Oh my word.
My editors and I poured over every word of the manuscript of ‘Peg Looms and Weaving Sticks’, over and over and over, and yet a typo slipped by us!
For the Cowl on Page 29, #2- It should say ‘Weave 30 inches” NOT 36 inches.
Apologies!!!!!
I really hope that this is the only typo to have sneaked past us!
I was very surprised the other day, when a friend in England sent me a photo of herself, holding ‘Peg Looms and Weaving Sticks’!
I haven’t received my copy yet, so I was amazed to see that it has made it’s way to England before it’s official release date.
It was neat to see what the final version of the front cover looks like.
I still don’t know what the back cover looks like 🙂
So, this video, which I had planned to be a ‘Sneak Peek’ at the book, isn’t really a sneak peek since some people already have it (even if I don’t!)
In this video, I am focusing on the wearables in the book.
The book can be ordered from the Book Depository- I’d never heard of them until my editor told me about them, but I think it’s great that they ship worldwide, free. LINK
Happy weaving!
I’ve just made a video that shows some of the projects in my book, Peg Looms & Weaving Sticks
(release date: Sept. 1, 2017).
I’ll be making more videos, showing more of the projects in the book.
The book is available online from the National Book Depository: LINK and from local bookstores.
Happy Weaving!
(I am seriously Happy, happy dancing!)
For many months, I have been working really hard on new mixed media fiber art sculptures.
The 6th Sense is intuition/inspiration/imagination.
These one of a kind art dolls are based on dreams, memories, meditations and contemplations and are an invitation to embrace creativity, healing and wholeness.
They are a combination of tapestry weaving, narrow band weaving, lucet cords, tatting, knitting, wood work wire work and leather work.
Here’s a slide show video of my 6th Sense One of a Kind Art dolls.
Most of the 6th Sense One of a Kind Art Dolls in the video are for sale, but some of them have already sold and gone to live in their new homes.
I use weaving hooks in all kinds of weaving- everything from potholder looms and frame looms to triangle looms, and a fair few looms in between.
Crochet hooks are okay for some weaving, but they can be too short and too round for some weaving.
I have found that making weaving hooks from chopsticks is quick, easy and very satisfying. It’s a great way to upcycle.
Chopstick weaving hooks are longer than crochet hooks (afghan hooks can be hard to find) and are flatter, and work beautifully.
You can customize your weaving hook to be the absolute bees knees by fine tuning it with a little sanding or whittling as you work with it.
Here is a step by step ‘how to’ video tutorial that shows you how you can easily carve or whittle your own perfect weaving hook with just a few simple tools:
Recently, I had a lovely conversation with my darlin’ grandson.
He said to me: ‘Nanma, I LOVE your dolls. Will you make me one for Christmas?’
I was thrilled that he is pleased with my work and that he wanted me to make him a doll for Christmas.
What an awesome 7 year old he is!
I asked him if he wanted a wooden one or a woven one, and I was convinced that he said, ‘Wooden’….
So, I stayed up very, very late one night, and got up early, to carve him a wooden doll:
I used a birch branch from our son’s neighbour’s tree. It’s been drying for a year and a half and is lovely to carve.
Tottie Tomato cheered me on as I carved.
She comforted the new doll, because she knows that the knives, chisels and sandpaper are very uncomfortable, and that paint brushes tickle….
After he was done, and I had knitted his sweater and jeans, Tottie Tomato and New Boy went to hang a few ornaments on the tree in the village.
Something was feeling not quite right….
I thought: I have to check and see if Grandson actually said that he wanted a wooden doll…..
So, I asked him which dolls he loved?
Wooden or the woven art dolls?
We were out at a concert of his Grampa’s music, so I sketched the shape of the 6th Sense art dolls in the air.
YES! he said, firmly!
THOSE are the ones I love!
Oh oh….
I asked him to draw in the air and show me what shape he had in mind.
Yup….. Woven Women 6th Sense art dolls, and NOT 6 inch tall wooden dolls….
oops.
He specified that he wanted it soft to cuddle and that it had to wear black shoes.
I asked him to draw exactly what he wanted…..
He held his hands up in the air and showed me the size.
So…………………………
I have been weaving up a storm……………. well, a doll, along with a few other things……
I used the tapestry weaving technique to weave the body front, and plain weave for the back.
I did a clasped warp technique for the arms and legs to make the color changes work for the arms and legs.
I hope that he approves of how I interpreted his design!
I hadn’t thought of making him a doll for Christmas, so I am incredibly grateful that he asked.
And, because I didn’t get the brief right first time around, our little sweetheart gets TWO dolls, not one!
For now, they are chilling out by the Village Christmas tree, enjoying themselves in knitted armchairs that I designed for Findlay and Flora Bear.
