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:

Workspace

This is my absolutely unprofessional workspace:

The frame is warped. The orange at the bottom is cut up Sainsburys carrier bags and it's used to form a nice straight base. Above that is a row of twine and then it's ready to start weaving. The cartoon is clothes pegged to the warp and I have a selection of wools ready. I'll have to combine some of these to achieve the shades I'm looking for. The tub on the right holds my bobbins and beater. The frame has to sit on top of a couple of blocks of wood until the weaving gets higher, otherwise I'll be bent double trying to weave the bottom few inches.

No excuses not to start now. I registered my entry on the 22nd December so I'm committed. Here goes...

Ideas

I have nothing to show yet but am thinking about designs and colours and have some outline ideas. I've warped the Mirrix loom and woven in the base of plastic to keep the bottom firm and straight (at least that's the idea!). It's the day after Winter Solstice so I'm going to sign up for the exhibition online and then it's a case of sticking with it and keeping the Gemini part of me in line.

Beginnings

This is my first post - just before the Winter Solstice, a time where the old is finished and the new begins.

My beginning is a journey through the art of Tapestry Weaving. I am a complete beginner, self-taught, and my intention is to record my journey from that point to, hopefully, someone who can call herself a tapestry weaver.

The moment I decided to start recording my progress was the day this week when an email newsletter from American Tapestry Association (ATA) dropped into my inbox with notification of an Untitled/Unjuried exhibition for 2014. The only requirement is small format (up to 25cm square) original recent work.

Recent for me means I must start now. Small format it may be but it's still a huge planning exercise before I even start weaving. So, sketch book first for the design followed by cartoon and then weaving.

My entry must be in by January 31, 2014 and the tapestry by March 31. I am going to fill in the entry form on Sunday which is the day after Winter Solstice therefore, for me, the first day of the new year.

This was a sample I did a little while ago - not something I'm proud of but a good reminder of how far I have to go!

heathland colours

I picked these few heathers and grasses on the Ashdown Forest at the weekend. The colours are soft golds and greens mixed with vivid heathers and as I wandered along I thought how I could translate these into a tapestry piece.

So today I translated this into paint in my sketchbook so I can start finding yarns and thinking about composition. Unfortunately the photograph of the grass and heather doesn't show up the vibrance of some of the colours properly. Put that down to lack of photographic ability!!

progress report

Well, it's got a little further. I have no plan and am just playing, led by the yarns I have and serendipity. I put a few rows of sumack in with a cotton tape in lovely sludgy reddy, browny tones. There seems to be quite a lot of warp showing and this needs to be solved some time. Not now though. I haven't quite got to grips with warp size, epi etc. yet!

weaving again!

My wrist's out of plaster and I can weave again :-)

Typing is a real problem still but tapestry weaving is OK and probably great physiotherapy! So I've got on with my sampler which is just my way of playing around and trying different techniques - so far, colour blending in the weft and also in the weave. I'm sure there are technical words for this sort of thing but they escape me without looking them up in a book! I didn't really mean to make such a definite change of colour with the red - my intention was to progressively subtly change the natural shades but I just love red!

There's a delicious little gap which shows up in this photo - probably a case of not beating down tight enough but I don't care - this is a labour of love, not perfection. Thinking about varying the colour of the warps and leaving gaps in the weaving and ... oh, all sorts of experiments.

Tapestry Landscape

I've finally started weaving my first tapestry. I had a problem right at the bottom (or the start of the weaving) with the weft not covering the warp properly but I think this was because I had the weft pulled too tight as it seems to be better as it grows and as I get used to it. I'm not sure at this stage whether I'm pleased with it or not and until I get more weaving done I won't know. I marked the design on the warp to make it easier for me to follow and then put a sheet of black paper behind the warps so I can see what I'm doing. The bobbin on the table at the left is my prized possession - it has a brass tip and it feels so much nicer to weave with than the all-wood ones. It was hugely expensive though so I'll have to collect a few at a time and put them on my birthday and Christmas lists for years to come!

A close up of progress so far.

Tomorrow I have a day off work and I'm going to the David Hockney exhibition at the Royal Academy. I can't wait; I'm so excited - all that wonderful colour!

NEW YEAR'S JITTERS

After seeing pictures of several of my blog friends' studios I decided the time had come to 'fess up to the mess I work in and post some photos. Here is my desk/work table:

It shows my tapestry sampler in progress which restricts the amount of space I have left to work on as it attaches to the table on clamps for comfortable working. The monitor belongs to my old PC which I rarely use now as I have a Mac notebook which I love. But I still need it for a few things so I keep it.

This view is the wall behind my worktable:

I've been careful not to include the floor area in the photograph because there's a lot of stuff down there that REALLY needs to be tidied up! The two collages are by a favourite artist of mine, Nagib.

This wall has my project/inspiration board and containers below for art materials and yarns.  My studio also houses our wine rack which can be seen bottom right! How's that for good planning :-)

This was a great opportunity to use my 20mm wide angle lens which I don't use that often. It also reminded me that I need to tidy my camera equipment away somewhere in this room.

I found taking these photos and writing about them quite emotional. It confirmed my worries about the fact that I'm such a butterfly, moving so rapidly from painting to embroidering to drawing to photography to weaving and on and on without really settling on one thing, making it my own and developing it properly. This actually worries me a lot - it seems to me that it's a big flaw in my character and something that I need to do something about. With another New Year nearly upon us I find myself thinking a lot about these things and wondering what I can do to change. I'm not a fan of new year's resolutions, but I do certainly get that feeling at this time of year that if I need to make changes now's the time.

But how to make them is the problem...

TAPESTRY WEAVING SAMPLER

Tapestry weaving is a new thing for me. I'm learning from a book and this is a sampler I've started. It's very therapeutic and I can't wait to have a go at designing something of my own and mixing colours on the bobbins. But I need to learn the basics first!