This week on Change the Shed I talked about my travel tapestry kit. I’ve definitely talked about this before on Change the Shed as well as on the blog, but since many of you here are new to my summer shenanigans, here is what I’m currently using for the kit I take with me when I leave the studio.
I do have different items in the kit depending on what I’m doing. If I’m backpacking, I’m bringing a kit that is hopefully less than 8 ounces and includes a Turkish spindle and flick carder. If I’m traveling by car, I might have significantly more gear and larger looms with me depending on how much time I’ll have to weave.
Car travel
When traveling by car, all bets are off. In most cases I can bring a lot of tools and yarn and it would be unusual for me to leave home for more than a long weekend without at least two looms. If I’m going car camping, I will certainly have at least two looms and a nice bag full of color choices. Sometimes my family members raise an eyebrow at the boxes of tools and yarn, but if it all fits and we have room for the tent and the dogs, all is well.
This kind of travel often finds me sitting at a table in the woods with looms and sketchbook around me happily playing with yarn.
Rebecca Mezoff weaving on a sketch tapestry piece at a campground picnic table.
Same picnic table, different projects. Seems there were at least three looms in process (and I remember one more).
A common loom for me to travel by car or plane with is the Mirrix Saffron. This loom is light and comes apart into three pieces which can be carefully packed flat. Their newer loom, the Chloe is also a great choice, but it is a lot heavier than the Saffron. In the photo below you see a Saffron loom, a shed stick, small tapestry fork by Threads Thru Time, and the cards I wrap weft yarn on peeking out of the sturdy zipper pouch I use. The teeth on both the Saffron and the Chloe can bend, so pack them carefully.
Mirrix Saffron loom ready for travel along with tools and weft.
Backpacking or hiking
Rebecca Mezoff, a little weaving while backpacking the Colorado Trail in 2021. Just out of Copper Mountain SOBO.
When backpacking, I have to keep things small and light. I aim for 6-8 ounces in my kit total and for that weight I’d better be doing some weaving since I try to keep my base weight less than 15 pounds. This is what I will bring this summer on my backpacking trips:
Handywoman Shop bamboo tiny loom (this is VERY lightweight and sturdy)
tiny tapestry fork
shed stick
assorted tapestry needles including a 5 inch Susan Bates weaving needle
two sizes of warp wrapped in little bundles
one tapestry bobbin
scissors on my pocket knife (or if traveling by car, the folding scissors pictured below)
weft wrapped on mat board and/or materials to spin weft
spinning tools to include: IST Turkish spindle, tiny flick carder I made, pants protection cloth, handful of dyed fleece locks or a few bundles of dyed roving
a Tyvek zipper pocket to keep it all in
My current backpacking kit
The picture below shows what I take for spinning my own yarn. The flick carder is just a piece of carding cloth I glued to a piece of balsa wood. It is far lighter than a regular flick carder. But when traveling by car, I bring a better tool, a Clemes and Clemes flick carder. I only bring a carder if I’m also bringing dyed locks. It is not needed when bringing roving. I like a Turkish spindle in part because it comes apart and travels well and also because I can ply from the inside and the outside of the ball when hiking. The yellow cloth has inches marked on it so I don’t need a ruler when backpacking and I use it to protect my pants if I’m opening up locks with the carder.
Spinning kit for backpacking. If I was traveling via car I would bring a regular flick carder.
My favorite Turkish spindle for travel because it is very sturdy and takes a lot of abuse. It is an IST spindle.
Traveling with luggage by air or train
Tiny pipe loom and my France poppies weaving, mostly done on a bus ride.
When I fly which is often to teach workshops, I try to keep my personal weaving kit small and light since I usually need a demo loom for the workshop and lots of supplies for students. This kit will be somewhere between what I take backpacking and what I take in the car.
I will choose my loom depending on what I think I’ll be weaving. When I went on the tapestry tour in France, I brought a tiny pipe loom along. Sometimes I bring a larger Handywoman Shop loom because they are very sturdy and versatile. And occasionally I’ll bring a larger copper pipe loom with me. When I went to the residency in Iceland, I brought a copper pipe loom and swapped out the very heavy steel threaded rod for nylon threaded rod. The Mirrix Saffron or Chloe looms also make excellent travel looms.
In the photo below, the looms are the copper pipe loom with nylon threaded rod (far lighter than steel), two sketchlooms, and one Mirrix Saffron. Other tools include materials for Fringeless warping, two spindles (Turkish and high whorl with protective tube), watercolor kits, weaving tools, niddy noddy as I was going there to do some spinning, color wheel, and three ring binder for spinning experiments.
Tools I brought to Iceland.
Journaling
Stitching journal pages
I love to journal and often have a journal and sketchbook with me. When I’m backpacking or traveling light, I make signatures instead of taking full books with me. A signature is just a number of pages folded together that are then stitched together to make a book. There are many resources for sewing your own little paper books and if you make signatures which are just the sections of the book separately, you can just take as many as you need for your trip and assemble them into a book later or keep them together in a box.
I have made signatures from watercolor paper, writing paper, and a mix of the two. Sometimes I put in colored paper or velum and sometimes I mix watercolor paper and journaling paper. I like to have pages that can take a wet medium and where ink won’t bleed through but want more pages for words for my journaling, so I find a mix of both is perfect for me.
When traveling by car or plane, I bring regular journals and sketch books. Below is the pouch I use that fits the sketchbook, a pencil case, and a quilt rule which I find very helpful for making tapestry cartoons the right size. When backpacking, I make signatures of drawing and watercolor paper and bring a tiny watercolor kit, drawing pens, water brush, eraser, and rag for watercolor so I’m not tempted to make my dirty pants even dirtier with paint.
Drawing kit when traveling via car or plane
Drawing and journaling kit for backpacking
Change the Shed Exploration kit
Below is the Change the Shed episode from this week about my exploration kit. If you get the blog via email you can find the video on YouTube HERE.
I revisit these things every summer as I’m preparing for the Summer of Tapestry course. In 2024, the class is ready for registration. There is some preparatory information and a warm-up prompt open right now and the first prompt of four opens on May 28th. Each prompt will be 2 weeks long. One of the greatest things about this class is being able to see what all the other weavers all over the world is making. Join me for year #3 of Summer of Tapestry!
If you’re looking for some of these tools, please visit the resources page on my website with links to most of the things I use a lot. https://rebeccamezoff.com/resources