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.
They are on display at the ‘Art on the Inside’ Gallery at the Glenrose hospital in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, from July 6 to August 16 this summer.
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 have posted a new video tutorial that is the second in a series of how to weave tapestry on the Mollie Whuppie and Vasilisa looms.
I designed the Mollie Whuppie and Vasilisa looms and Dewberry Ridge makes them. They’re wonderful!
This video shows how to
1- Start the weaving at the curved edge while weaving side to side.
2- How to fill the curved space that will form by using eccentric weaving (weaving that doesn’t go all the way from side to side).
3- How to weave dots of color.
4- How to use hatching to make a pattern- in this case, a circle shape in the middle of the weaving is made by alternating 2 colors of yarn.
5- How to finish the straight edge at the end of the weaving.
Here’s the video:
To see how to set up the Mollie Whuppie loom please go to my previous post, which will take you to the first video in this series: LINK
Video tutorial by Noreen Crone-Findlay showing some tapestry weaving techniques for the Vasilisa loom.
The following techniques are covered in this ‘how to’ video tute:
1- How to warp the Vasilisa (and Mollie Whuppie) loom
2- How to secure the lower edge
3- How to prepare for weaving by making a cartoon, and the protective layers of cardboard and plastic for the cartoon, then weaving in the shed stick
4- How to weave vertical lines using the ‘pick and pick’ technique
5- How to change colors to turn the vertical lines into checkerboard pattern
6- How to weave a circle motif in contrasting colors, showing how to weave up to the circle motif to create the supporting structure for it.
7- How to weave the circle in pick and pick technique
8- How to complete weaving the background
9- How to finish the upper edge
10- How to stitch the gaps closed
The Vasilisa loom is used in this video, but the techniques shown work just as well on the Mollie Whuppie and Thumbelina looms.
The Vasilisa, Mollie Whuppie and Thumbelina looms were designed by Noreen Crone-Findlay and are built by and available from Dewberry Ridge Looms. THREE SISTERS LI'L WEAVERS
This is the first in a series of videos showing techniques for weaving tapestry on the 3 Sisters (Thumbelina, Mollie Whuppie and Vasilisa) Looms.
What can you weave on Mollie Whuppie and Vasilisa?
Well, everything that you can weave on Thumbelina, but on a larger scale.
I’ve written an instruction booklet that shows how to weave techinques so you can weave:
Tapestry pouches:
Tapestry dolls:
Freeform tapestry ‘Weavies’:
Baskets:
Statement necklaces:
Prayer Flags:
Banners and bunting:
And, the Mollie Whuppie loom has a secret power!
She can mend socks!
You can’t make socks on the Mollie Whuppie loom, but the patches that you weave are totally perfect for fixing the worn out heels of precious hand knit socks.
Here’s a little video that explains the origins of Mollie Whuppie and Vasilisa’s names and shows the projects:
I love Mollie Whuppie and Vasilisa, and hope that you will, too!
I’ll be showing you more with them, in upcoming posts.
This is an homage to a very small dog that we are caring for while his people are dealing with tough stuff.
Raeleen has had a liver transplant and other surgery, so we are helping out by caring for their darling little dog for as long as they need us to.
We have fallen completely in love with him, and he is doing just brilliantly.
It will be hard to have him go home again, but it will also be perfectly fabulous, because it will mean that Rae is well enough to be back at home!
We live in amazing times- medical expertise is astonishing, and our friends are going to have more years together because of that, and I feel blessed.
I was thinking about the miracles around us, and about the love that connects us all- to friends, to animal companions, to family in all the ways it is created. It fills me with gratitude.
To put those thoughts into stitches, I wove this tiny tapestry of a small dog who brings much love into the world, using my Thumbelina loom. LINK
I tried something new- I added a twisted cord (I used the Thumbelina loom to make it… I must show how I did that!) to the outside edge.
And, then I pressed it. Derp.
STEAM tapestry – don’t PRESS it! the lovely corded edge went all floopy from being pressssssssed. sigh.
I know that! I know that….
Trying to get the detail of a Chihuahua face into that small a space proved verrrrrrrrrrrrrry challenging.
That’s okay…. that’s part of the ‘permission form’ with Tapestry diaries:
Feel free to try things and see how it goes- even if it’s not technically perfect, it’s still a learning time, and a time out of the day for quiet contemplation and meditation, so Win/Win.
The other day, a friend mentioned to me that she has been checking my blog and was concerned that I haven’t been posting lately.
Well, one of the reasons is because I have been working night and day for months, on a new little loom that I have designed- the Thumbelina.
(I also have been working on a ton of other things, and will definitely get around to blogging about them soon)
One of the things that has really captured my imagination with the Thumbelina loom is weaving tapestries on her.
Weaving very tiny Tapestries has some challenges- working my way to achieving a ‘thumbnail’ image that reads clearly what my intentions are can be tricky, and is a fascinating process.
I am utterly hooked by working on such a small scale- I love the sketching process, and then am always surprised by how the weaving and then the embroidering afterwards makes the tiny tapestry so engaging.
Because of the immediacy of weaving at such a small scale, it is the perfect way to weave tapestry diaries.
Tapestry diaries are usually woven in small units of a larger tapestry, as a reflection of the day to day life of the weaver.
Weaving Thumbelina tapestry diaries is kind of a reverse… I am weaving tiny tapestries that I will then be attaching to a larger piece to make them part of a cohesive unit.
Tiny Tapestry Diary pieces woven on the Thumbelina loom.
The first 3 tapestry diaries that I have woven have been meditations on my life this May….
Nature in her abundance (apple blossom beauties),
Tiny Tapestry Diary of May apple tree flowers woven on the Thumbelina loom.
Nature in her ferocious destroyer aspect-
terrible fires (and my prayers for rain),
Tiny Tapestry Diary of a prayer for rain woven on the Thumbelina loom.
and a response to a marvelous dream that I want to remember
(the fairy door).
Tiny Tapestry Diary of a Fairy Door to remember a lovely dream, woven on the Thumbelina loom.
I made a video that shows more of the process of weaving the raindrop tapestry:
Thumbelina is available from Dewberry Ridge Looms: (I designed and made the prototype, but Gary and Donna have the engineering skills to produce and ship them all over the world. They are great at that and I am not. I am good at designing, so that’s what I stick to 🙂 ) LINK TO ORDER THUMBELINA LOOM
