Tapestry Weaving

Fixing Shedding problems in tapestry weaving

Fixing Shedding problems in tapestry weaving

How many times as a newer tapestry weaver have you felt frustrated because you’re weaving along and suddenly your wefts are in the wrong shed?

Wait, what is a shed anyway?

How many of us who have been weaving tapestry a long time remember those days when every time we added or subtracted a weft in our design our sheds were wrong? Or we are trying to fill in a dip between two forms or add a new color into a pattern and there were either lice or the wefts just wouldn’t go where we wanted them to go?

We have ALL been there.

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In celebration of Woven Color

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In celebration of Woven Color

I’ve found myself doing some lectures for weaving groups again recently and so I’ve been talking about my teacher, James Koehler again. I was his apprentice and I do like to talk about this model of learning.

James passed away unexpectedly on March 4, 2011. I often do put up a blog post on the anniversary of his death to celebrate his life and especially his work as a tapestry artist. James was a devoted teacher and I think he would want to know that his book, Woven Color, has inspired people to weave tapestry or at least to think about how an artist comes to that profession and where their work comes from.

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No more floppy selvedges! This is the knot to use.

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No more floppy selvedges! This is the knot to use.

There are only a few things that I’d say regularly frustrate new tapestry weavers and one of them is the final knot on the warping bar of a continuously warped tapestry loom. If that last knot doesn’t hold tightly, then your edge selvedge will be loose which affects your weaving. Using a double half-hitch knot allows you to adjust the tension on that last warp with a knot that will hold.

Continuous warping

What does that mean? A continuous warp is one which wraps around the outside of a tensioned frame loom. Some common examples of this type of loom are the Schacht Arras and most Mirrix looms. These looms use a warping bar. The bar gives you a place to tie the beginning and ending warp securely as well as a rigid structure to help you turn the tapestry around the loom without distorting it. This type of loom can produce a tapestry that is longer than the loom is high.

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Tapestry weaving on a budget

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Tapestry weaving on a budget

Historically tapestry weaving was a trade. In the middle ages (and even through present times), weavers were skilled technicians weaving large designs created usually by painters. Today tapestry weaving has become an art form that is often practiced at smaller scales by people who are designing and weaving their own work.

Tapestry has a wealthy past as patrons funded the workshops that wove those large tapestries for their castles and country homes. Today tapestry weaving can be for everyone.

It is true that purchasing equipment and materials for any new art form can be pricey. There are many tapestry looms for sale that for many people are just too expensive to consider. And tapestry yarns can also feel out of reach when you have to purchase large amounts in many colors. But there are less expensive ways to find the materials and equipment needed.

Weaving tapestry in Taos; time at Mabel Dodge Luhan House

Weaving tapestry in Taos; time at Mabel Dodge Luhan House

I’ve spent the last week weaving with a fantastic group of people at my retreat in Taos, New Mexico. I love teaching in my home state and I especially love spending time at the Mabel Dodge Luhan House in Taos.

Lest you think this is some high end hotel, let me tell you a bit about the place. My Taos retreats are held in the former home of Mabel Dodge Luhan, a renowned author, artist, and socialite, who spent the last decades of her life gathering people around her in this house far from her roots in Buffalo, New York. Though some of Mabel’s actions can be seen as problematic today, it is undeniable that she did manage to get many artists to come and spend time in Taos. They created works of art that made Taos into the artistic center it now is.

I love spending a week in the house, eating in Mabel’s dining room, watching the fire in her living room, and sleeping tucked snugly into small adobe rooms….

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The Tapestry Discovery Box

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The Tapestry Discovery Box

I’ve been working on a fun project in collaboration with Gist Yarn. And this week, it is ready for the world. The Tapestry Discovery Box has launched and I’d love to share it with all of you. If you’ve ever wished for an ongoing community of tapestry weavers to talk about and troubleshoot technique and design problems with, this subscription course might be exactly the thing for you.

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Learning design skills and having fun in the process

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Learning design skills and having fun in the process

Have you reached that point in tapestry weaving where you feel you have a decent or even excellent grasp of technical issues but you are unsure how to design your own images? This happens to almost all of us, so you’re not alone. Designing is simply a skill and it can be learned.

There is a lot of pressure in the art world. How many messages do we get telling us that you have to be born with some sort of special talent or that you have to go to art school to make “good” art? Those messages are everywhere in our culture and it is easy to let those messages keep you from creating.

The truth is that designing for tapestry or any art medium is simply a skill and that skill can be learned.