I’ve decided that once a week, I am going to post a photo of one of the pieces from my solo show of tapestries and woven works, ‘Woven Women’.
This week, it’s : ‘Child in the Shadows’.
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
I love working with images of shadows.
I wove this little tapestry using Soumak stitch.
It’s 8 1/2 inches wide by 9 1/2 inches tall.
My mother passed away recently, and one of the ways that I have been processing my grief is to take it to my looms and weave about it.
Because I am deeply focused on weaving tapestries and woven pieces for my solo show, ‘Woven Women’, it was natural that this weaving would take the form of a Woven Woman.
My mother suffered from a form of dementia, I have been feeling is how sweet it is for her to be released from that dreadful fog of confusion……..
And, so, I have woven a piece on my Saori loom with supplemental embellishment with my stick weaving loom, that I call:
“Out of the Mist”. She’s approximately 30 inches tall by about 10 inches wide at the widest point:
‘Out of the Mist’ by Noreen Crone-Findlay (c)
One of my close friends gave me a seashell instead of a card, and it felt natural to have it become part of this piece.
I made a Kumihimo cord and tied a Celtic everlasting knot, which is stitched to her forehead, but barely visible under her cowl.
Weaving this tribute brought me great peace and comfort, and I think that my Mom would like it a lot.
Yes, I think that she does…
I am working on a large series of woven and mixed fiber media pieces that I am calling: Woven Women.
I am almost done a fairly large piece, called: Mermaid’s Song:
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
She’s large- 6 ft by 2ft, and hard to photograph in my studio, so I figured that I would show a video of her.
I used small looms, knitting, crochet, tatting, spoolknitting and flower looms to make her, along with copper foil work.
Some of the looms were: 2 inch square vintage weave it loom, potholder loom, pinboard looms, Martha Stewart loom and flower looms.
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
http://www.crone-findlay.com copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
And, here’s the video:
Remember: The size of your loom doesn’t limit the size of your finished piece!
Happy weaving! 🙂
I am working on a series of woven piece, called, ‘Woven Women’.
Here is my most recent Woven Woman, ‘Dreaming the Well’.
I wove her on a peg loom.
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
Here she is, with the weaving complete, still on the pegs of the loom.
And, then, I got out my felting needles and spent many, many, many hours, felting the details onto her:
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
And here are some closer looks.
She’s 27 inches tall by 17 inches wide (69 cm by 43 cm).
Unfortunately, my camera messes with the colors and makes the edges harsher… the felting does soften things up very nicely.
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
The images are based on meditations, dreams and just whatever wanted to be woven at that moment.
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
I keep promising to show more of the Woven Women pieces, so I will post more pics of them throughout the next few days, so stay tuned!
Mustn’t leave without giving credit to my daughter in law, for many of the handspun yarns in ‘Dreaming the Well’: LINK
And, as always…. go gently and with joy! 😀
Yesterday, I posted a blog entry about a shrug that I sewed from my handwoven fabric. (LINK)
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
And, then, was asked- ‘Yes, but what does it mean when you say: Pull warp strands?’
So, I have made a video tutorial, showing how to pull warp strands to shape ruffles, like the lower edge of the shrug,
or the upper edge of the ‘Woven Woman: Butterfly Transformation” LINK (to see the full piece)
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
Or, you can pull and ease the warp strands into a more graduated curve, like the yoke of this tunic:
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
Here’s a closer look:
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
And here’s the video:
I am weaving a series that I am calling: ” Woven Women”. They are mixed media fiber art pieces that are a celebration of the Feminine Divine.
I showed the Butterfly Transformation Woven Woman piece in a how to video today, so I figured that I should show a few more photos of her.
So, here she is:
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
The Woven Women are all woven on many different small looms.
I wove Butterfly Transformation Woven Woman on inkle looms, tablets, a 4 harness Structo loom (8 inches wide), and a tapestry loom.
