Warp and weft enters a time warp... Timeline for all classes extended. A lot.

As I have watched the first class move through the material of my three-part online tapestry techniques course, I have learned a few things.

1. These ladies are really funny. (I am waiting for you men to show up. I know you're out there!) They laugh at my goofiness and they sometimes make me snort into my morning cup of tea as I'm looking at the first set of questions of the day.
2. You weave where the light is best. And if that means propping the loom against the bathroom mirror under the skylight, so be it! I have photographic proof.
3. If you're from Australia, you can buy a Mirrix loom without paying international shipping (Sydney!) or apparently even riding a kangaroo across the desert. (Admittedly my knowledge of Australia is slim, but I suspect they don't ever ride kangaroos).
4. Color is spelled with an extra vowel in Canada, but they'll forgive you for being from the US and spelling it wrong... usually.
5. There are some really creative people out there who can take a very simple exercise and make it into a beautiful tapestry example (I suspect these people have way more tapestry weaving experience then they are admitting to. See Betsy's demi-duite sampler below and you'll understand what I mean.)
6. Three months is not enough time for a sane person with a job or a dependent or a need to leave the house to get groceries to really experience the material I present in the three parts of this class.

Points one to five are educational, but #6 I can do something about. I have extended the time frame for this course to a full 6 months from the start of Part 1. This gives everyone time to do more practice projects and have access to all the material for review while weaving their first real tapestries. And who wouldn't want to practice tapestry, right? Especially when you have the added advantage of more time to see me do dumb stuff and rotate my Eddie Bauer outlet-inspired video wardrobe.

Betsy Szymanski, demi-duite queen

Registration announcements:

• All-in-one and Self-directed classes start June 23rd! Get in on these because they won't be offered again for awhile. Access to this material goes until December 31st.
• Part 2 registration starting July 8th is now open.
• Part 3 registration starting June 23rd is also open.

For more information about the classes with all the dates listed, see my website at www.rebeccamezoff.com/online-learning/. You can register from there or you can go directly to the class site to register: https://rebeccamezoff.pathwright.com/school/catalog/

Collation station

I'm heading off to teach a live workshop version of the Warp and Weft: Learning the Structure of Tapestry class. I spent yesterday making sure everything was ready to go.

I had fed my last $20 to the copy machine monster at FedEx Office and the money counter on the machine was falling faster than the pile of paper left to copy. After waiting in line to get a machine, I was loath to leave to get cash and have to wait again just to copy the last three pages. I scrambled through my purse hoping for another $20 stuck somewhere, but came up empty. As a last ditch effort I fed some ones into the thing, but it wasn't enough. Sadly I picked up my pile, considered not giving the class the resource list, decided it was important, and drove to the nearest ATM for more cash.

Sure enough, upon returning to FedEx I had to wait with a woman in spike heel's 6 year old who was crawling under the rolling tables looking for loose change and dead bugs. I declined his invitation to look myself. But his mom finished faster than the lady copying large architectural drawings or the two ladies who were clearly confused by the masses of paper piles they had created, so eventually I got to copy my last three pages. Upon getting up to the copy machine, sadly I realized I could have just put my credit card in originally and kept right on copying.

Fortunately the handouts are ready.

The yarn is packed.

I finished warping four Mirrix looms today.

Someone else is driving me up to Golden, Colorado.

All I have to do is find some knitting to occupy me on the 7 hour drive through the Rocky Mountains.

My newest loom makes rainbows

I have to constantly resist new looms. People write me all the time asking if I know anyone who wants to buy their looms. I have to swallow the "Oh, I could use that one! What a good deal!" reflex undoubtedly installed by my Dutch ancestors and reply, "I don't sell looms, but perhaps you could list it here..." It is hard to turn down a good deal, but the fact that I'm tripping over piles of projects in my studio right now means there isn't room for another loom.

But I did buy this one recently. Actually, I bought it while I was still doing pediatrics at the hospital which, unbelievably, was only a few months ago. I have had some collaborators in this particular loom project. They are all a fraction of my age and all much more talented at this than I... I aspire to Bill's proficiency especially.

I knew a second grader who loved this loom. He wouldn't do anything else for weeks and weeks except make bracelets on this thing. I ran out of black then I ran out of yellow. You can see here he was eventually reduced to pink and he STILL wanted to make them. (He could also draw an amazing dragon--that kid needs a lot of art mentoring and room to fly.)

Admittedly, the hospital owned this particular loom and when I left, I went straight to Michaels and bought my own. I don't regret it one bit. It is certainly cheaper than the 72 inch Harrisville rug loom that is on my wish list, even when you consider the massive pile of colored bands I bought to go with it.

I have a cousin in Detroit who is similarly into this loom. However, this kid, who is 8 years old, clearly has no motor skill deficits. Look at the stuff he can make!

His name is William and he goes by Bill and I think the fact that his shirt says, "I'm just a Bill!" is awesome.

And lest you think that my support of this little rubber band loom is crazy, look what it led to! Bill's grandmother gave him this weaving loom and I sent him a box of wool and a book, and he is now a weaver.

Nature versus nurture must be debated here as Bill is the child of my first cousin from my weaving-grandparents side of the family. Does he weave because his mom is an art teacher or does he weave because weaving is in his blood?

A video, a toilet, and a new set of classes...

Here is a bit of an update about the online classes.

