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.
Spark your creativity this summer.
In this live multi-week workshop I encourage you to go on your own adventures and document them through small, informal tapestries.
Weaving from my surroundings has taught me to pay attention and enjoy the process of experiencing something real and making art about it. I always take a notebook and loom with me as I spend time outside in the summer.
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.
I’ve written about tapestry looms and my smaller tapestry diary works quite a lot on this blog.* One of my most popular blog posts is from 2019 about small tapestry looms. The information in that post is now outdated and most of the looms I was talking about are not even available any more. So let’s look at some newer options for small looms and why you might choose one over another!
My local library is pretty amazing. The Mancos Public Library does so much every single day for this community. For example, public schools in most of Colorado only run Monday through Thursday. What are parents supposed to do on Fridays? The library in Mancos has a program where kids can spend the whole day learning and exploring each and every Friday.
Needless to say, when one of the library directors asked me if I’d like to show my work on their art wall one month in 2025, I said yes. April 2025 is that month.
So on Tuesday I packed up two tapestries, a table*, an assortment of tape and tools, and headed to the library to install my work.
Earlier this month I had the good fortune of spending five days in Arroyo Seco and Arroyo Hondo. These are villages just north of Taos, New Mexico. Arroyo Seco is home to Taos Wools and I was teaching a three-day workshop on color gradation for them.
I made a video of the trip which includes more images from the workshop as well as some scenery and thoughts from my drive home through El Rito and Abiquiu, NM. I took a hike up Chimney Rock at Ghost Ranch intending to do some drawing at the top, but it was snowing! Check out the video for the whole adventure.
Let’s consider the evidence, shall we?
Can you imagine what I said when presented with this spinning fiber by one very proud 12-pound dog?
I was teaching a workshop in Taos all day and when I got back to the AirBnB, I got a report from the human who witnessed it that one very excited mini-dachshund had found a bag of fleece.
I have had so many students over the years who made me laugh with their tapestry ideas. Gayle Weikert was one of the best. She was one of my very first tapestry students in 2014 and over the last 11 years, she has been a part of my life in those glancing ways that adds a spark to your week and reminds you that life is worth living.
Gayle’s tapestries were very often hilarious. They were all to my knowledge, quite small. She loved to make puns and jokes about all sorts of things. For example the title of the tapestry below is Try Again.
