Collaboration can be a marvelous thing. As a solopreneur, sometimes my job feels a little lonely. After all, bouncing ideas off other people or just having someone to talk to about anything related to your business is a relief. Of course on the flip side, finding people to collaborate with that have similar goals and beliefs can be challenging.
Over the last couple years I’ve been fortunate to find such a connection in Gist Yarn. This small yarn company based in Boston is all about yarn, weaving, and making connections among people. They’re operating principles include supporting diversity and sourcing their raw materials from within the USA.
The Tapestry Discovery Box is a collaboration I’ve been working on with Gist for the last year. The first box went live in January. The boxes include Array tapestry yarn and a new course with a project from me shipped out every quarter.
The course content includes introduction and exploration of at least one technique with supporting techniques explained. I also present designs and ideas of how to use the yarn and technique in a project. Students are welcome to copy my project or make their own. I often encourage some sampling if needed to practice the technique and get a feel for the color options. As you’ll see in the photos below, there is a wide range projects and a lot of creativity expressed by participants. Give a weaver a technique and some yarn, and marvelous things happen!
We’ve had so much fun in the first two boxes. One goal of this project is to create a sense of community surrounding the learning of new tapestry skills. The online class helps us connect to each other through a shared project and the opportunity to discuss the process with each other.
Below are some of the work the participants have been creating.
Openings: January Discovery Box
The first box was about Openings. My example tapestry was of a door and window, but people interpreted the theme in many different ways. The technique we were playing with was weft bundling. I was amazed at the different color effects people got with the very same set of yarns.
Sharon Mensing wove the tapestry below from the image next to it.
Photo and tapestry by Sharon Mensing for the Openings themed Tapestry Discovery Box.
Below are some more openings examples. Please click the photo to enlarge and hover for any further captions.
Color Gradation: April Discovery Box
The second box opened in April of 2023 and was all about color gradation. I love using gradation in my work but even if you don’t do long color changes, some color shifting throughout a tapestry is very common and a useful skill. There were so many variations among the class participants!
Some of the versions I wove for this box along with the 7 colors.
The gallery below has some student images for the gradation box which opened in April of 2023.
I have marveled at how seven identical colors in the hands of different weavers can look very different. For example, look at Ashli’s tapestry below. The cherry color in that tapestry is the same as the red in the other examples farther down and it is also the same red throughout the weaving. Isn’t it marvelous how different it looks depending on what it is bundled with and what colors are next to it? And isn’t the gradation and color play lovely in this tapestry?
Tapestry by Ashli Tyre for the Color Gradation themed Tapestry Discovery Box.
Click on the thumbnails below and hover for further captions to see more examples from the April 2023 Tapestry Discovery Box.
Nel Groenveld. Interpretation of this garden using the Discovery Box colors.
I’m excited to see what ideas participants will bring to the next box. It is all about which direction to weave a cartoon and how and why you’d turn yours sideways to weave it.
The next box opens July 15th. That is also when Gist Yarn will start shipping the yarn so you have some time to look at the material, think about your project, and a few days later your yarn will be there. You can register through Gist Yarn HERE.
Have you been doing the Tapestry Discovery Box? What is your experience? Let us know in the comments.