Friday, October 22, 2010

Future Pull


My memory of Santa Fe was finally framed and hung in my front studio. It's a photograph by David Brookover called Future Pull.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Pausing

Here I am at a very familiar place. I've got a loom warped, the warps spaced & twined with six pics of warp woven in. The final tapestry will be twelve inches wide and 7.5 inches tall when complete.

Now is the time to commit. This is the point I always pause... and ask myself -

Do I really want to spend the time and effort to weave this piece?

Would I rather spend my time on something else?

Is the design and technique interesting enough to keep my attention to the end?

Is there something unusual, new or fascinating about the upcoming journey?

Do I have the patience to weave at 14 epi in silk singles?

Having paused and written down these questions; I am going back to tweak my design and yarn selection. It just occurred to me I can add some layers of experimentation and complexity to keep this road one less travelled and more interesting.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

The Beginning

My studio is finally at a stage that I can finally make some progress weaving on the Big Shannock. This upright tapestry loom has been warped and the weft dyed and ready to go for awhile. In fact I dyed the yarn back in June!

In the last week, I have woven about 18 inches or so. It's been a relaxed and wonderful weaving experience; I have even been able to listen to books on tape. Most of my other weaving is too cerebral to listen to anything; even music causes me to rip and reweave.

This tapestry is for my annual project for Designing Weavers; the theme is Seeing Red. Once complete the tapestry should be about 70 inches long and 20 inches wide. It includes a poem I wrote about the fragility of the ocean in semi-abstract block letters. It is being woven upside down and from the back. The 'T' is the only letter woven so far.