A string (thread? yarn?) of dye mishaps

A string (thread? yarn?) of dye mishaps

Oh my.

It has been quite a day in the dye studio thus far. There was the leveling problem with the lightest gray and the attempt to fix it went horribly wrong...

Let me back up. I've been working on a large dye project. I'm dyeing yarn for a big tapestry a friend is weaving and while I'm at it, I'm dyeing the yarns I need for my upcoming workshops. The first pot I wanted to get going this morning needed special care. It was a pot of the lightest gray I dye, DOS 0.03. This yarn frequently comes out quite spotty, so I used some of my tricks to try to get it level. Unfortunately, I didn't use all of them because it was clear before the pot even started to heat that this yarn was not going to be remotely all one color. Severely blotchy darker grays with spots of almost white yarn. This will never do. Perhaps the students won't care, but every time I see that ball of yarn on the yarn table, I'm going to cringe and kick myself for not using Abegal Set and for putting the acid in before the yarn had a chance to sit in the levelers for awhile.

Spring gnome sighting

Spring gnome sighting

Happy spring you all! It actually feels like spring here in Colorado at the moment. You know when I am out hiking in a short-sleeved t-shirt and am contemplating shorts that it is really warm.

These little guys were seen briefly in the front garden cavorting around some miniature daffodils. I left some hints around the garage that they could work on my dye project overnight, but was disappointed this morning to find no progress made while I was sleeping.

Luminous beings are we... Yoda

Luminous beings are we... Yoda

I visited the Denver Art Museum yesterday. The Star Wars and the Power of Costume exhibit is only here for a few more weeks and though I am not a complete science fiction geek, I do love me some Star Wars. I had to go.

The costumes were stunning. I really enjoyed seeing the concept art which was presented as drawings, storyboards, and costume fabric files along with a few videos.

Design tips and inspiration for tapestry weaving

Design tips and inspiration for tapestry weaving

Inspiration for tapestry design can come from an infinite number of sources. But actually recognizing something as a starting point for a design can be tricky! My experiences as artist-in-residence at Petrified Forest National Park last year have informed my design skills tremendously.

This experience of using a little loom and simple forms inspired by the environment was so powerful for creating meaningful tapestry designs, that I wanted to share it with all of you. 

Handspinning for tapestry weaving

Handspinning for tapestry weaving

I really enjoy playing with color. And what better way to experiment with color than making your own yarn for tapestry? Interweave's spinning magazine, Spin Off, has an article in the current issue (Spring 2017) about spinning for tapestry weaving by yours truly.

The dyeing, spinning, weaving, and writing of this article was an adventure. The real story is that my original intent was to spin various colors of fleece and weave them while hiking for two weeks on the Colorado Trail last summer. I quickly remembered how much I like hiking for 12+ hours at a stretch and how little time that leaves me for sitting still and spinning or weaving. I only finished one tiny tapestry on that hike and it was not the thing for this article. 

A February of hearts, #thetapestryheart

A February of hearts, #thetapestryheart

The tapestry heart project has been a lot of fun. I am still seeing hearts out there being woven, and quite frankly have one more in my head I haven't gotten to yet. Thank you to everyone who has participated so far. Keep weaving! The more love we send out into the world, the better. I am happy to add more photos to this post, so if you have a woven heart image you'd like here, send it my way! And if you have a story to go along with it, I'd love to hear it.