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The time-saving magic of a few simple records (and the yarn I don't remember dyeing)

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The time-saving magic of a few simple records (and the yarn I don't remember dyeing)

I’ve been working on a design for a new large format tapestry. At this point I’m still calling it the “rock piece” and it is fortunate that I have been using that term in my notes in various places for years because that consistency allowed me to unravel a little mystery last weekend. I’m pretty set on the cartoon for this piece and have even enlarged it full scale as I consider final color selections and potential ways to realize this idea. Seeing it full scale allows me to really see what the forms will be like when woven and gives me another opportunity to play with the design if I want to change it. Most of my decisions will have been made by the time I start weaving.

Woven Color: James Koehler and his legacy

Woven Color: James Koehler and his legacy

James Koehler was a contemporary tapestry artist living and working in New Mexico. He was my teacher and the teacher of many other tapestry artists over a span of about 20 years. He passed away unexpectedly ten years ago today, March 4, 2011 at 58 years of age.

Many of you probably took classes from him also. Perhaps you visited his studio, were in a class with him through your guild or a conference, or were even one of his apprentices at some point.

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Weaving from the Front vs. Back: Questions from The Art of Tapestry Weaving

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Weaving from the Front vs. Back: Questions from The Art of Tapestry Weaving

Oh my but I get this question a lot. Should I weave from the front or the back? Or if you’re brand new to tapestry weaving, your question might be, WHAT??? What does that even mean, weaving from the front or from the back?

I’m spending some time addressing questions from readers of my book, The Art of Tapestry Weaving on the blog, and this is one I get not only from readers but from students in my workshops and online courses.

What does it mean to weave tapestry from the front or from the back?

I demonstrate this in the video below, but the short answer is that the side of the tapestry that will be showing when hung on the wall or used in some other manner, is the front. Tapestry is a one-sided fabric in almost all cases* and it is important to know which side of the weaving will be showing when it is displayed.

What is the best way to use a skein of yarn? Put-ups for tapestry and other yarn activities.

What is the best way to use a skein of yarn? Put-ups for tapestry and other yarn activities.

Yarn comes in many forms. If you saw the video I did last week about making yarn balls, you’ll realize that there are different ways your yarn might come packaged. Many of those forms are usable just as they are, but one particular configuration is almost impossible to use without transforming the yarn into a different shape, the skein or hank.

How a yarn is packaged is called put-up. That just means that it comes in a skein, on a cone, on a tube, in a cake or ball, or wound on a card. The image and gallery below shows those various put-ups.

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Questions from The Art of Tapestry Weaving: Ball Winders

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Questions from The Art of Tapestry Weaving: Ball Winders

I have had some wonderful emails from people all over the world about my book, The Art of Tapestry Weaving, which was published in November of 2020. There are some concepts that are harder to translate into images and text and a video can really help demonstrate and some of you have sent me these questions over the last few months.

I have had yarn around me my entire life. Because of this long exposure to this very addictive substance, it is sometimes hard for me to remember that the way we use or manage yarn can be pretty foreign to people who did not toddle around with a ball of it in hand as an infant.

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Dead batteries, best practices (7 years in the bathroom), and Ruthie

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Dead batteries, best practices (7 years in the bathroom), and Ruthie

Here is a little bit of what has been going on in my world. Most of it is at least tangentially tapestry related.

The Ruthie

While scrolling through Instagram in January, a post popped up of a lovely tapestry loom which I have long admired.* The Crisp Ruthie loom is a high-warp tapestry loom which is no longer made and hasn’t been since perhaps the 1980s. I know a couple tapestry weavers who have one (Joan Griffin and Tommye Scanlin) and love them. So my scrolling stopped when I saw the Ruthie and when I read the post, thought, someone is going to be the lucky new owner of that loom! After reposting to my IG Stories, I had a shocking thought. What if I bought that loom? Certainly it is somewhere far away and who wants to ship something so heavy across the country?

Cameron Peak Fire revisited

Cameron Peak Fire revisited

The Cameron Peak Fire burned 326 square miles near my home in 2020.* It started August 13th and was finally declared controlled in January of 2021. All four of the trails I backpacked prior to August 13th in 2020 burned in the fire as did every other trail near home on my hiking bucket list. The forest is closed in most of the burn area and likely will remain so for a very long time as the dangers to people, the land, and the watershed are many. Regeneration will happen but the fire burned very hot in places and the soil was destroyed. That means things won’t grow back there any time soon and that soil will erode and negatively impact our water supply and the habitat of everything that lives near this zone.

If you followed me during the worst months of the fire, you know how much grief the loss of these places in the form I knew them brought up for me. I wove four small tapestries about the fire and will probably weave more in the series. These are small 3 x 3 inch tapestry diary pieces. All four are woven as if I’m standing in the same place looking at the same mountain in the Rawah Wilderness. But they could represent any of the hundreds of miles of trail that existed in the burn area.

The first two I wove on the same warp. The initial weaving was from an image I took on a hike just north of where the fire started. I took this image on my birthday which was August 5th. As I left the wilderness the next day, I distinctly remember thinking, 4 days in this wilderness wasn’t long enough, but I’ll be back soon. Less than a week later, the Cameron Peak Fire started in a place I could have seen from where I took this image. (Not all of the Rawah burned. The beginning of the trail to get to this place burned but I don’t believe the spot where this photo was taken did. This tree may still be standing and since it is probably many hundreds of years old, I hope it is. One day when it is safe, I will go and check.)