They are going smashingly. The first class has completed Part 1 and they did amazing things. They have now forged ahead into Part 2 and are already having a great time with the new material. These weavers are funny and committed and are working harder than I ever expected. They are keeping me on my toes and I am enjoying every minute of it (well, except for that one moment where my computer memory was completely full of video files and I was unable to keep editing... and the one where it was raining so hard I couldn't hear myself speak... oh, and the painter upstairs kept flushing his toilet just as I was trying to record something profound. Go figure.)

Here is a short video with just a few examples of their work. They are certainly prolific!

Scheduling announcements:
Registration is open for further offerings of this course.

Part 1 starts again June 9 (this one is going to be a great group!).
You can take all three Parts of the class as one course and that offering starts June 23rd.

Please visit my website at www.rebeccamezoff.com/online-learning/ for all the details about these classes and the link to register.

To sign up for my newsletter for future updates on my exhibitions, workshops, and online classes as well as continued information about tapestry in general, click HERE. (Hint: I highly recommend the HTML version of the email. That just means it comes with pictures!)

Fiber Art Now article about ATB10

The Summer issue of Fiber Art Now doesn't come out for a few more weeks, but they offer free peeks at some of the articles in the upcoming issues. My article about American Tapestry Biennial 10 was one of them. You can read and download the article by clicking HERE!

It was great to work with the editorial staff at Fiber Art Now and I recommend a subscription to this great publication. Or at least pick up a copy of the upcoming issue with an article that says:

BY Rebecca Mezoff

Pretty cool, eh?

Synthetic dye class: Learn to make that yarn any color you want it to be!

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This is a guest post by a fantastic tapestry weaver and expert dyer, Cornelia Theimer Gardella. You can see her work on her website at www.corneliatheimer.com. We are teaching classes at the same time in Golden, CO June 10 to 13. I'm teaching Warp and Weft: Learning the Structure of Tapestry (and there is one spot left if you want it!). But the real fun is happening in the dye studio! There are several spots left for the dye class. It is a rare treat to be able to study with a dye master like Conni.

Cornelia Theimer Gardella:

Together with Rebecca, I will be heading up to Golden, Colorado next month for four days of teaching at The Recycled Lamb.

While Rebecca is teaching her workshop Warp and Weft: Learning the Structure of Tapestry, I will be in the dye studio teaching Around the Color Wheel in 4 Days: Color Theory in the Dye Studio. The classes are June 10 to 13.

If you've ever wondered how to dye your own wool and silk for tapestry weaving or any other fiber projects or if you've had problems determining which colors you will get by mixing dyes, this is the perfect class for you. We will not only practice the process of dyeing with Lanaset/Sabraset dyes, we will also explore color theory in all its facets which will help you take the guesswork out of dyeing. One fascinating topic for many textile artists is how to produce smooth color gradation. The 4 days of the workshop will give us enough time to develop all different kinds of hue and value gradations and really experiment with color!

At the end of the week you will go home with dozens of yarn samples along with all the formulas we've developed together and the necessary knowledge to start your own sample book and dye every color imaginable on your own.

 

The classes are happening at The Recycled Lamb in Golden, CO. You can see more information on their events page here: http://recycledlamb.com/events.html (scroll down a ways to see both classes). If you'd like more information, you can email me at contact@corneliatheimer.com.

Dye samples drying

Cornelia Theimer Gardella, Regular Horizontals I, 24 x 39 inches, hand-dyed wool tapestry

Cornelia Theimer Gardella, Horizontals I, 18 x 27 inches, hand-dyed wool tapestry

All photos above taken by Cornelia Theimer Gardella.

This is Rebecca again:

I can tell you that Conni is an amazing teacher and a great dyer. 

Around the Color Wheel in 4 Days: Color Theory in the Dye Studio will be an experience which will change your approach to color and enable you to dye whatever color you want for your next work of fiber art. This is a great opportunity to learn from a master dyer in a beautiful area of the country. Acid wool dyes are what I use for all of my work. They are colorfast, lightfast, and surprisingly easy to use. You can register by calling The Recycled Lamb at (303) 234-9337. I hope to see you there!

How many strands of singles yarn should I use for my tapestry?

My online students are learning a lot about various tapestry yarns. Many of them are using Harrisville Highland, but just as many are using other yarns. One frequent question lately is about how many singles to use at 8 ends per inch. I did a little experiment with a beautiful Swedish yarn,

FÅRÖ

This yarn is quite similar to the Harrisville single that I use in my work and it is the yarn that James Koehler used at the end of his career. It is well-spun, a little shiny, and it weaves beautifully. I use this weight yarn at 3 singles over 10 ends per inch. I wanted to see how this yarn would behave at 8 ends per inch in both 3 and 4 strands. (It may be important to note that I am using a 12/6 cotton seine twine warp.)

I made this little video to show you what happened! (Tip, you can enlarge the video by clicking the little square icon in the bottom right of the video player.)

Here you can see the three bundled strands on the left and the four on the right. For the first part of the weaving I just laid the yarn in without twisting the singles together.

For the second part of the weaving with the darker purple, I plied the yarn on my spinning wheel. The difference is in the texture of the fabric. The plied yarn created a smoother texture, the un-plied was much bumpier as it is harder to get all the strands to behave the same way. Overall, I don't think it matters that much whether you ply it or not. Especially if you are using multiple colors in your bundle, plying them together may not cause the visual effect you want. Sampling may be necessary!

You can see the darker purple yarn plied here.

Make sure to watch the video at the top of the post if you are interested in this concept. I talk about why you might want to use 3 versus 4 strands in the video.

What singles yarns have you used? Leave a comment below this post!
And if you enjoyed the video, please share it!

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