Tapestries on the Web

My last two weeks have been filled with sick children.  Right now I am keeping my fingers crossed for myself.  So, I haven't touched my loom in two weeks.  That three inches is calling me, and I hope to go in and weave for a couple of hours after I get ready to teach my science class for tomorrow.

In the meantime, I found a new-to-me blog with all things animal art.  It is written/managed by an Italian woman.  Today she posted photos of tapestries by Jean Picart le Doux and Jean Lucart called Wild Tapesties.  Have a look and enjoy!

More Portrait Progress

I have made some more progress on my daughter's portrait.  I became a bit discouraged by the amount that the piece is pulling in at the edges.  I thought about cutting it off the loom and discarding it, but in the end decided I would never restart this piece again so I am carrying on.  I have had some difficulties with the loom.  I think it needs some adjustments, but I will have to figure those out before I make the next tapestry on the loom.

In the meantime, Helena Hernmarck in her workshop stated that she never unwove anything.  However, I am certainly not Helena, and I as I wove on the second eye and eyebrow realized they were both out of place.  So, I did unweave that piece.  Luckily, I noticed pretty early on that they were not in the right place so it wasn't too difficult to repair.  Another piece that is not quite right is the shadow on the chin.  However, I will leave that to be fixed after it comes off the loom.  Because it was in a pattern part of the piece, I can use a tapestry needle and the thread to fix that.  You can see that thread in the photo hanging loose at the neck.

This tapestry has been a BIG learning experience for me.  I learned to warp a floor loom with a fair amount of success thanks to Rebecca Mezoff and Klaus Anselm and their generous help.  I have gotten the process of Helena Hernmarck's technique in my head if not in my hands yet.  I have learned some of where my mistakes are coming from thanks to Winnie Johnson, a student of Helena's, who has kindly answered lots of questions, and to Helena herself who answered several of my questions.

I have four more inches to weave, and I am excited to see how the piece looks after it comes off the loom.  One thing about this technique which is interesting, it is best viewed from several feet away.  When I look at the portrait as I am weaving, I am a bit unhappy with it, but when I view the photographs of the piece, I am much more pleased with the results.  That will present a challenge when hanging the piece, but that is a problem I will address much later.

Two thirds of the way!

I am 2/3 of the way through my portrait of my daughter.  I am having some issues as I explore this new weaving technique which I am calling the Hernmarck technique, AND at the same time learning to use my Macomber floor loom.  One of the women in my tapestry group had several pointers for me today on learning to use the beater a bit better.  Thanks Tal.  Here is a photo of my progress.  I hope to finish soon and I will post the portrait after it has been cut off the loom.

Almost halfway

As of this week, I am almost halfway done with my portrait of my daughter.  It has been a busy week, and not much time for weaving, but I thought I would post this photograph to show the progress.  You can see the image beginning to take form.  One thing that Helena Hernmarck said in her class was that she never unwove  anything on the loom.  After cutting off she would sometimes tweak a piece, but she just carried on.  I see things in this piece I would like to correct, but I keep telling myself to keep going and trust the process.  I think the overall effect is good, but I see some details that need some work.  I will keep on with the process and see how it goes.  This is the first full piece I have made using the Hernmarck technique.  Overall I really like it.  The weaving goes a bit quicker, and I love the decisions and effect of the image once completed.

The Power of Introverts

I don't know about other weavers, but I am an introvert.  As I sat in my studio today enjoying the quiet of my house and listening to the radio, I heard a talk by an interesting woman, Susan Cain.  In her talk she is quoted as saying, "Solitude matters, and for some people it is the air that they breathe."

If you are an introvert, and want to feel better about it, just listen to Susan Cain's talk.

Finally, I am weaving again!

After a several month hiatus I am weaving again.  The past four months has been filled with parenting, riding my horse, teaching engineering and science at a local school, and sewing.  If you are interested in seeing why my time got so filled with sewing you can go to With Needle and Stick, which is my sewing and knitting blog.  If you are interested to see what I do at a local school one or two days a week then you can go to EaSiEE as Pi.  However, if you only what to see what I have been weaving, well here it is.

It took me quite a while to get the Macomber warped.  I have never warped a horizontal loom before, but thanks to the wonders of the internet and youtube, I got it done.  It wasn't pretty, and took three times of unrolling and rolling and the adding of warps, but there it is.  It took me a bit of time to realize that this tapestry wanted to be woven on its side and not from bottom to top.  I am weaving an image of my nine year old daughter whom I photographed wearing her new beret.  After going through several images, I selected the one you see below.  I am using Helena Hernmarck's method of weaving.

As of today, I am 1/4 of the way through the weaving.  It has been my fastest weaving so far.  I really enjoy the technique.  Next, I will try it with a color tapestry.

Life without Textiles

What would our world be without textiles?  As a tapestry weaver I think in yarns and images, but this video shows much more.  Ikea gives us their view...