Tapestry materials

On sheep street.

On sheep street.

I love learning about sheep and fleece. The heart of the matter is the material. The art I make starts with wool. Wool doesn't come in just merino. It comes in a fantastic variety of characteristics grown by a large number of sheep breeds.**

As tapestry weavers, many of us are used to just purchasing whatever "tapestry yarn" is available and leaving it at that. I think we can and should look a little more closely at the materials we use. After learning the techniques to weave tapestry, it is important to start thinking about how different materials contribute to the final piece of art.