Category Archives: tapestry

July 1, 2014 · 10:55 am

Tapestry diary June 2014 -Doorway

Having committed to weaving a tapestry diary for the year of 2014 has been a wonderful experience for me.

As I have been experimenting with my diary pieces, I have come to a huge ‘aha’ about the ways that I love to work.

I have found that weaving tiny tapestries, 3 inches/7.5 cm by 5 inches/12.5 cm truly makes my heart sing.

Here is my completed tiny tapestry for the month of June:

I wanted to show the small size of the tapestry by placing it in the context of my studio, and I inadvertently included a little self revelation that made me flinch when I first saw the pic.

My little rock with ‘good enough’ in chalk….. not feeling good enough has been a life long struggle for me, and it’s rather ouchie to have my little ‘good enough’ rock in the photo.

BUT, I figured that I am not alone in this struggle, so, what the heck…. if it feels too uncomfortable to leave the pic as is, I can take it down… but… maybe it could be helpful to someone else who navigates that particular minefield, too, so, I’ll leave it for now.

To be honest, the weaving in this piece does have aspects that are not good enough.

But, as I have lived with now for the few days since I finished it, I have decided that there’s more to it than meets the eye, and I like how I have had ‘aha’ moments with it- finding new meaning in it.

One of the rules of the tapestry diary that I have made for myself is that I have to ask myself:

Where am I right now? What am I working on?

And, then do a drawing that feels like it has possibilities to show me more about that.

When I began my June drawing, I was deeply grieving the death of one of our beloved little dogs, as well as several other losses.

It made me really aware of how those we love do come and go, and how tender and precious life is…. and that’s what came up in the drawing and the weaving.

On the other hand, my daughter in law thinks it looks like something out of Star Trek or sci fi.

LOL!!!! That works for me! I say: If you see something in it that I didn’t, then, YAY! that’s a win.

….. and that’s good enough for me…..

🙂

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

Tagged as diary, handweaving, handwoven, Noreen Crone-Findlay, tapestry, Tapestry Diary

June 6, 2014 · 11:43 am

Woven Women – Spiral Eyes

A couple of days ago, I posted photos of ‘Woven Women- Spiral Eyes’ in process and with the weaving finished, but still on the loom. LINK

I was planning on weaving more small diary pieces on the same warp, but- oops!

I broke a warp strand while advancing the warp- ack!

So, I cut the warp off and finished framing her:

My thoughts while weaving this piece were

that we simply have to come from a place of compassion….

which is what the spirals represent to me-

spiral in, spiral out.

The eyes, of course, are about seeing….

the blue around her face represents tears,

the green in the spirals is all about hope.

So… that’s what’s woven into a very tiny tapestry. (It’s 3 inches by 5 inches)

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Tagged as miniature tapestries, Noreen Crone-Findlay, tapestries, tapestry, tapestry diary weave along, Woven Women tapestries by Noreen Crone-Findlay

June 5, 2014 · 7:54 pm

Folding stand for my Mirrix tapestry loom

I am pleased as can be- I’ve just built myself a spiffy new folding stand for my Mirrix tapestry loom.

I’ve done several variations on this loom stand – I began by designing a folding stand for my copper pipe looms LINK

And, then, used the same concept to make a very upcycled version from cardboard tubes and broomsticks LINK

For this version, I used conduit pipes and neat corner thingies to make it, and it has worked out a fair treat!

Here’s the video that I made as I was building it:

The key to the success of the folding loom stand is a pivoting clamp- here’s the link to how I did that: LINK

I’ve signed up for Rebecca Mezoff’s online tapestry class LINK, and am looking forward to getting my Mirrix warped up and weaving on it.

🙂 I love my new stand! 🙂

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Tagged as folding loom stand, how to make a folding loom stand, loom, loom stand, Mirrix, pivoting clamp for loom, stand for Mirrix loom, tapestry, tapestry weaving, video tutorial

June 2, 2014 · 4:27 pm

Tapestry Diary May 2014

I have committed to a year long project on Ravelry- weaving a tapestry diary.

I didn’t quite finish my May tapestry diary piece in May…. I just finished it today.

I have been bothered and irritated by one of the eyes and just wasn’t happy, so had to do some serious unweaving and unpicking.

I am still not quite there with it, but it’s going to be on the loom until I weave the next diary piece (I warped enough to weave several small diary entries) so, I can puzzle over it more, or simply accept it as is.

It’s called: Woven Women- Spiral Eyes.

Here it is in progress:

And here it is in it’s ~almost finished~ state (of course, it will have to be ‘really finished’ later when it comes off the loom, but that won’t be happening right away)

It’s about how we spiral inward when we are faced with difficult events in our lives-

May was very challenging for us, with the death of one of dear old dogs, the destruction of my website by hackers, then, learning that the gallery that was supposed to be hosting the solo show of my tapestries and other woven works has been botched by the builders, so the gallery can’t open this year- so my show is cancelled.

