‘Woven Women- Our Lady of the Waters’ is a mixed media tapestry, including wool yarn, stones, wire and pounded metal.
I wove her with several different looms: A tapestry loom, a 2 harness table loom, a 2 harness Saori floor loom, a peg loom and also used a spool knitter.
She’s 28 inches tall by 11 1/2 inches wide.
I think that she is probably my favorite piece that I have ever woven.
Here’s a closeup of a section that I wove on the table loom at 15 epi.
I used tabby, inlay, soumak, clasped weft and embroidery.
A couple of years ago, when I was working on the designs for The Lily Speed O Weave design book LINK,
I figured out how to weave a hexagon on the loom, using continuous weaving methods.
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The method is slightly tricky (it took me a LOT of experimenting to figure it out!) and has one disadvantage….
You have to use quite bulky yarn or else the hexagon is really loopy and open meshy (aka ‘sleazy’).
I decided that this made it not worthwhile to share the technique, as the knotting technique that was traditional for the Lily Speed O Weave loom allowed you to use absolutely any weight of yarn or thread.
Besides, I had figured out a way of speeding up and streamlining the knotting process, so I decided to just go with that.
But, a few days ago, a lady on Ravelry asked if anyone knew how to weave continuously on the hex loom and wasn’t into the knotting technique.
So, I figured…. okay…. I’ll make a video showing how to do this….
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The secret to weaving continuously on the Lily Speed O weave looms?
Mashing up triangle loom weaving techniques with the continuous weaving technique of the potholder loom.
AND>>>> There’s a VERY important switcheroo that you have to make, mid-stream, as it were. 🙂
Once you have mastered the technique, it’s REALLY quick and easy to weave up hexagons on the Lily Speed O Weave loom!
I dreamt that I was invited to visit the workroom of a friend who passed on awhile ago.
She and I had written back and forth for several years before her death.
I still hold her dear in my heart, even though we never got to meet, face to face, in this world.
Anyhow, in the dream, I was invited into 2 gorgeous little rooms that were full, floor to ceiling, with antique drawers and shelves, full of exquisite handmade lace and yarn, and thread and weaving and embroidery.
It gave me a whole new view of heaven! 😀
I was particularly moved by the colors of one jacket and 2 bags that were woven with a range of reds and blues and then embroidered with yellow silk thread.
For the rest of this week, I have been glued to my loom, and then my sewing machine, weaving a vest that was inspired by the dream.
It has been such an interesting voyage of discovery, as it took me places that I didn’t expect to go, and it had it’s own rules and requirements.
Here it is:
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I wove it on my Saori loom, blending the yarns on the bobbin, and adding and picking up strands of weft as I wove.
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
I knew that I was going to be shaping the vest by pulling on warp strands to add the curves that would build the vest, so I worked at making the shapes of the clasped weft be conducive to the warp pulling process.
I had thought that I would use the narrow band to add another ruffle to the outside edge, but I decided instead, to use it to weave the back of the vest.
This is one of the things I love about Saori weaving- being able to do freeform work that takes off in a different direction than I had originally planned!
I like to shape the garment after I have woven it, so I do my warp pulling after the weaving is off the loom, and don’t do any shaping on the loom.
The butterfly was woven while it was still on the loom.
I had thought that I would embroider lots of dragonflies onto the vest.
I didn’t embroider the dragonflies while it was on the loom, as I wasn’t sure where I would be placing the pulled warp sections, and didn’t want the embroidery to be distorted or to interfere with the pulling process.
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I had woven the butterfly a couple of weeks ago, and set it aside, as the piece that it had originally been part of felt like it was a ‘fail’.
How wrong I was! The butterfly and another section of the ‘fail’, fitted into the back of the vest just perfectly.
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
I thought that I would tat some dragonflies and stitch them on, but they just didn’t work.
It’s a wonderfully comfortable vest, and every time I wear it, I will think of a dear friend, and how she still inspires me!
So, my friends, here’s to life, to color, to love, and to the creative process!
May you weave sweet, colorful dreams! 😀
And, here is a video on how to shape fabric by pulling warp strands:
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:
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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-
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I duct taped 2 of them together to make a cap to go over the Mini’s knobs at the top of the loom!
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
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! 🙂
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