Category Archives: Woven Women tapestries and woven works

March 21, 2014 · 3:49 pm

Tapestry Diary for Woven Women show – 2

This week, I began a series of small woven figures for my Woven Women show (see previous post LINK).

I joined the Tapestry Diary Weave Along on Ravelry, and I am so pleased that I did.

This is the progression of the first piece, so far:

I warped up my 8 inch Mirrix so I can weave one diary entry on the front of the loom and one on the back.

A Tapestry Diary is a kind of daily journal that, of course, reflects what is happening what is happening in the weaver’s life at that moment….

I’ve been longing for springtime, so it was natural that flowers would appear immediately.

Using my mother’s stash of embroidery floss and yarn has been powerful for me.

Even though she is no longer with us, it is very tender to be working with something that she loved so much.

Each day, I’ve been uploading a pic of my progress in my diary- I find this rather daunting, as the ‘not good enough’ gremlins leap up and bite so uncomfortably! ugh….

I had some concerns about weaving with super slippery rayon embroidery floss, but it was fine…. although, I’ll need to do some serious sewing in on the wrong side.

That’s a bit of tatting that I stitched to the hem of the dress.

I always have a tatting shuttle in my pocket for ‘incidental moments’- it’s wonderfully contemplative, meditative and also so portable that I can take it with me everywhere.

I tat long strips of edging that I then include in my tapestries.

The face is applique’d on – I designed and wove a series of faces in a narrow band, using my double hole rigid heddle loom.

The arms are wrapped wires- I haven’t quite finished the wrapping, which is okay, as I won’t get to finish this piece until I weave the next one that is on the other side of the loom.

Being part of the Weave Along is such a pleasure- the international community of weavers that has formed around this weave along is a generous and supportive group.

I have no way of knowing how the Tapestry Diaries will unfold, but I will be posting as they do.

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March 17, 2014 · 1:05 pm

Tapestry Diary for Woven Women show- 1

Even though I haven’t been posting about my solo show of tapestries and woven works (Woven Women) that is opening in August 2014 (eep…. tick tock, tick tock…. eep), I have been working away on new pieces for it.

I noticed that the Tapestry weaving group on Ravelry (the facebook of the fibre arts world) is having a weave along in which people are weaving ‘Tapestry Diaries’.

That means that they are weaving daily, weekly or monthly, on pieces that reflect their lives in those given moments.

I have wanted to do this for several years, but just have never started one…. until, the other day, I had an ‘Aha!’ moment.

I have been contemplating a series of small woven figures- I’ve woven the faces for them, but haven’t started the bodies.

It struck me that weaving the bodies for these figures would work beautifully as a Tapestry Diary.

I got all excited about doing this, and then took the plunge and asked the moderator if I could join, even if I am late to the party.

She graciously said that I could, and so I am!

I love that the online community creates ‘Virtual Guilds’ with members from all over the planet inspiring and encouraging each other. It’s just awesome.

I decided to warp up my 8 inch Mirrix tapestry loom to get started, but I can see that I may want to warp up my 16 inch Mirrix for this, too.

Some people choose to weave very specific shapes in their tapestry diaries, like little squares or rectangles, that are quite uniform in size.

I have decided that my shape is going to be one that I have loved working with over the decades.

It’s an hourglass motif that has shown up in embroidery, weaving, stitchery, stone and metal work for thousands of years.

It’s sometimes called. ‘The Shepherdess’ motif.

I did a bunch of drawings, until I was happy with a very simple, basic shape that I think will give me lots of options for experimenting with color and pattern. Of course, I have no idea how they will turn out. 🙂

I chose to weave these figures in a fairly narrow configuration- only 3 inches wide, set at 8 ends per inch.

Here’s my loom warped up, heddled, and with the first little bit woven.

I inherited my mother’s stash of embroidery floss and threads, and will be using them in this series.

Thanks, Mom….. hope you like what I am doing with your treasures……

The Woven Women Singing Mermaid opens her eyes

My wee grandson does not like it when I make a doll or weave a tapestry that has closed eyes, or no face.

