Tapestry Frames

So, the plan was to show some weaving updates, but it was side-lined due to another problem: no tapestry frame. Thankfully, I have a sister who can make almost anything. 

Tapestries, since they are created on a plain weave, can be woven on my rigid heddle looms, but I wanted an actual little frame for demonstration purposes and potential sales. My sister and I went shopping for items to create my looms, and probably in the next few days, she'll make them for me. I should have two nice frames and one utilitarian frame.

Frames can be made out of most anything: picture frames, foam boards, pipe, or even sturdy piece of wood. One of the best things about tapestries, indeed most plain weaves, is the simplicity of the equipment, and the beauty of the finished product. Items such as Berber textiles and Oriental carpets are created on simple structures, but the products look impossibly difficult.

As the projects progress, I'll add photos. It should be interesting to see what appears.

More Tapestry Lessons

Some more photos of my tapestry lessons. These were woven before the shape tapestries of last week. Later on this week, I'm going to start to weave basic landscapes using the lessons that I have learned.

Tapestry Lessons

The tapestry study of shape: a diamond, a leaf and a circle. The warp is a yellow rug warp (5/2 cotton), while the weft are various colors of embroidery floss. Out of the three, the diamond was the hardest to keep balanced because it was woven from sight as opposed from a cartoon. As you can see in the photo below, it is a little bottom heavy.

While I did well keeping the ascent and descent correct on the sides, I failed to put in enough rows to keep the top and bottom balanced. I counted the rows and they are equal, so I might have actually beat the weft in harder on the top than on the bottom. Practice in weaving, as well as training my eyes to discern my images better will help.

The leaf, for those who wonder, is two different colors since I ran out of one color green.

For my first freeform shape, as well as the first attempt to follow a cartoon, I think I did well. The edges need work, but that comes from practice. The colors are two greens, but my brown is the same color up until the top left hand corner. Once again I did not have enough weft, but I tried to blend the colors as best I could.

The last of the three sections. This is the one that I am the least pleased with - the edges are terrible.  I think I might have figured out the problems - it has to do with how I approach the edges. I think symmetrical circles, diamonds and the like are going to be my difficult areas.

I also find that my warp tightens in the center as I weave. I have yet to discern how to fix or prevent the problem, but once again, it comes with practice. The leaf and the circle had fewer problems with my warp tightening than earlier projects did.

Just an overview of what my tapestry lessons have looked like since I started. Tapestry is a fun weaving style, and I look forward to painting with yarn. Let's hope I paint with yarn better than I paint with oils.

Updates

Lots have been happening over the past several months - the big thing has been tapestry weaving. Unfortunately, I don't have a photo of my progress, but hope to have one up next week. My hardrive crashed, and working to move everything from one computer to another.

Tapestry weaving - wow. Talk about taking a slow path. I've been doing rep weave on my little rigid heddle loom. My tapestries have been small - five inches wide. For ease of use, variety of color, and expense, I use embroidery floss as the weft. The biggest difficulty I have is keeping my lines smooth - especially when weaving the shapes. I realize that it'll improve with practice, but sometimes the practice part is the hardest part.

Slowly working on putting a regular schedule of projects both woven, written and knitted. Keep coming back - new things are coming.