After about a week of hard work, I finalized my large tapestry design. It is the next large work you’ll see me weaving. I struggled with imagining how big the design was actually going to be, so I did a mock-up in paper. This allowed me to see what parts of the form were going to be more difficult to weave, how to adjust things to make the curves smoother, and to decide what sett to use. It also impressed upon me just how big this piece of weaving is. It will be a massive dye job followed by a whole lot of weaving.
I used a digital projector to blow this up. I knew that it wasn’t going to be the actual cartoon that I was weaving from, so it didn’t have to be extremely precise. The whole piece didn't fit on the wall and I wouldn't have dared climb to 14 feet without a taller ladder anyway. So I eventually cut the cartoon to work on the bottom half.
Once the big design was completed, I could move on to other things. I’m hoping to finish up a few more projects in my last days here. I have done a few small diary weavings. I have been unable to complete the kind of daily weaving I did in my Petrified Forest residency, but am still happy with these small expressions. Each of these small weavings is 2 x 4 inches woven on a 6-dent Hokett loom warped at 12 epi with 20/6 cotton seine twine (someone will ask).
The first was this little thing.
I was surprised how brown everything is here. I imagine Georgia as being green all the time, but that is not the case. The trees are just starting to leaf out and most of the canopy won’t be green for many weeks. So this little bush outside my window with some remaining red leaves struck me.
Hambidge has some wonderful trails. I’ve spent many hours now exploring all of them. One of my favorites was a scramble to a gorgeous cascade. As I sat and watched the water slide over the boulders, I realized that the edge of the rocks at my feet were rimmed with moss out of which was growing little patches of bluets. This weaving is my memory of that spot.
Rebecca Mezoff, Bluets, Weaver's Bazaar 18/2 wool, silk, tencel, cotton
Part of my Hambidge orientation involved the suggestion that the water coming out of the pipe in the spring house was the best-tasting water anywhere. Being a veteran hiker and quite married to my trusty water filter, I had a hard time with this one. But I imagined holding a Sierra cup and channeled John Muir as I gave it a go today. It seemed like a necessary part of the Hambidge experience. Indeed, the water is quite tasty.
I was convinced that I probably was already drinking this water when I realized that all the Hambidge water comes directly from springs and is untreated.
Bottoms up! ("Oh yes I did!")
This spring house was Mary Hambidge’s water source as well as her refrigeration (more on Mary Hambidge in the next few days). The water runs through the inside of the house before heading out the other side.
The experience here I’m sure is quite different at another time of year. All the flowers are coming out now, but the trees are still fairly bare. This means when you climb to the top of the nearby mountain, you can see through them to the rest of the Appalachian’s. Owen’s mountain at 3205 feet was a tougher climb than I anticipated to be perfectly honest. But I was glad to have all those extra Colorado red blood cells helping my cardiovascular system. I have sussed out the nearest point on the Appalachian trail and I will be taking a hike on it before I leave.