Tag Archives: tapestry weaving

February 4, 2013 · 11:52 am

Woven Women-The Eyes of the Butterfly

When I became a grandmother, I saw the world in a whole new way…. through the eyes of the butterfly…..

Seeing my grandson emerge, and witnessing him ‘spread his wings’ makes it so heartrendingly clear just how magical and fragile our precious world is.

In response, I wove this tapestry, which is a love song to my daughter and her son.

Becoming a grandmother means that I now sing a love song to all the tender new lives that we must nurture.

Tapestry: Woven Women-The Eyes of the Butterfly

by Noreen Crone-Findlay 2012-2013

approximately 14 inches wide by 36 inches tall

The yarn used in the tapestry is special to me for 2 reasons…. one is that most of it came from my mother’s collection of yarns, and the rest of it was spun by my beautiful daughter in love, Alliston Findlay.

Lots of precious threads here…..

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Filed under tapestry, weaving & handwoven, Woven Women tapestries and woven works

Tagged as babies', baby, beauty, becoming a grandmother, creativity, grandmother, grandparents, hand weaving, nature, tapestries, tapestry weaving, weaving, woven, Woven Women tapestry by Noreen Crone-Findlay

October 14, 2012 · 11:48 am

Update on progress in tapestries Oct 2012

Yesterday, I took a tapestry off my 16 inch Mirrix loom- it’s nowhere near being finished as I am going to be doing embroidery on it.

I thought that I would give an update on the tapestries that I am weaving for my solo show next summer.

So, even though NONE of these pieces are anywhere close to being done, here’s a quick little glimpse at the works in progress:

And yes, I did plaster copyright notices all over them, as I have found that images have a way of getting away from you, so I want people to be able to follow them home!

The large tapestry is about a meter long – when you use extenders on the 16 inch loom, you can weave very long pieces.

On the music stand are 2 tapestries that I am just getting started on.

The 12 inch tapestry has gobbled up all my ‘s’ hooks, so I need to go buy some more.

I warped up my 5 inch Mini in a totally outside the box way….. totally outside the Scrabble box, that is!

I bought a couple of extra Scrabble games from the thrift shop so I could use the letters for my titles of my video tutorials.

I plunked the tile holders into a drawer and occasionally, I wonder what I will do with them.

Well… the other day, when I was puzzling over how I could warp the Mini when all my ‘s’ hooks are in use elsewhere, I had a flash of inspiration-

I duct taped 2 of them together to make a cap to go over the Mini’s knobs at the top of the loom!

This is the back of the loom, showing how I warped it continuously, going over the ‘Scrabble Cap’.

It works brilliantly!

I don’t like showing a piece before I have made some progress on it.

In November, I’ll do another update, and hopefully, I’ll have lots more to show you!

How to make yarn butterflies and upcycled wooden tapestry bobbins

Some people love weaving with yarn butterflies.

And some people (like me) don’t.

I love wooden tapestry bobbins and I love making each one a unique piece- and I especially like using upcycled wood to make them.

So, for those of you who like yarn butterflies, here’s a video tutorial on how to make yarn butterflies:

And, here’s how I make my one of a kind tapestry bobbins, which wouldn’t suit everyone, but I love them and find them to be a pleasure to use:

Start with a piece of cast off wood. In this case, a wooden plaque (don’t use chipboard or mdf ! This needs to be hardwood)

a thrown away plaque from a garage sale

Flip it over, and draw in the rough lines for the first cuts:

next, saw them into rough shape:

Working on getting more definition and shaping:

All the wooden offcuts are going to be burned in the wood burning stove in the studio in the winter- nothing’s wasted!

When the rough saw shaping is done:

I move over to the belt sander:

and I do a whole bunch of sanding (very carefully)

Did I mention that this is a really slow, meditative process? Yup.

Go slowly… and pay attention….

Then, it’s off to work with a bunch of different small sanding drums:

and files:

And more sanding:

and then, I draw faces on each one, and get out my wood burning tool and draw and burn faces and the year on each one:

Here’s a closer look:

I just listen to what each bobbin wants, and then I draw on their faces. Some of them crack me up.

Like the ‘Get to the Point’ guy… 3rd from the left…. I know, I am easily amused….