He frowns and says to me: “She can’t see me! Open her eyes!”

I think I have internalized his demand to ‘Open her eyes!’, because the other morning, I woke up, after dreaming about my large Singing Mermaid tapestry, and heard, you guessed it: Open her eyes!

And so, The Singing Mermaid from my Woven Women series- see here LINK for previous post about her:

has opened her eyes – with the help of my felting needles and some fleece:

The colors are looking slightly odd, but in real life, they are quite pleasing.

The Jasper Community Habitat for the Arts Gallery that will be hosting my ‘Woven Women’ show of tapestry and woven works is not on schedule with the construction.

So, the show will now be running from August 1, to Sept 9, 2014 in Jasper AB.

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Tagged as hand weaving, handwoven, mermaid tapestry, Mermaid's song, Noreen Crone-Findlay, singing mermaid, textile art, textiles, weave, weaving, woven mermaid, Woven Women tapestries and woven works by Noreen Crone-Findlay

October 9, 2013 · 12:16 pm

Woven Women: Mother Holdfast

The last year and a half or so has been quite a roller coaster ride with worry/anguish/anxiety over our daughter’s health issues. I cannot even put into words what we’ve gone through, so I won’t….

But, things have resolved, and she’s come through surgery and now radiation, with flying colors, so we are all relieved beyond belief.

In the midst of dealing with our daughter’s healing process, our daughter in law suffered a miscarriage, which threw us into more grieving. Things were mighty, mighty rough.

I felt like I had to keep a very tight lid on the volcano of emotions- the worry, fear, uncertainty, sorrow, anguish, grief- you know – all that stuff that roils up when your beloved children are having a hard time.

Plus, we were all working our socks off all summer while dealing with all of this, and it just was so intense that it meant that I simply had to hold a very very tight focus, emotionally.

And, now that we have come through this harrowing passage, I am slowly releasing all that pent up stuff…

For me, the most healing way of doing that is in making art….

This is the direct result of the beginning of the process of transforming my volcano of emotion into a positive expression of beauty, while using all that energy in a directed way.

My husband and I took a break for a weekend at the beginning of September, and went to the west coast to visit sisters.

We came home with our suitcases full of driftwood, sea glass and seaweed- some of my most favorite raw materials, ever.

Three of the pieces of driftwood in particular called out to me.

So did a dried up kelp root, called, a ‘holdfast’, that one of my sisters gave to me- she has treasured it for a long time, and so it’s very precious.

The metaphor of ‘holdfast’, of roots holding a great kelp tree anchored in the ocean spoke so deeply to me as a symbol of what I, as the mother of young women and their loved ones in a time of troubles, was called to do in holding the energy for my family.

So, the name: Mother Holdfast rings true for me.

Here is the holdfast, being held fast in ‘Mother Holdfast’s hands…. which I made from wire.

One of the pieces of driftwood became the head of ‘Mother Holdfast’:

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

Another piece of driftwood became her shoulders, and the third one became part of her upper arm:

As soon as I drew, then burned the face onto the ‘head’ piece of driftwood, Mother Holdfast let me know exactly what colors and textures she wanted me to weave.

So, I warped up and wove at a feverish, furious pace…..

And, then, I started layering, stitching, layering more, weaving more….

Until Mother Holdfast was complete….

She is TALL! She is almost 6 feet 6 inches tall….

As well as my woven fabrics and inkle bands, I have also stitched and woven in antique and vintage lace fragments, tatting (tatting goes with me everywhere, and keeps me sane when I am having to wait or watch or…), smaller fragments of driftwood and seaweed, and spool knitted wire cords that I filled with sea glass.

Here’s the lower part of her dress:

‘Mother Holdfast’ has been a powerful healing experience for me to create.

One of my dear friends was looking at her, and then turned and asked me:

‘So, my dear, what does she want you to do next? Where will she lead you?’

An interesting question, indeed…..