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
In the photo above, you can see how I gathered the upper curved section by pulling up warp strands to ruffle the weaving.
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
The lower curved sections were drawn up in more graduated curves to make a flatter arc and not a ruffle.
And, here’s the Butterfly at her heart and in her prayer…
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
Butterfly Transformation (Prayer) Woven Woman is my prayer for wellness for all the creatures of this beautiful planet, no matter how small or large.
All images are copyright protected and are owned by Noreen Crone-Findlay.
(I posted about one of the other Woven Women, and will post more photos of other Woven Women soon. LINK: Green Empress)
Over the last couple of years, I have been weaving a series of tapestries and one of a kind art dolls.
Green-Empress-art-doll-by-Noreen-Crone-Findlay-copyright
I am calling this series, ‘Woven Women’. I made a little video mini tour of one corner of my studio, showing ‘The Green Empress’.
The Green Empress brings together many of my favorite fiber techniques: Tapestry weaving, inkle weaving, small loom weaving, crochet, wire work, tatting and punch needle embroidery.
My plan is to eventually have enough ‘Woven Women’ for a one woman show. I don’t have enough of them finished yet, but I am working on it!
Here are some more photos and the video tour that shows The Green Empress:
Green-Empress-art-doll-by-Noreen-Crone-Findlay-copyright
Green-Empress-art-doll-by-Noreen-Crone-Findlay-copyright
Her face is punch needle embroidery and her crown is tapestry weave.
Green-Empress-art-doll-by-Noreen-Crone-Findlay-copyright
Her hands are heavy gauge wire, wrapped with cotton thread. They are cupped so they can hold small objects.
Her arms are inkle bands and 2 inch Weave it Squares, stitched and shaped and layered.
Green-Empress-art-doll-by-Noreen-Crone-Findlay-copyright
Her feet are a combination of 2 inch squares that I wove on my vintage Weave it loom, with Inkle weaving.
I just kept stitching and shaping until I was happy with her feet.
Green-Empress-art-doll-by-Noreen-Crone-Findlay-copyright
I crocheted wire in an open work mesh to shape her body and skirt.
They, I wove miles of inkle bands (woven on my Schacht inkle loom) through them.
I also wove in tatted lace, too. The skirt is about 24 inches wide, but is folded and stitched.
Green-Empress-art-doll-by-Noreen-Crone-Findlay-copyright
This closeup shows a small panel of punch needle embroidery , tatting, inkle weaving and the copper wire armature.
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Close up of one eye and part of the crown. You can see that I love Byzantine art, as there is a definite influence here.
And, here is the link to a mini studio tour, with my wonderful husband playing one of his compositions (with our small dog in his lap, as small dog insists on sitting in Jim’s lap when he plays and practices!)
For weeks and weeks, I have been avoiding working on one of my Goddess tapestries.
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
I just couldn’t summon the courage to weave her face…
The metaphor or pun is, of course: I couldn’t face her.
Well… I decided yesterday, that I am going to finish weaving her before this year is done.
So, I got out the lovely new sketchbook/journal that my daughter gave me for Christmas, and the gorgeous aquarelle watercolor pencils that my son gave me, and started sketching:
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That was exactly what I needed to break the barriers I had set up between the tapestry and myself.
Then, under the close supervision of Ms Kitty, who settled in on her usual perch: I wove the face four different ways.
I kept tearing it out and re-weaving until I was happy with it.
Tapestry weaving is wonderfully forgiving: You simply go back and pull out what you don’t like and weave again until you find the solution.
It’s fascinating, because, as I weave, I become aware of all the running chatter that flaps through my mind.
I have to consciously work at stilling the negative voices and work on letting just the appropriate stuff through.
So, weaving is a VERY Zen process.
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
Just ask Ms Kitty.
She knows all about Zen.
And, she also knows all about weaving.
She’ll be happy to tell you about it.
Or perhaps she’ll just smile sweetly at you and wink.
Noreen Crone-Findlay, designer and author
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