And, here they are, all wrapped up and ready to weave!

I hope that the photos will all open for you!

So, happy butterflies, and happy bobbin-ing!

Happy weaving!

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Filed under eco crafts & green projects, Loom & looms & small loom weaving, tutorial & how to, weaving & handwoven

Tagged as how to make tapestry bobbins from upcycled wood, how to wind yarn butterflies, Mirrix loom, Noreen Crone-Findlay, social networking for Mirrix loom, tapestry weaving, textile art, textiles, weaving

June 11, 2012 · 10:27 pm

Working with handpainted handspun yarn in tapestry

My daughter-in-law spins gorgeous yarn. Which makes me very happy.

Because, sometimes a skein or two finds its way into my studio.

Recently, she spun Merino and silk and dyed it turquoise and purple, separated by short sneezes of sunshine yellow.

I love it, and have been puzzling over how to use it in one of my new tapestries in a way that keeps the integrity of the colorway, while working across the entire width of the tapestry. Weaving narrow bands of it in vertical columns would not be a problem with maintaining the colors as units… but… horizontally- ah, well… that’s another cup of soup entirely.

I didn’t want to have the colors end up in little splats of one color arguing with another.

That meant working in short segments, weaving small blocks of each color.

I could have woven little squares of each color, with little slits that would need to be stitched or interlocked. Myech…

I sat down with my trusty little pencil and thought about this conundrum….

and came up with this:

If I started at the left hand edge, and wove a little triangle with one length of turquoise, then, I could use the little bursts of yellow to tell me when to nip down, and start a slanting wedge of purple.

This completely worked for me! I wouldn’t have any joins to deal with, and I could work each little section of color in order, so the colorway of the yarn stays intact.

It’s a happy solution to an interesting problem!

Tapestry weaving is full of nifty little voyages of discovery

My first little purple patch was not so perfect, but by the time I had woven across to the right hand side I was pleased with it.

Here’s the video:

Working with handpainted handspun yarn in tapestry

My daughter in law will be uploading some of her new yarns and batts and braids to her website soon. LINK

Making string heddles for my Mirrix loom

At the beginning of May, a ‘new-to-me’ loom , a large Mirrix tapestry loom, arrived in my studio. (Courtesy of my son and daughter in law who picked her up in the city 4 hours away, that used to be her home- the previous owner didn’t want to ship her).

I immediately sat down and made a whole lot of heddles for her, as she didn’t come with them.

And then, I warped her up- ooooooooohhhhhhhhhh, I love how easily she warps! Bliss!

As I was warping her up and starting to weave, I thought…. ‘Hmmmm…. there must be a group for Mirrix weavers on Ravelry’

(Ravelry= the facebook of the yarn world)

I looked, and sure enough! There is a Mirrix group…. which I joined, pronto.

And the first thing I saw was that Claudia (the inventor of the magical Mirrix looms) and Elena, her talented daughter, had posted that they were accepting applications for their annual ‘Social Networking for a Mirrix Loom’ campaign. Link

Well… I had decided within hours of starting to weave on my ‘Joni’ loom that I wanted to fill my studio with Mirrix looms.

So, I sent off an application….

Um… I wanted to fill the studio with ~Smaller~ Mirrix looms!

MEANWHILE>>>> The Joni is one big Mamma, and even though I am tall, my arms are short, so I found that I was having shoulder pain.

My clever daughter in law subtly sneaked the information out of me that I was longing for the treadle kit for the Mirrix loom. Then, she orchestrated the family buying me the treadle kit for Mother’s Day! What a sweetheart!

To say that I was thrilled was an understatement!

THEN! on the 18th of May, was just tickled pink to hear from Elena that they had picked me as one of their team for the 4 months of the ‘Social Networking’ campaign. Whee! What a couple of thrilling days!

And, now… I am starting to keep my part of the bargain, which is to chronicle my experiences with the Mirrix loom(s).

So, since I began my Mirrix adventures with making string heddles, I am going to show you my quick and easy way of making the string heddles for the Mirrix looms (or inkle or frame looms, too).

And, here is the video:

How to make string heddles by Noreen Crone-Findlay (c)

Happy Weaving!

