy Chevalier's The Lady and the Unicorn about the Unicorn tapestries and the Belgian weavers, I was fascinated by the way these weavers created imagery. Chevalier's other book The Girl with a Pearl Earring included several passages about how Grete's awareness of color was changed by working for the artist Vermeer -- a cloud is not just white, but many colors. Living on our 36 ft sailboat on Lake Champlain for the summer limited my ability to weave to a small lap loom that I bought on eBay for about $25. I used a ruler to make the even shed and loops through the odd threads attached to a dowel made the other shed. A 6 inch metal tapestry needle was my shuttle. I drew a cartoon of the design in colored pencils outlined in black Sharpy which I taped to the back of the loom. It was the perfect project to keep my mind off the gale force winds of Tropical Storm Irene which hit Vermont and upstate New York with its force the afternoon I started my tapestry.
I can't wait to do more next summer!
Recently completed tapestry
A tapestry based upon an earlier batik I did using a quilt made by my grandmother as subject.
