Stones tapestry series

I'm weaving a series of four small (12cm square) tapestries inspired by standing stones. They're monotone and when finished off properly they will be mounted together on acrylic.

These are the three I've finished weaving - the fourth is on the loom now. The backgrounds are white - it's the lighting that makes them look a little yellow in places.

tapestry off loom

Just cut my small tapestry off the loom. Inspired by the architecture of Luis Baragan. An exercise in sewn slits but much to learn!

final project for my course

This is the design idea for my final project in my tapestry weaving course. It was done with a japanese paint brush. The big question was whether to weave this vertically or horizontally but in the end I decided to do it vertically because of the orientation of the lower marks.

 

And this is the finished tapestry. I achieved the vertical red line by wrapping the yarn around the warp between passes. It's woven in linen and wool on cotton warp. The background is mainly white but the photo doesn't really show it well.

wonky triangles and smiley clouds!

Lord - I really wish I could pull myself together and post to my blog more regularly. I suppose one problem is that tapestry is a slow process and posting picture after picture of another inch or two woven would be very yawn making.

BUT - I do have a finished piece to post - this was my project from Part II of Rebecca's course. I'm not going to dwell on all the things that aren't right with it, because that's all a part of learning. And I've read a lot recently about perfection being over-rated!

It needs to be steamed - you can still see the marks across the weaving where it was wound round the loom.

some finished weavings

This is my project piece from Part 1 of my course but this time photographed from the right side now it's been cut off the loom. I haven't finished it (it has to be mounted in some way but I haven't decided quite what to do about that yet) but this is how it looks without all the jumpovers.

And here's my sampler piece from Part 2 of the course also from the right side and also unfinished as far as mounting's concerned. I was really pleased with this when I cut it off the loom and could see the right side. Weaving from the back is great in some ways but when you have a load of yarn ends clogging it up it's difficult to see what it looks like. I will try weaving from the front soon and see if that works better for me.

I think this photo shows it a bit brighter than it actually is! The colours I chose were inspired by the autumnal trees outside in my garden and as you can imagine I started it a few months ago.

Next thing is to do a project piece for Part 2. I have my design and colours sorted out and am just about to start. This time I'm warping the loom at 10 epi rather than 8 epi and will keep the weft bundle at 2 of the 8/2 yarn.

Ready to go

Bobbins wound and ready to go for the next exercise in Rebecca's course - sewing slits. Mini bobbins are from Woodland Turnery who are currently making me some small Aubusson bobbins which nobody in the UK seems to supply any more. I'll post a picture of them when they arrive.

after Paul Klee

This is my final project from Part 1 of Rebecca Mezoff's online tapestry weaving course. It's woven from the back and I can't photograph it from the front yet as I need to wind it on around the loom to use the rest of the warp for my Part 2 samples. I'll post a photograph from the front when I cut it off the loom.

The arrow is done in regular hatching and appears as a 'ghost' behind the stripes.

finished first sampler

Here's my finished first sampler showing regular and irregular hatching at the top:

I could have cropped the picture so it didn't show the bulgy sides but this is a course after all and hopefully a record of my progress. I'm currently working on a weaving which will finish this first part of the course and will try very hard not to let the sides bulge!!

tapestry weaving progress

I'm progressing with my sampler and am really enjoying it. Rebecca's feedback is comprehensive, helpful and pretty well immediate and I'm learning a whole lot of things I just can't get from books.

Things haven't been going without hitch - my sampler has suffered from a corrugated-like effect caused by too much weft bubbling which I'm gradually getting rid of by watching the amount of weft I put in. I also suffered from a developing hill on the left hand side which can clearly be seen below:

After discounting several possibilities Rebecca thought the most likely cause was uneven beating down of the weft. As I always beat from right to left I may change and try from left to right and with a lighter touch. For the moment though Rebecca suggested trying to ease up the right hand side to even it up and carry on from there. I managed to do this although some of the lower weaving got a bit wobbly but it's a learning curve and the idea of this sampler is to find out how to avoid these sorts of problems. Here is the straightened tapestry:

tapestry weaving again

I'm so excited - I've just started Rebecca Mezoff's online tapestry weaving course. I admire her work so much and as far as I know this is the only online course of its kind. It's no lightweight but a serious course taking the art of tapestry weaving right from the basics. Until now I've tried to learn from books but believe me, there's nothing like having someone in front of you (even if it's electronically!) showing you how it's done.

This is my sampler so far. It's far from perfect but it's not too bad I think.

Start of another Tapestry experiment

This started off as a planned tapestry with a cartoon which I inked onto the warps (you can just see the marks) but seems to be turning into an experiment. I've played around with colour gradations and different types of joining verticals (both sewn slits and interlocking. The interlocking seems to give a much smoother result but that may be because my sewing wasn't brilliant so this needs more work. I also wove some gold floss through in a couple of places but my photo hasn't really picked that up very well.

The really strange thing is that it's developed an extremely droopy bottom (wonder where it got that from!) and is now also developing a rounded top - both of these anomalies on the left-hand side. I can see how the bottom started bending - probably because I didn't tie off the base wefts tightly enough - but I can't figure how the top started bulging. Maybe when it's finished I'll call it a shaped piece and pretend it was always designed this way!

more tapestry sampler

I think this is probably a little out of focus because it's making my eyes go funny! I've nearly finished with this sampler; I've used lots of different techniques with no real feel for a proper design so I'll finish up the weft bundles I have and call it a day and get on to something a little more structured and with more defined colour. All the weft bundles in this sampler are a mix of colours and I think it's made it look over busy. The eye isn't led through the design at all.  And my sudden decision at the bottom to put in another colour was too much too sudden. When I started it the whole thing was going to be in neutrals and then I had a 'red moment' (similar to a 'chocolate moment'!) and got too carried away.

But it's been a great learning curve for me and hopefully the next one will be more thought out! I've loved doing it.