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

Winter Trees Weave-Along Re-cap

Winter Trees Weave-Along Re-cap

If you wove along with me in the winter trees project in November and December, thank you! I know some of you are still weaving or are just starting your winter scenes now. I wanted to post a little update with my finished projects and a link to those of yours that I’ve collected so far.

If you’d like to join the project, there is a free PDF in my blog post on November 13, 2024 you can download for ideas and guidance. You can find that blog post HERE.

I wove two projects. The first was a pine tree in the snow.

Hot air ballooning: flight among the red rocks

Hot air ballooning: flight among the red rocks

During the holidays I was able to return to my hometown of Gallup, New Mexico to watch my favorite balloon festival, the Red Rock Balloon Rally. This small invitational rally is full of skilled pilots and beautiful balloons. They fly among the red rock canyons of Red Rock State Park. I find the flight of these balloons through the canyons and against the brilliant blue sky inspiring.

Ancestral Futures show in Taos

Ancestral Futures show in Taos

During the retreat I taught in Taos last month, I took a bit of time at lunch to walk downtown and duck into a couple of stores I like to visit. I was long out of time, but was walking by the Taos Center for the Arts (TCA) before racing through Kit Carson park back to my students when I remembered an important detail I failed to put on the class calendar that week. The Ancestral Futures show was still up at the TCA. So I resolved to be late and ducked into the gallery. I was so glad I did!

This post is full of images of outstanding tapestry and fiber artists from Northern New Mexico, both contemporary and passed on now. I hope you enjoy the photos!

Misspelling Crotchety and other tapestry mishaps

Misspelling Crotchety and other tapestry mishaps

Sarah Swett and I made a class about a particular warping technique six years ago now. Monday we did a live chat on YouTube to talk about our experience with Fringeless, answer your questions, and talk about the tapestry life.

I have to say that hanging out with Sarah and making goofy videos (along with lots of serious ones) was a lot of fun then and clearly it is still fun now. I think the photo below clearly indicates the difference in our knitting abilities and probably also our weaving abilities. All tapestries in those photos are by Sarah and she wore gorgeous hand-knitted sweaters which she designed on every day we shot the class. I was apparently wearing a cheap cotton sweater from Eddie Bauer which is still in my closet.

We answered a lot of questions about four-selvedge warping including why you might want to do it and how we both use the practice. And if you want to see the misspelling of crotchety, I recommend watching the whole video as Sarah shows us her current work in progress. I hope you enjoy the video!

Winter Trees Weave-Along projects

Winter Trees Weave-Along projects

It has been a lot of fun seeing what everyone is weaving for this weave along. I’ve been giving ideas and patterns on Change the Shed. If you’d like to join us, you can find all the details in THIS blog post from November 13, 2024. That post includes a free PDF download with some tips for weaving and some suggested designs.

The two Change the Shed episodes where I have talked about this project so far can be found on YouTube. November 13, 2024 and November 27, 2024.

In the episode on the 27th I started a new tapestry and we talked some about choosing yarn colors, especially as it comes to value. During the broadcast I wove perhaps 3/4 of an inch in a design woven on its side. I had just gotten to a non-tree element, a holiday ball ornament that I felt compelled to weave and you all helped me choose which hand-dyed silk strands to use for the colors.

Tapestry sales: The cupboards are becoming bare!

Tapestry sales: The cupboards are becoming bare!

I have had my work at Taos Wools in Arroyo Seco for much of this year now and three pieces have sold this fall. Both of the Inscription pieces went home with new owners and Emergence VII went to one of my long-time students.

Below is a photo of Inscription I as I was packaging it up to bring to the gallery in Taos earlier this year. This tapestry was about words and about losing them a piece at a time. I really enjoyed the color gradation and that bright pink. The yarns are hand-dyed by me. The ideas here came from the work of Anni Albers and it is something I’d like to return to in future.