Then, we learned that a long, long time friend is very ill.

Rough, rough month…. and in the news, the school girls in Nigeria still not being released, as well as troubles all over the planet…. oh my….

And, the thing that I take away from my personal journey and looking at what others are facing,

is that we simply have to come from a place of compassion….

which is what the spirals represent to me-

spiral in, spiral out.

The eyes, of course, are about seeing….

the blue around her face represents tears,

the green in the spirals is all about hope.

So… that’s what’s woven into a very tiny tapestry. (It’s 3 inches by 5 inches)
I will be framing it in one of my painted plaster frames when it comes off the loom.

On a very happy note, I was thrilled today to receive the most gorgeous package of yarn from LeiLaniSue of Heavenly Fibers LINK

Thank you, thank you, LeiLani!

So very beautiful!!!!!!! and soooooooooooooo appreciated!!!!!

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Tagged as hand weaving, hand woven, Noreen Crone-Findlay, tapestry, Tapestry Diary, tapestry weaving, Woven Women tapestry by Noreen Crone-Findlay

May 15, 2014 · 4:38 pm

Woven Women- Blue Dress

Today, I finished another of my tiny tapestries: “Woven Women- Blue Dress”.

I wove her on the very small copper pipe loom that Jim built for me:

And then blocked her:

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay www.crone-findlay.com

And, finally….

framed her:

Details:

The tapestry is 3 inches by 5 inches (approximately).

The frame is about 5 inches by about 7 inches (also approximate).

Woven at 8 epi.

Warp: Cotton Seine Twine

Weft: Wool tapestry yarn.

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Tagged as Noreen Crone-Findlay, tapestry, Tapestry Diary, Woven Women - Blue Dress, Woven Women tapestries by Noreen Crone-Findlay

May 6, 2014 · 4:24 pm

Woven Women- May Day in her frame

A few months ago, my wonderful daughter, Chloe Findlay-Harder, bought me some exquisite vintage chip carved frames in our favorite thrift shop.

Oh my! Inspiration!

Weave tiny tapestries!

Make moulds!

Cast plaster of paris to make many frames!

Well…. it’s been a lot of work, and I haven’t been at all certain that it would turn out…

I’ve had a few fails along the way, but….

WHEEEEEEEE!!!!

I finished the first tiny tapestry (it’s 3 inches by 5 inches) – I posted about it yesterday.

She’s called: Woven Women: May Day

I loved weaving her soooooooooooooooo much that I asked my darlin’ husband to make me a teeny tiny copper pipe loom for weaving the rest of the series. Bless his heart, he built me a poifeck one, but more about that later….

Anyhow, with trepidation, I painted many layers of paint onto one of the frames, added some woven band to the top and bottom and worked out a system that will keep the tiny tapestry secured in the frame.

And, Voila!

Here she is:

‘Woven Women: May Day’ in her frame. (The frame measures about 8 inches/20 cm tall by 6 inches/15 cm wide).

The photo goobered on me and doesn’t show the paint accurately. Ah, well, c’est la vie….

I LOVE LOVE LOVE weaving these tiny tapestries more than words can say!

Happy dancing. Yup. 🙂

The only problem is that I love working on the tiny tapestries so much, that it’s hard for me to go back to weaving on a larger scale! oops….

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Tagged as Chloe Findlay-Harder, hand weaving, hand woven, miniature tapestries, Noreen Crone-Findlay, tapestries, tapestry, Woven Women tapestries by Noreen Crone-Findlay

May 5, 2014 · 7:15 pm

Tapestry Diary tiny Woven Women

As part of my ongoing participation in a year long weave along of tapestry diaries, I am weaving small images for my Woven Women show of tapestries and other woven works.

I have just finished 2 new tiny woven pieces – they were both on the same loom, so I had to finish the second one so I could cut them both off the loom and finish them.

And, here they are: (They are each 11 inches tall).

‘Woven Women: Dreaming of Flowers’:

and,

‘Woven Women: Looking Skywards’

Now that the loom is finally empty, I warped up, using a ‘Four selvedges’ technique.

I have begun a series of very very small tapestries that are 3 inches by 5 inches.

This is ‘Woven Women- May Day’:

I am making plaster frames for the series of 3 inch by 5 inch tapestries, and have started experimenting with how I will be painting them…. right now, the first one looks like a black blob, so there’s not much point in photographing it, but I will soon.

Weaving the tapestry diary pieces is just pure joy. 🙂

I am working on some larger pieces, too. Must take some photos….

