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….
Tag Archives: hand weaving
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 http://www.crone-findlay.com
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://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.
Woven Women – Three Sisters
Three sisters of the heart- tapestry/mixed media pieces that I wove and fabricated this summer:
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com
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).
Woven Women-Asking for Miracles
Night and day for the last couple of weeks, I have been weaving up a storm, finishing Part 3 of Rebecca Mezoff’s online tapestry workshop.
And, I have just finished: Woven Women- Asking For Miracles, which is built around the sampler that I wove for Part 3:
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com
The dragon ship on her chest is based on images in the Bayeux tapestries, and the tree of life is based on a fragment of the Overhogdal tapestry fragments that I saw in the Viking exhibition at the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria, BC in July.
The Overhogdal tapestry was woven with a linen background, with the figures outlined in soumak and the colors filled in with colored weft in a kind of brocade technique.
The imagery in these tapestries is just so marvelous that I find them really inspiring and love sketching elements from them.
For her head dress, bodice construction, cuffs and hem, I used narrow bands that I wove on my double slotted Swedish rigid heddle loom.
Her head, hands, shoulder medalions, and feet are plywood.
I drew, cut out and burned and painted all the wooden elements.
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com
Her earrings are made from beads, vintage buttons and reproductions of Viking coins that I bought in the Museum gift shop.
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com
‘Asking for Miracles’ was woven on my 16 inch Mirrix tapestry loom and is about 36 inches tall.
And, that title?
Well…. there are a lot of things happening these days that could use some miraculous energy to set them to rights…
you know, the wars, the devastations that are being wrought on so many levels and in so many ways on our precious little planet.
As I weave, I often meditate on sending out peaceful, healing energy…. the stuff that miracles are made of, after all, so to be honest, I think that when I am doing this, I am asking for miracles…..
and may your life be full of miracles of healing, wholeness, wonderfulness in every way!
Miracles.
Yes, please.
July 2014 Tapestry Diary
I’ve been so busy catching up since we got home from holidays that I forgot to post a pic of my July Tapestry diary.
Here it is:
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com
The title is: ‘Questions’.
It’s 3 inches wide by 5 inches tall.
I wove it on my wee copper pipe loom at 8 epi.
Woven Women- Small Bird Sang and All Was Forgiven
When we went on holidays in July, I took along 4 small looms- My Norwegian Cradle loom, my 8 inch Mirrix tapestry loom, my wee copper pipe loom and my tiny peg loom.
I warped up my Norwegian Cradle loom with fine cotton to weave a narrow band, using my Swedish double slotted rigid heddle.
The heddle is actually too wide for the Cradle loom, but oddly enough, this worked well in a quirky way.
I wove and wove and wove and wove as we drove for many, many days, with the Norwegian Cradle loom in my lap:
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com
The cotton thread in the narrow band is in the same colors that I was using to weave the sampler for Part 2 of the online tapestry course offered by Rebecca Mezoff.
I knew that I wanted to have narrow bands as part of the figure that I was weaving, using the sampler as the body.
And here she is: Her name is:
“Small Bird Sang and All Was Forgiven”.
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com
Her body is the sampler that includes the techniques that were covered in Part Two of the course.
I wove her arms separately, using techniques from Part 2 as well.
I have included driftwood from our beachcombing at the ocean, as well as found objects.
Her hands, head, feet and the archway panel are cut from Baltic birch plywood. (Lovely stuff!)
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com
I burned the features with a wood burning tool, and then painted and embellished with encaustic.
She is 36 inches/90 cm tall.
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com
I wove her body first, then re-warped the loom and wove the arms separately.
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.tottietalkscrafts.com
Her body and arms were woven on my 8 inch Mirrix tapestry loom, which I also took along on holidays, as it’s a fabulous little traveling loom.
Woven Women- Edith’s Song
I’ve just finished weaving a new piece that I have called: ‘Edith’s Song: No Regrets’:
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com
For the last 3 weeks, I have been weaving away, loving working on a sampler for Part One of Rebecca Mezoff’s online tapestry weaving workshop. LINK to her course outlines. (Love the course, highly recommend it!)
While I was weaving it, I got inspired to weave the last section in 3 panels- one for the torso, and 2 for the arms.
I shaped the upper edge in a semi circle to be the neckline of her bodice, and left empty triangles at the elbows so I could shape bent arms.
I pulled the warp strands to bend the arms and to shape her torso.
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com
I chose to leave the slits unstitched in the lower panel so I could weave in narrow bands that I had previously woven on my double hole rigid heddle loom.
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com
I also used the narrow bands as the hem and other embellishments.
I cut the head, hands and feet from 1/4 inch plywood.
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com
The wings were a serendipitous thrift shop find.
The beads around her face are a peyote stitch tube that I made a couple of years ago and have been waiting for the perfect project.
Woven on my 16 inch Mirrix loom, using Paternayan tapestry yarn that I inherited from my mother and handspun from my daughter in law.
She makes me feel happy. 🙂
Woven Sloth
The day my daughter said to me: “Mum, you should design a woven sloth!”, turned out to be a happy one 🙂
I had always liked sloths, but until I started designing one, I didn’t realize how incredibly enchanting they are.
Their sweet nature is so clear to see on their faces!
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com
I’ve been weaving and selling sloths in my booth at Maker’s Faires and Artisan Markets for more than a year and a half now, and people just love them- they always spark a chortle or a grin.
My daughter in law wants me to make one for her to hang on her spinning wheel, so I got out my potholder loom today and started working on one for her.
She told me that this week is ‘International Sloth Week’, so I thought… okay….
it’s time to publish my pattern in honour of the sweet slowpokes!
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com
The pattern is available in my etsy shop:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/193617856/adorable-sloth-plushie-toy-to-weave-on?ref=shop_home_active_2
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com
Happy Sloth Week!
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:
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com
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)
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com
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
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com
Thank you, thank you, LeiLani!
So very beautiful!!!!!!! and soooooooooooooo appreciated!!!!!
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!
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com
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
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com
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….
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com
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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