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March 22, 2013 · 11:13 am

Woven Women- Our Lady of the Waters

Today, on facebook, the National Parks of Canada said that it is ‘World Wide Water Day’.

So, I decided to post a photo of my newest tapestry:’ Woven Women: Our Lady of the Waters’

And, here is her poem:

Our Lady of the Waters

Moving in us, through us-

Fill us with awe

with wonder

at the beauty

the Every Thing….

Fill us with delight

in the power of

the sacred drop of water.

What color is water?

It is, ‘Yes’.

It is, ‘Life’.

It is ALL.

‘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.

It was VERY slow to weave:

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March 9, 2013 · 12:32 pm

Woven Women – Uncertainty

When faced with challenges, one of the ways I work my way through them is to weave.

This tapestry is the result of dealing with a huge challenge- how to cope with difficult news about the health of my beloved daughter.

This piece is called: ‘Woven Women- Uncertainty’, and she has a little poem….

She’s a mixed media piece, woven in soumak, with inkle bands and spool knitted cords.

I spool knitted wire to encapsulate sea glass, seashell fragments and pottery shards.

Her hands are shaped from wire, and they clasp a purpleheart wooden heart.

She’s approximately 20 inches tall by 11 inches at the base.

And, here is her poem:

Uncertainty

is the trembling bridge

crossing from

Here

What if?

Courage

is the

breath

that tears

the quivering shadows

from the heart.

Image and poem copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay

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Tagged as abstract images of women, emotion, healing, sea glass, soumak weaving, spool knitted cord, spool knitted wire, tapestries, Woven Women tapestry by Noreen Crone-Findlay

March 1, 2013 · 4:27 pm

Woven Women- Sun setting, Moon rising

This week’s Woven Women tapestry has a long title:

Sun setting

Moon rising

Small wave at ocean’s edge

touches Her foot…..

Woven 2012-2013

7 inches wide by 14 inches tall

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Tagged as Goddess image, Goddess tapestry, hand weaving, hand woven, tapestries, Woven Women tapestry by Noreen Crone-Findlay

February 23, 2013 · 9:52 am

Woven Women- In the Heart of the Flower

In the deep mid-winter, I long for flowers.

My studio is full of plants that bloom, and I am grateful for their beauty.

Even though I can’t have flowers growing outside in the deep deep snow and ice,

I can dream of flowers and weave yarn songs to blossoms and blooming……

Here is my homage to flowers and blossoms:

She is 15 inches wide by 39 inches tall.

See: Woven Women-Dreaming the Well LINK for a photo of how I weave these tapestries on peg looms.

Woven Women – Blythe Spirit

This week’s tapestry is a love song to my beloved cousin who died from a brain tumor.

She was a total sweetheart and I miss her so much.

She was a gifted photographer, and I based this tapestry on a self portrait that she took of herself not long before she died.

I’ve named it, ‘Blythe Spirit’, because that’s what she is….. a lovely soul!

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February 4, 2013 · 11:52 am

Woven Women-The Eyes of the Butterfly

When I became a grandmother, I saw the world in a whole new way…. through the eyes of the butterfly…..

Seeing my grandson emerge, and witnessing him ‘spread his wings’ makes it so heartrendingly clear just how magical and fragile our precious world is.

In response, I wove this tapestry, which is a love song to my daughter and her son.

Becoming a grandmother means that I now sing a love song to all the tender new lives that we must nurture.

Tapestry: Woven Women-The Eyes of the Butterfly

by Noreen Crone-Findlay 2012-2013

approximately 14 inches wide by 36 inches tall

The yarn used in the tapestry is special to me for 2 reasons…. one is that most of it came from my mother’s collection of yarns, and the rest of it was spun by my beautiful daughter in love, Alliston Findlay.

Lots of precious threads here…..

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Tagged as babies', baby, beauty, becoming a grandmother, creativity, grandmother, grandparents, hand weaving, nature, tapestries, tapestry weaving, weaving, woven, Woven Women tapestry by Noreen Crone-Findlay