Category Archives: weaving & handwoven

January 3, 2017 · 4:06 pm

How to Carve a Weaving Hook from a Chopstick

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:

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Tagged as how to make a weaving hook, make a hook from a chopstick, Noreen Crone-Findlay, simple carving, turn a chopstick into a weaving hook, upcycle a chopstick, weavies, weaving, weaving hack, weaving hacks, weaving hook, whittle a hook, whittling, woodworking, woodworking hack

December 13, 2016 · 1:06 pm

6th Sense One of a Kind Art Doll- Tree Mother

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.

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Tagged as celebrate the moon, celebrate trees, doll, doll making, dollmaking, dolls, hand weaving, hand woven, handwoven, knitted doll, moon, moon doll, narrow band weaving, Noreen Crone-Findlay, one of a kind art doll, small loom weaving, textiles, tree, tree doll, Tree Mother, trees, upcycling, weave, weaves, weaving, wooden dolls, woven, Woven Women tapestries by Noreen Crone-Findlay

November 14, 2016 · 9:31 pm

6th Sense One of a Kind Art Doll- The Love of Trees

I’ve just finished a new 6th Sense One of a kind art doll: ‘The Love of Trees’.

She’s 16 inches/42cm tall.

I sculpted the face then cast and painted it.

She’s a combination of weaving and knitting.

Above the trees is a mylar mirror.

Like all the other ‘6th Sense’ art dolls, she has 6 Canadian pennies that are a metaphor for coming to our senses, common sense, and the 6th Sense, which is actually a combination of intuition, inspiration, imagination and integrity.

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September 17, 2016 · 3:39 pm

Woven Women: 6th Sense One of a Kind Art Dolls

I have been working on new handwoven one of a kind art dolls.

They are a somewhat different approach to my Woven Women Mixed Media pieces.

Earlier this summer, I read a wonderful book, called: A Monk in the Beehive.

The author spoke about humanity needing to come to our senses, and to connect with our sixth sense, which is wisdom, intuition, peacefulness and integrity towards the planet.

This moved me deeply, and I have been thinking about it a lot.

This is how I have woven these thoughts together- in the first 3 of a series of ‘6th Sense’ Woven Women.

Each one is totally one of a kind.

I wove them as contemplations on wisdom, compassion, kindness, peace and peace making, connection, and a longing to care for the planet.

As I created each one, I would hold thoughts of wellness, integrity, and all the other attributes that I mentioned previously.

Weaving is a meditation in motion, and there is love in every stitch.

There is joy and tenderness in the making of the ‘6th Sense’ art dolls.

They are all approximately 17 inches tall and they can either stand and lean on a shelf, or be hung from the woven hanging loop on the back of the head.

Each one has 6 pennies- six cents- to represent the Sixth Sense, in all it’s manifestations.

I wove each of the 6th Sense Woven Women Art Dolls on many different looms, using a wide variety of techiques.

Here’s a video of ‘6th Sense- Intuition’, ‘6th Sense- Deep Peace’ and

‘6th Sense- Listening to The Voice of Wisdom’:

Photos:

‘6th Sense- INTUITION’:

‘6th Sense- Deep Peace’

‘6th Sense- Listening to The Voice of Wisdom’

If you are interested in purchasing a ‘Woven Women- 6th Sense’ One of a Kind Art Doll,

please contact me

← Back

Thank you for your response. ✨

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July 1, 2016 · 3:38 pm

Woven Women- Essence

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).

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Tagged as hexagon loom, peg loom, rigid heddle weaving, Star loom, Story loom, weaving sticks, woven women tapestries and mixed media weaving by Noreen Crone-Findlay, Woven Women tapestry

March 24, 2016 · 4:31 pm

Woven Women- The Stories We Tell

This is the latest in my series of Woven Women mixed media tapestries: “The Stories We Tell”.

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.

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Tagged as hand weaving, hand woven, healing stories, mixed media tapestries, mixed media weaving, stories, story telling, storyteller, tapestry, Woven Women tapestries by Noreen Crone-Findlay

August 14, 2015 · 7:14 pm

A truly tiny wooden doll

I couldn’t resist.

I just had to see how small a doll I could carve …

So….I cut very small doll parts from another birch tree twig.

And, I carved a doll that is not much bigger than a quarter.

Here’s a comparison of dolly sizes – ‘Bitty’ is right above the ‘yr’ in copyright.

She really is ‘Itty Bitty’.

She was fun, but rather challenging to carve. (of course LOL).

Bitty, Coco and Joy had a lovely tea party in front of the Story Door.

They had a lovely time, and were pleased that the missing teacups have re-appeared, but wondered where the cat and dogs were.

I wove a chair seat for Bitty, which is less than an inch square.

It makes her feel much more comfortable and she’s very please with it.

Coco, Bitty and Joy have heard the sounds of more carving in the studio, and are excited to see who is going to join them at the Story Door.

🙂

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August 10, 2015 · 7:05 pm

Carving and weaving for the Birch Tree Sisters

Lately, I have had a very magical time, carving small, and even smaller, (much smaller) dolls and weaving for them.

It all began just over a week ago, when one of our son’s neighbors gave us some lovely Birch wood.

I knew that there were dolls inside the Birch wood that were just longing to get out!

So, I took some of the Birch branches to the bandsaw:

And, cut out the rough shapes for the 6 inch tall dolls, and then I started carving:

I showed how I wove dresses for ‘Hope’ and ‘Joy’ in my previous post: LINK.

They could hear that there was a little sister calling to them from inside one of the branches on their family tree:

So:

After a day or so of carving:

Tiny ‘Coco’ happily emerged from her branch.

Then, I got out my 2 inch square vintage Weave It loom to weave her a dress.

She’s about 3 1/2 inches tall.

Coco Birchtree is very happy to have her picture taken at the Story Door and to join her sisters and the other

Story Door Dolls in my studio.

I’m looking forward to seeing what she and her sisters discover about life around the Story Door!

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July 31, 2015 · 12:05 pm

Quirky wonderful loom

My son, Angus Findlay, and I have just co-created a loom and stand that I absolutely love.

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay www.tottietalkscrafts.com

Last January, I asked Angus to build me a box that I could turn into a loom.

I made the ratchets and pawls from purpleheart wood, cut the ends and sides into the shapes I wanted, made the warp and cloth beams and started painting it.

I loved it, but found it a bit too big to hold in my lap while weaving, and I didn’t have the perfect table to sit it on and weave comfortably.

So, I asked Angus to take some funky old legs that I had bought at a garage sale, and build a stand for the loom.

Woo hoo! I love it! I am enchanted by Angus’ design and how he built such a whimsical and quirky (and VERY solid and sturdy) loom stand.

He intuitively made it just the perfect height for me.

I brought it home and started playing with embellishments.

I cut out some of my favorite wooden shapes to glue on it, and then painted 3 coats of gesso to prime it.

Then, I slowly began the layering on of paint:

Painting was a long slow process, as I applied layers of acrylic paints in thin washes to build up the color shifts.

The screen behind the loom shows how I use this layering technique on other pieces, too.

I was quite surprised when the loom started to lead me in this direction, as I had had a totally different concept

in mind before I started painting.

But, I believe in listening to the piece and allowing it to tell me how it wants to be.

The ‘Dancing Girl’ and ‘Resting Rabbit’ motifs are a theme that I have used for more than 40 years.

They’re just me.

I made the metal image of the Dreaming Lady of Malta with sheet metal, using the repousse technique of pressing and shaping the metal from the back.

Because I work with my dreams and use them as one of the main sources in my art and artisanship, I felt that placing an image of the Beautiful Dreamer was a great metaphor.