Tag Archives: hand weaving

August 28, 2015 · 5:15 pm

Itty Bitty Hitty and the Tall Ship

Miranda Mermaid was cold, so was very pleased to receive a new shawl woven just for her.

Her friends were all so busy admiring it….

that they didn’t notice that Itty Bitty Hitty had climbed up

onto the tall ship that had lead Miranda to the Story Door.

Coco saw that it was starting to move away through the Story Door….

Even though she shouted at Itty to jump, JUMP! off the tall ship….

it slipped away and the Story Door quietly, but oh so quickly,

closed!

The Story Door dolls raced off to find Tottie Tomato to see if she could help.

Coco was so sad that she just laid down on the ground and cried and cried.

Tottie Tomato cuddled Coco and promised that she would go find Itty and bring her home again.

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay www.tottietalkscrafts.com

Coco sniffed sadly and sat down to wait….

and wait…..

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Filed under doll & dolls & dollmaking & doll making, Tottie Tomato Loves, wooden dolls

Tagged as doll, doll making, dollmaking, dolls, hand weaving, hand woven, handwoven, Miranda Mermaid, Noreen Crone-Findlay, Tottie Tomato, wooden dolls

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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Tagged as crafts, doll, doll making, dollmaking, dolls, hand weaving, hand woven, handwoven, Noreen Crone-Findlay, small loom weaving, weaving, wooden dolls, woven

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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Tagged as doll, doll making, dollmaking, dolls, hand weaving, hand woven, handwoven, Noreen Crone-Findlay, small loom weaving, Weave it loom, weaving, weaving techniques, wooden dolls

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.

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.

and on the stand, I attached another repousse image that I had made at the same time as making the Dreaming Lady.

This is Xchtel, the Mayan Goddess of weaving, with her companion Rabbit.

So, the metaphor and message of these two images is:

Dream weaver. Weaver of Dreams…..

It is just pure bliss to weave on this loom.

Words cannot convey the delight.

I LOVE how my beloved son, and dear friend, Angus, and I created a loom that is so completely US.

I feel blessed.

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

Tagged as Angus Findlay, band loom, hand made loom, hand weaving, hand woven, handwoven, loom stand, narrow band weaving, Noreen Crone-Findlay, rigid heddle weaving, textiles, weaving, wooden loom

July 28, 2015 · 1:19 pm

Carving a tiny wooden Gnome Doll

Sometimes, when you are carving a doll, you will start with one thought in mind.

But, there are times when it becomes clear that the doll wants to be something else entirely.

This just happened to me when I was carving a very small doll.

My grandson is five and he thinks babies are sublime, so he asked me to carve a baby doll.

I started…. I used a little doll that my mother owned long ago and far away in her childhood…

(Oh how I love this little doll!)

but soon, it became clear that it was a tiny Lady Gnome who wanted to be released from the wood….

And, there she is- among her friends, admiring the thimbles…

Her name is Bessie, or, just Bess, and this is how I carved her:

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Tagged as carving wooden dolls, doll, doll making, dolls, hand weaving, hand woven, Noreen Crone-Findlay, small dolls, small loom weaving, wooden dolls, woodworking

July 21, 2015 · 9:05 pm

How I carved 2 little wooden dolls from an Arbutus branch

We had a branch from an Arbutus tree that was trimmed from our sisters’ tree many years ago, so it is really dried out and incredibly hard.

I used it to carve 2 little dolls, and then I wove dresses for them, using Lil Weaver looms from Dewberry Ridge Looms.

Here’s a short slide show of the making of the dolls:

So much fun!!!!

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Tagged as carving wooden dolls; Noreen Crone-Findlay; wooden dolls; doll making; wood working; hand woven doll clothing;, doll, dolls, hand weaving, hand woven, small loom weaving

January 14, 2015 · 10:22 pm

Upcycling a little box into a band loom

I absolutely love weaving Scandinavian style woven bands, using different styles of rigid heddles.

A few weeks ago, as we were cleaning and clearing in preparation for our big move, we found some sweet little drawers that my father in law had made many decades ago.