The pattern for the chairs is in my etsy shop:
I can’t bear to wrap them until the last moment, so I will have a chance to enjoy them, too!
Merry Christmas, Happy Channukah, Happy Solstice, Happy Yule, Happy EVERYTHING to you and yours!
Love and blessings all round.
May 2017 bring Peace, Wisdom and Compassion!
Last month, when there was a spectacular Super Moon, we stepped outside to admire it.
The gigantic moon looked like it was suspended in the huge trees that line our street.
The image of the Great Tree Mother, rocking the Moon in her arms, rose up in my mind….
and I knew that I had to build one of my 6th Sense one of a kind art dolls.
Here she is:
Great Tree Mother Rocked The Moon in Her Arms:
While I was contemplating how to build the Great Tree Mother piece, my husband and our daughter took the dogs for a walk one morning.
Chloe came home with a wonderfully gnarly branch that had been pruned from someone’s tree and tossed into the alley.
She just knew I needed it…. even though, at that point, I hadn’t told her what I was mulling about 🙂
We have a very deep connection!
It is perfect.
So’s our daughter….
Anyhow…
The faces….
Years ago, my dear friend found a moose antler that had been shed and she asked me if I could use it.
I cut 3 faces from it, and carved them and painted them.
Two of them became part of this piece:
Tree Mother’s face.
She also has a ‘Hidden Face’ that is hidden inside the piece and will never be revealed.
Too bad I didn’t photograph it! Oops…
Here is Moon’s face:
I carved the hand from wood.
I wove the bands on 2 different looms and knitted the grey hand spun cloth of her robe.
All of the 6th Sense Woven Women have 6 pennies incorporated into them, as a metaphor for coming to our senses, and embracing intuition, intelligence and inspiration.
She is 29 inches/72.5 cm tall and the branch spreads out to 15 inches/37.5 cm wide.
She is not for sale.
By the way, she is also a celebration of creative adaptive re-use and upcycling. I love that.
For the last few months, I have been working on a very large mixed media tapestry in my series of ‘Woven Women’.
This one is called: ‘Essence’.
Woven Woman (Essence) by Noreen Crone-Findlay (c)
She’s over 6 feet tall, and has about 2 feet of warp strands hanging below the lower edge, so she’s about 8 feet tall in total.
I used many different looms to weave her…. beginning with my ‘Story Loom’ (designed by Susan Barret Merrill of
Weaving a Life LINK)
“Essence” on the Story Loom (c) Noreen Crone-Findlay
I also used: A rigid heddle loom, a narrow band weaving loom, peg loom, weaving sticks, Star Loom, tatting and wire work.
I posted links to 3 videos that I made about various looms and techniques I used in weaving ‘Woven Woman: Essence” here: LINK
And, made a video so you can see her a little more clearly:
Happy Weaving, and here’s to Essence, however it reveals itself (or in this case: Herself).
I’ve just finished weaving a new Woven Woman mixed media tapestry. LINK
Woven Woman (Essence) by Noreen Crone-Findlay (c)
I’ve made 3 video tutorials to show how I wove various aspects of her:
How I wove the ‘Galaxy’ circle at her heart: LINK using the Peg Loom
weaving with wire on weaving sticks
How I wove the narrow copper band around her face, using Weaving Sticks: LINK
And, the third video shows how I used a Lily Speed o Weave loom to weave a hexagon, using the ‘Flower of Life’ pattern, with spool knitted cord.
I spent several days shooting a video, showing how to weave the Flower of Life with wire, but the wire just doesn’t show up in the video. Sigh.
So back to the drawing board, and several more days, but this time, using spool knitted cord, because it shows up well in the video.
Flower of Life pattern woven on the hexagon loom by Noreen Crone-Findlay
You can use all kinds of things to weave this pattern that is a celebration of geometry- Lucet cords, wire, thread, yarn, art yarn, roving (use thread or embroidery floss or yarn to tie the intersections), t shirt yarn, fabric strips…. no limits!
By the way: In my etsy shop, there’s a great eBook:
(Lily Speed o Weave patterns and designs)
Another YouTube video for a different Lily Speed o Weave tutorial :
Happy weaving!
This is the latest in my series of Woven Women mixed media tapestries: “The Stories We Tell”.
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com
Here’s the video that explains it:
I wove the center galaxy section on a 15 inch peg loom from Dewberry Ridge looms. The dragonflies and star were also woven on looms that I designed for Dewberry Ridge.
I wove the words on my double slotted rigid heddle.
I worked the hand in Teneriffe lace and lucet cords.
It’s 20 inches/50 cm wide and 21 inches/52.5 cm tall.
It took more than 8 weeks of intensive weaving for me to complete this piece.
Noreen Crone-Findlay, designer and author
Tottie Talks Crafts Blog 