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Filed under Loom & looms & small loom weaving, tutorial & how to, Uncategorized, weaving & handwoven

Tagged as how to make string heddles, Mirrix loom, Mirrix looms, Mirrix tapestry loom, Noreen Crone-Findlay, tapestry weaving, textiles, video tutorial

May 19, 2012 · 1:49 pm

Bead love

I love beads- how could I NOT love beads?

The colors! the textures! the complete wonderfulness of them- sigh….

For many years, I did a lot of off loom beading- using brick stitch and peyote stitch to create pieces like this necklace:

This necklace is an homage to the Minoan Goddess of the Bees.

The blue teardrop shapes are dew drops, as the Minoan Goddess of the Bees is also known as ‘The Dewdrop Goddess’.

I love that—- dew happens when the earth is waking up and shifting from the dreamtime to the waking world.

How wonderful that there is a tiny Goddess there, guiding us back from our dreams, to our waking lives, and refreshing our spirits with dewdrops!

The red petal is a pomegranate seed, as The Minoan Goddess of the Bees is also closely aligned with the Goddess, Persephone.

Persephone was snatched from this world, and taken to the underworld, where she ate 3 pomegranate seeds. This meant that she had to return to the depths for 6 months of every year.

In Western Canada, where we live, winter reigns for at least 6 months of the year, often longer, so I resonate deeply with Persephone’s journey!

By the way, I love how the corded part of the necklace formed a figure ’8′ – tilt it sideways, and you have infinity!

I worked the cord in peyote stitch, using tiny brass beads that a friend found in a thrift shop. Nice!!!

I carved her face from a tagua nut (an ecologically harvested palm nut) that is also known as vegetable ivory.

I have never done much loom beading, but that is about to change!

Every year, Claudia and Elena at Mirrix looms have a ‘social media campaign’.

They choose 2 weavers (a bead weaver and a tapestry weaver) to be part of the team, and then give them each a Mirrix loom.

Then, the weavers blog and post and tweet and fb etc about their adventures with their Mirrix looms for 4 months.

Well… I am soooooooooooooo delighted!

They picked me as one of their weavers! wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

A few weeks ago, I bought a Mirrix Joni from another Canadian weaver who hadn’t bonded with it. I am working on a series of woven tapestries and fiber arts collages and I need Joni Mirrix to be my loomie for that

Woots! I fell madly in love with Joni Mirrix (although I felt unworthy of her at first… will tell you more about it, later) and thought-

‘Hmmmmm… there must be a Ravelry group for Mirrix looms’.

I looked for it, and sure enough, there is! Link

I joined, and the first thing I saw was that they were having their annual Social Media networking campaign.

I sent in my application, and last night, I was doing a huge happy dance to discover that I got picked for the team!

(good thing I don’t have to catch a ball or throw one to be on the team, or else I would still be standing on the sidelines! ahem)

Oh ho! I want to fill my studio with Mirrix looms, (tapestry is slow, and I want to be doing bead weaving, toooooooo, so I am just ecstatic!)

Speaking of bead weaving, I treated myself to Claudia’s bracelet workshop on Craftsy (anyone who has seen any of my video tutorials will know that I am madly in love with bracelets!) and I am chomping at the bit to get going on a bunch of yummy woven bracelets!

Alright…. back to work on design deadlines so I get back to my weaving!

Go gently!

Oh! PS: if you would like to knit yourself a Minoan Goddess of the Bees, I designed one for you to knit, and can be ordered here:

Link to the doll page on my website (scroll down, waaaaaaaaay down the page to click the ‘buy now’ button)

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Filed under doll & dolls & dollmaking & doll making, knitting, Loom & looms & small loom weaving

Tagged as bead weaving, beaded necklace, beauty, brickwork stitch, fashion, knitted Minoan Goddess of the Bees doll pattern, minoan goddess, Minoan Goddess of the Bees, Mirrix loom, peyote stitch beadwork, social media campaign, style, tapestry weaver, tapestry weaving, teardrop shapes

May 13, 2012 · 6:01 pm

Whatcha working on these days? he asked

Last week, a friend asked me what I was working on these days.

In response, I rattled off a list of projects and tasks that is the length of my arm.

The next day, as I was leaving the dentist, he drove up to the stop sign, he said: ‘Oh yah, you say you’re working on all these things, but here you are, just walking down the street!’