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April 18, 2014 · 2:02 pm

Weaving with recycled & upcycled fabrics for Green Window City

For the last 6 weeks or so, I have been weaving up a storm, working on an installation for the Green Window City project in Edmonton Alberta. Link to Green Window City

I wove 7 banners ( each 5 yards long) from cut up clothing and t shirts cut into t shirt yarn (tarn and ‘Farn’- fabric strip yarn) on my Saori loom.

I rescued a warp chain that an angry weaver had cut from the loom and tossed in a box at the Reuse center:

It wove up beautifully:

I figured out how to weave stars for the ends of the banners:

I built a mannequin, a cat,

a dog,

a stool, a loom and a stand. LINK

I made gigantic balls of yarn…. I wove a tapestry of the earth, using cut up fabric strips- whew… so many new things to figure out! LINK

And, then, yesterday, I installed it all in the window of a beautiful little boutique in Edmonton, ‘C’est Sera:

And, today… I clean the studio and work on new projects.

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Filed under eco crafts & green projects, Loom & looms & small loom weaving, tapestry, weaving & handwoven

Tagged as #rethinkjunk, #YEG, Earth Day, Earth Month, eco project, fabric yarn, farn, green project, Green Window City project, hand weaving, hand woven, how to build a loom, how to build a loom stand, Noreen Crone-Findlay, recycling, saori banners, Saori weaving, t shirt yarn, Tarn, textiles, upcycling

April 17, 2014 · 9:34 am

How to build an upcycled loom and stand from recycled stuff

For the last month or so, I have been building and weaving up a storm.

I am part of a project in Edmonton, Alberta, called, Green Windows City, that has partnered 13 artists with small shops in the arts district.

The artists are creating installations built from upcycled or recycled stuff, and are creating magic!

Today is installation day, so I will take photos after I complete my installation and post them.

One of the really fun things that I have done is to design and build a tapestry loom (although it can be used for other things than tapestry) and stand from trash.

I built the loom from a picture frame and the stand for the loom using heavy cardboard tubes thrown away by the fabric store, an old broomstick and a few nuts and bolts.

It has ingenious ways of tensioning the warp strands, and opening the sheds for ease of weaving.

All it all, it is a wonderfully functional loom and stand that is almost no cost.

To my delight, I have found it to be a loom that I love and will be using for years.

I liked it so much that I have built a second one to be weaving on while this one is busy being in the installation.

I made a video showing how to make the loom and stand, and how to warp it (including the warping device that I messed up on and then replaced LOL)

Here’s the video- it’s a cheap and cheerful way of creating a really great little tapestry loom.

I love it, and hope you will, too!

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Tagged as Earth Day, green project, Green Windows City, hand weaving, hand woven, how to build a loom from a picture frame, loom, loom stand, Noreen Crone-Findlay, picture frame loom, recycling, tapestry loom, tapestry weaving, trash into treasure, upcycing

March 30, 2014 · 3:48 pm

Tapestry Diary 2014- 3

This week has been insanely busy, with a major new project being on the top of my list, plus a maker’s faire yesterday, AND having to rush to get a vest done that I have been working on as a wedding gift… busy… very busy!

Even so- I have been working on my tapestry diaries….

Here’s where I have gotten to with my latest ‘Dancing Lady’:

The Schacht Mini Loom has been surprisingly satisfying for this small piece (*no affiliations or profit from saying that I do like this little loom*) although, of course, tensioning is pretty minimal!

I still have a whole lotta work to do on her, but that is ongoing.

For April, I will be working on this piece, that is the other half of the warp strands from my first Dancing Lady of the month:

The light is so glaring in my studio right now that I am either getting totally over exposed or under exposed pics. Sorry.

One of the things that has kept me so wildly busy, is that I am participating in a very neat project in Edmonton, Alberta, called, ‘Green Windows City’.

A group of artists have been paired with businesses in Old Strathcona, a very artsy part of Edmonton.

The artists are scrounging up stuff that has been discarded, or donated to the ReUse center, and are creating magical installations in one storefront window of their assigned business.

I chose the theme: ‘Weaving a new world’, and have been busily building a mannequin and loom and stand and props, and will be weaving up all manner of things….
so, here’s the loom warped (I’ll show more about the loom and stand in the upcoming days), but I haven’t got the drawing done for the cartoon yet….

The warp is set at 6 epi, and is soft hemp that was given to me by someone who had given up on weaving. The label said that it was warp, but it’s sure new to me to use hemp as warp! Wish me luck!!!!

The next couple of weeks are going to be sooooooooo busy, as I have to have everything done and ready for the installation on April 17 – eeeeeeeeep!

But, I do feel that the weaving on the loom for the installation is very much part of my diary process, so I will be including it here, and posting about it.

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Tagged as Edmonton Alberta, green projects, Green Windows City, tapestry, Tapestry Diary, tapestry weaving, upcycling