Tag Archives: small loom weaving

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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Filed under doll & dolls & dollmaking & doll making, Loom & looms & small loom weaving, weaving & handwoven, wooden dolls

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 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

October 29, 2014 · 10:21 am

Sigh- this is NOT the background for the book pics

While I am weaving up a storm, working on projects for my new book, I can’t post pics of what I am weaving.

You know…. you just can’t ‘scoop’ yourself and let the cat out of the bag, no matter how enticing it would be to let it out for just a very little peek.

But, nope. It’s zipped lips and fingers off the keyboard when the itch to do a tiny reveal has to be firmly pushed down.

On the other hand, when something gets vetoed by my editor and the art dept…. I can say:

“Guess what! Here’s something that you WON’T be seeing in my new book!” 🙂

I had this ~~bright~~ obviously Not so bright, idea that I would weave the background for all the project and how to photos on the peg loom.

I liked the idea.

A lot.

I wove and wove and wove for many an hour…..

And wove a large background piece.

And, merrily shot photographs using it.

But…..

I am learning the nuts and bolts of my new camera and so I sent photos in to my editor to make sure that the photos will be acceptable for all the manipulations that have to happen for publishing.

Oops….

The art department nixed the background.

oops.

Should have checked in on that one sooner, shouldn’t I?

oops.

Building a book is never a straight line- it’s a ziggy, zaggy, loopy and sometimes, snaggy one, indeed.

Ah, the learning curve.

All part of the journey.

Back to work I go.

🙂

But hey, at least I was able to show you something that I have been working (and working and working) on.

🙂

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Filed under Loom & looms & small loom weaving, Peg and Stick Loom weaving, peg looms and weaving sticks

Tagged as fail, failure, Noreen Crone-Findlay, oops, peg loom book, small loom weaving, weaving, writing a book

February 21, 2014 · 8:40 am

How to weave a triangle on the Zoom Loom

I have been experimenting with the Schacht Zoom Loom, and figuring out how to weave more shapes with it than just the square it was designed to weave.

In previous blog posts, I’ve shown how to weave small squares Link and rectangles Link.

I also posted some hints about how to embroider on the squares that you weave on the Zoom loom: Link

One of the most important shapes to be able to weave when designing with small looms is the the triangle.

And, so, I’ve figured out how to weave perfect triangles on the Zoom Loom.

It was actually quite tricky to do that figuring, but it was worth it, and I made a video tutorial on how to do it:

Happy Weaving!

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Tagged as hand woven, how to weave a triangle on the Zoom Loom, Noreen Crone-Findlay, Schacht Zoom Loom, small loom weaving, triangle, weaving techniques, Zoom Loom

February 19, 2014 · 10:49 am

How to weave a rectangle on the Zoom Loom

I am always intrigued by figuring out ways of maximizing the potential of small looms.

Just because a loom is square, why should it be limited to weaving just squares?

Rectangles are important in the design process, too!

And, so, I figured it out… and here’s a new video tutorial showing how to weave a rectangle on the Zoom Loom.

There are times when you need to have rectangles and narrow strips to finish a design, and now, you can weave them on your Zoom loom.

This makes the loom even more versatile :o)

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Tagged as hand woven, how to weave a rectangle, Noreen Crone-Findlay, small loom weaving, video tutorial, weave a rectangle on the Zoom loom, weaving techniques, woven, Zoom Loom

October 5, 2013 · 11:39 am

Geometric Butterfly Motif to weave on the potholder loom

For the last couple of years, I have been working on a new design for the potholder loom.

It’s for a Geometric Butterfly motif- and I have finally finished the pattern for it, and for a bag and wrap made using it.

I have listed the pdf pattern on my website on the potholder loom page LINK

The Geometric Butterfly motif is wonderful for bags:

and wraps

It would also make beautiful prayer flags, pillows, afghans, vests, throws, wall hangings, table runners and whatever else your heart desires.

It’s a great way to showcase handspun yarns, but commercial yarns work just fine with it.

Tarn, or t shirt yarn is also great in the Geometric Butterfly pattern.

The pattern has full color step by step photos and diagrams, and comes with links to helpful videos.

There is a separate pdf that has all the step by step photos and instructions for how to weave all the different shapes on the potholder loom.

Isn’t it amazing what you can do on the simple potholder loom? 🙂

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

Tagged as butterfly motif, Butterfly pattern, Geometric Butterfly motif, hand weaving, hand woven, Noreen Crone-Findlay, pdf pattern, potholder loom, small loom weaving, woven accessories, woven bag, woven shawl, woven stole, woven wrap

February 20, 2013 · 8:52 pm

Finished my eBook on Woven Jewelry (Happy Dancing)

Do you hear that skippetty thump thump?

That’s me, happy dancing!

I’ve been working on a new eBook for more than 6 months and I have FINALLY finished it!

WHEEEEEEEEEEEE! and Squeeeeeeeeeeeeee! 😀

What’s it about?

Jewelry Woven on weaving sticks: LINK TO MY WEBSITE to see lotsa pics and order it, too 🙂

I’ve designed a slew of wonderful necklaces, bracelets and pins that are just sooooooooooo neat!

Some of them, like this bracelet, are woven with t shirt yarn, so woots!

You can be super eco friendly and upcycle and recycle at the same time as weaving and wearing fab jewelry!

Speaking of being eco-friendly, I show you how to make funky, cheap and cheerful embellishments and nifty closures for necklaces and bracelets:

You can use all kinds of yarns, cords, threads, fabric strips, paper ribbon- you name it….

I love weaving jewelry, and hope that you will, too!

So scoot on over to my website, and see more pics and order the book, and start weaving!

Happy weaving! 🙂

8 Comments

Filed under eco crafts & green projects, jewelry, Loom & looms & small loom weaving, Peg and Stick Loom weaving, peg looms and weaving sticks, weaving & handwoven

Tagged as fashion, how to weave jewelry, Noreen Crone-Findlay, paper ribbon, small loom weaving, stick loom weaving, style, weaving stick loom, woven jewelry

February 15, 2013 · 7:50 pm

How to weave a hexagon using continuous warping and weaving techniques on the Lily Speed O Weave loom

A couple of years ago, when I was working on the designs for The Lily Speed O Weave design book LINK,

I figured out how to weave a hexagon on the loom, using continuous weaving methods.

The method is slightly tricky (it took me a LOT of experimenting to figure it out!) and has one disadvantage….

You have to use quite bulky yarn or else the hexagon is really loopy and open meshy (aka ‘sleazy’).

I decided that this made it not worthwhile to share the technique, as the knotting technique that was traditional for the Lily Speed O Weave loom allowed you to use absolutely any weight of yarn or thread.

Besides, I had figured out a way of speeding up and streamlining the knotting process, so I decided to just go with that.

But, a few days ago, a lady on Ravelry asked if anyone knew how to weave continuously on the hex loom and wasn’t into the knotting technique.

So, I figured…. okay…. I’ll make a video showing how to do this….