He had reclaimed some tiny little wooden butter boxes and made wee drawers for his workshop with them:

And, since then, the idea for building a tiny, oh so portable band weaving box loom has been gestating in my mind….

After much trial and error, I have built the little loom, and absolutely adore it!

I have made a small video that shows what I did to build this little charmer:

This is the ratchet and pawl that I designed for my loom.

I made them from a scrap of marine plywood, which allowed me to curve the pawl.

I am going to make the next one from a piece of purpleheart that we’ve been saving, so I am going to make the pawl straight, to make it stronger and not risk breaking it by cutting a curve against the grain.

If you are interested in learning more about weaving Scandinavian style narrow bands, definitely seek out the work of the marvelous weaver extraordinaire, Susan Foulkes:

http://durhamweaver64.blogspot.co.uk/

And, if you’d like to see some of the ways that I use narrow bands please click:

https://tottietalkscrafts.com/2014/08/08/woven-women-small-bird-sang-and-all-was-forgiven/

Note: I have upgraded the little box loom…. it’s even better!

Here’s a link to how the little band loom has evolved: LINK

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Filed under band loom, eco crafts & green projects, Loom & looms & small loom weaving, tutorial & how to, video tutorial, weaving & handwoven

Tagged as hand weaving, hand woven, how to build a box loom, how to make a band loom, loom, narrow band weaving, Noreen Crone-Findlay, reclaiming, recycling, Scandinavian style, upcycled box loom, upcycling, video tutorial, vintage butter box, woodworking

September 5, 2014 · 2:56 pm

A small video of my ‘Woven Women’ tapestries

Yesterday, a dear friend helped me to hang some of my ‘Woven Women’ tapestries at the Blue Chair Cafe in Edmonton AB.

They will be hanging at the Blue Chair for the months of September and October 2014.

I took a small video after the show was hung….

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Tagged as hand weaving, hand woven, handweaving, handwoven, Mirrix loom, Noreen Crone-Findlay, tapestries, tapestry weaving, weaving, Woven Women tapestries by Noreen Crone-Findlay

September 5, 2014 · 2:34 pm

Woven Women- And All Shall Be Well

One of my most favorite prayers is Dame Julian of Norwich’s …

“And All Shall Be Well, and All Shall Be Well, and All Manner of Things Shall Be Well….”

This prayer is a mantra that I repeat to myself through thick and thin, through the darkest nights and hardest moments- we all have them, and they are transformed into a wellspring of compassion, but, oh my, how incredibly challenging it can be at times to navigate them.

Thank you, Dame Julian, for these words to live by…..

I love weaving words, and have done many woven homages to Dame Julian.

But, this is the first time I have woven her prayer in tapestry-

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

She is approximately 36 inches tall.

I wove the central tapestry panel on my Mirrix 8 inch tapestry loom at 6 epi.

The side and back panels were woven on my 4 harness floor loom at 12 epi.

On her face, there are bits of sea glass, fragments of pottery and seashells, as well as driftwood.

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Filed under Loom & looms & small loom weaving, tapestry, weaving & handwoven, Woven Women tapestries and woven works

Tagged as And all shall be well, Dame Julian, Dame Julian of Norwich, hand weaving, Mirrix loom, Noreen Crone-Findlay, tapestries, tapestry, woven

August 20, 2014 · 9:57 am

Woven Women – Three Sisters

Three sisters of the heart- tapestry/mixed media pieces that I wove and fabricated this summer:

On the left: Woven Women- Asking for Miracles 36 inches tall
Center: Woven Women- Edith’s Song (no regrets) 31 inches tall
On the right: Woven Women- Small Bird Sang and All Was Forgiven 36 inches tall

Woven on my Mirrix tapestry looms (16 inch wide loom and 8 inch wide loom).

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Filed under Loom & looms & small loom weaving, tapestry, weaving & handwoven, Woven Women tapestries and woven works

Tagged as hand weaving, hand woven, Mirrix, Mirrix looms, mixed media art, Noreen Crone-Findlay, tapestry, tapestry weaving, textiles, weaving, Woven Women tapestries by Noreen Crone-Findlay