Tapestry Weaving
Rebecca Mezoff
Testing out the Duet tapestry beater from ...

It is no secret that I love my tapestry forks/beaters with metal tines. Many people make them with dog combs. The metal tines slide through the warp easily and if the handles are shaped well, they provide a nice snap for work on tapestries large or small.

Over the years I’ve purchased many tapestry forks from Magpie Woodworks, Thomas Creations (Threads Thru Time), and Timber and Twine. These are beautiful hand-crafted tools and every tapestry weaver should have at least one of these in their toolbox.

But I have had so many students who were unable to get one of these forks or had to wait many months just because when a tool is hand-made one at a time, it takes a long time to produce them and more people want them than can get them.

Testing out the Duet tapestry beater from Schacht

The Little Guy Grows!

The Little Guy Grows!

I wrote a blog post last year about loom length and how it impacts tapestry weaving. The post is called Questions from the Book: Ease of Weaving and Loom Length. In that post I advocated for longer looms and more free warp because it really makes weaving easier no matter what loom you’re using. See the post for details about why I feel this way.

Since that post, the one Mirrix loom that I have struggled with a bit because it felt like the warp was too short has had an upgrade. (Admittedly this is just my preference and the original Little Guy loom works just perfectly as it is!) You can now get the Little Guy loom in the Tall Guy version. The new loom adds inches to both the threaded rod and the copper pipe making the overall maximum height of the loom 5 inches longer.

Weft bundling tricks and tools

Weft bundling tricks and tools

Color use in tapestry weaving is an unending source of exploration. When you’re first starting out you’ll probably use one solid color at a time. But the world of color can be vastly expanded by mixing weft colors in a bundle.

Most tapestry yarns are thin enough that you can use several strands at once. This practice is called weft bundling and is of great benefit if you want to mix colors. The video below talks about various aspects of weft bundling including:

  • how to match up multiple strands of weft

  • why you might want to use a weft bundle

  • possible tools to carry your weft bundle including some you may not have considered

A new tapestry falls from the loom

A new tapestry falls from the loom

It isn’t a common thing to say in the USA, that a tapestry falls from the loom. But that is the translation from other languages and I like it. One of you will remind me where I have heard this. I believe it is the French that say it, but please correct me if not!

I’ve started a new tapestry series and I am still so excited about weaving large tapestries again. I’m forging ahead with the second piece and hope to get it on the loom in the next couple weeks. Those of you who watched me weave wildflowers on Change the Shed know that I started the sampling in October of 2021 and the tapestry began on my rug loom in mid-November.

For me to have woven a piece like this in two and a half months is a bit astounding to me. You see, I work full time and tapestry is slow. It usually takes me a year to weave a larger piece. But I am determined to spend more time on the loom and so I have made choices this year to allow me to do that. To finish this piece in that time which included almost two weeks away from home visiting family, I just wove every day. Most days it was only an hour, but that adds up to 7 hours a week and that was enough. This piece was not complicated weaving and so I was able to roll right along fairly quickly. There were few decisions and it was a joy to see it grow so quickly.

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Finding the right shed stick for weaving tapestry on small looms

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Finding the right shed stick for weaving tapestry on small looms

I have used shed sticks made by Jim Hokett for my whole little looms weaving career. So when he retired in 2019, I was sad to lose this source of wonderful tools. There are other people making similar looms, but I have struggled to find a replacement for his shed sticks.

Today’s video does a deep dive into this humble tool. Shed sticks are particularly useful on small tapestry looms without shedding devices. I use them as a simple way to open the shed, prevent abrasion of my weft yarn, and to check my shed for errors. And on narrow setts, they can pick up warps that my fingers cannot.

Threads of Life by Clare Hunter

Threads of Life by Clare Hunter

Sometimes when I am really looking forward to a book written in the UK, I order it from there. Threads of Life by Clare Hunter was one I wanted to read and so in 2019 when it was first published in the UK, I bought the hardcover version. Which of course completely explains why I just finished reading the book I couldn’t wait to read so much I had it shipped from Europe in late 2021.

On the plus side, it is marvelous to read the book in the language it was originally written in. Because they change things for the US versions. Did you know this? There is an English translation for the USA. I don’t know if this is always the case, but it was true of James Rebank’s books. I have also bought his books in the UK version because they Americanize the language and in his case, even change the title (!) for the US version. Can Americans not learn how the British say things? Isn’t it good for us to remember that color can be spelled with a U in it and that the particularly British turn of phrase is fun to come across? Aren’t we smart enough to read books which are, for heaven’s sake also written in English, exactly as they were written?

Wellness and the loom: Taking care of our bodies

Wellness and the loom: Taking care of our bodies

Many of you know that I am an occupational therapist. I used to teach a class at conferences called Creating Without Pain which was about ergonomics for fiber creatives. It has been a long time since I offered that class but a wonderful wellness practitioner reminded me of the importance of that knowledge recently.

Missy Graff Ballone runs a business called Wellness for Makers. Missy is a yoga instructor and massage therapist along with a maker. She has a lot of wisdom about how we use our bodies and how we can keep ourselves healthy and pain-free as we make, whatever our creative field is. She works with all kinds of people who work with their hands and bodies to create art and I have found her workshops and podcast so valuable in my own work and life.

Missy interviewed me for her podcast, Wellness for Makers, and that episode went live this week. You can listen to it wherever you get your podcasts, or if you’re not a podcast listener, you can just listen online by clicking the button below. It is episode 51 and is called “Weaving Occupational Therapy Into Art with Rebecca Mezoff.”

A southwestern wander: walking, drawing, and a few yarn shops

A southwestern wander: walking, drawing, and a few yarn shops

In December I had a trip to New Mexico. Armed with COVID tests, we were able to visit my parents in the town I grew up in. Gallup, NM is a place that almost defies description, but if you know it, you can probably explain a few of the peculiarities of my personality!

Home is Gallup

While home I was finally able to visit Weaving in Beauty. This yarn shop/weaving resource is on Coal Ave and has been there several years now. I was beyond impressed with the shop and what they do and carry. They’re there in part to provide fiber tools and materials to local weavers and spinners and in this economically depressed are of the country, I was impressed at how low they could keep the prices of their materials and tools. That is truly a service to the makers in the area (and to those of you who order from them online!)