Um… if I could master the transporter, I would! Zap! into the dentist chair! Zap! Home again! Sparkle sparkle zing.

I would like that….

Anyhow, here are some of the things that are happening in my studio right now….

(Not ~ all ~ the things that are happening, as I can’t show projects that I am designing for magazines etc- the editors would be smacking me on the side of the head if I did….)

(and I am working on some stuff that I need to not talk about until it ripens. You know how it is.)

Okay… first things first…

We have adopted an adorable little rescue…. he’s 4 1/2 years old and is just wonderful.

(except for being a cat botherer… that is NOT good ) This is him (in his fetching blue harness) with his adopted big brother. (Our dear old chihuahua/daschund cross).

Ah, well, other than being oh so barkie about the cats, he is completely adorable. As you can see, he has settled in beautifully.

Although, every adoption takes time and patience and attention….

Alright…. a brief zip around the studio:

Okay, in the southeast corner, there’s a big project happening on my tri loom (configured to the 3 foot size).

I’ll be posting more about this as the project moves closer to the finish line:

My tri loom is from Dewberry Ridge looms, and it’s beautifully crafted. I love it.

I have other projects on the go on Dewberry Ridge looms:

I am weaving a scarf for my daughter on the 14 inch tri loom. Link to another post about this scarf: linkie

And, I am using a Dewberry Ridge Potholder loom for a new design that I will be releasing soon:

And, I am still working on my husband’s vest on the Structo Loom:

And…. I am working on several new tapestries in my series of ‘Woven Women’-

I have two ‘new to me’ looms that I bought from other weavers who didn’t bond with them:

I am delighted with my ‘new to me’ Mirrix ‘Joni’ tapestry loom. I am just singing Joni’s praises!

I am loving working with her! Perfection!

At the same time that I bought Joni Mirrix, I spotted a little wooden tapestry loom on Kijiji, and happily bought her.

This is a very slow little loom to work with, as there are no built in shedding devices, just good old fashioned weaving swords and string heddles.

Even though, I quite love this little loom and am enjoying working on her.

And………… I am also working on a whole buncha other stuff, that I’ll be telling you more about later.

Until then, may the sun shine softly upon you!

Happy weaving!

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Filed under Loom & looms & small loom weaving, potholder loom, weaving & handwoven

Tagged as Dewberry Ridge Looms, hand weaving, hand woven, Mirrix tapestry loom, Noreen Crone-Findlay, small loom weaving, tapestry weaving, textiles, time and patience, triangle looms, weaving

February 28, 2012 · 12:30 pm

Woven Women-Butterfly Prayer

I am weaving a series that I am calling: ” Woven Women”. They are mixed media fiber art pieces that are a celebration of the Feminine Divine.

Please don’t pin the images of my Woven Women Series… thank you

I showed the Butterfly Prayer Woven Woman piece in a how to video today, so I figured that I should show a few more photos of her.

So, here she is:

The Woven Women are all woven on many different small looms.

I wove Butterfly Prayer Woven Woman on inkle looms, tablets, a 4 harness Structo loom (8 inches wide), and a tapestry loom.

In the photo above, you can see how I gathered the upper curved section by pulling up warp strands to ruffle the weaving.

The lower curved sections were drawn up in more graduated curves to make a flatter arc and not a ruffle.

And, here’s the Butterfly at her heart and in her prayer…

Butterfly Prayer Woven Woman is my prayer for wellness for all the creatures of this beautiful planet, no matter how small or large.

All images are copyright protected and are owned by Noreen Crone-Findlay.

(I posted about one of the other Woven Women, and will post more photos of other Woven Women soon. LINK: Green Empress)

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Filed under weaving & handwoven, Woven Women tapestries and woven works

Tagged as art doll, art pieces, fiber art, inkle weaving, one of a kind art doll, tablet weaving, tapestry weaving, weaving techniques, Woven Women multimedia tapestry by Noreen Crone-Findlay

December 7, 2011 · 3:39 pm

One of a kind woven art doll-Green Empress and a mini studio tour

Over the last couple of years, I have been weaving a series of tapestries and one of a kind art dolls.

Please do not pin the images of my Woven Women Series- thank you so much!