Tag Archives: tapestry loom

August 18, 2014 · 9:06 pm

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:

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.

Her earrings are made from beads, vintage buttons and reproductions of Viking coins that I bought in the Museum gift shop.

‘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.

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

Tagged as hand weaving, hand woven, Mirrix loom, mixed media weaving, Noreen Crone-Findlay, Rebecca Mezoff, Royal British Columbia Museum, tapestries, tapestry, tapestry loom, tapestry workshop, woven, Woven Women tapestry by Noreen Crone-Findlay

April 17, 2014 · 9:34 am

How to build an upcycled loom and stand from recycled stuff

For the last month or so, I have been building and weaving up a storm.

I am part of a project in Edmonton, Alberta, called, Green Windows City, that has partnered 13 artists with small shops in the arts district.

The artists are creating installations built from upcycled or recycled stuff, and are creating magic!

Today is installation day, so I will take photos after I complete my installation and post them.

One of the really fun things that I have done is to design and build a tapestry loom (although it can be used for other things than tapestry) and stand from trash.

I built the loom from a picture frame and the stand for the loom using heavy cardboard tubes thrown away by the fabric store, an old broomstick and a few nuts and bolts.

It has ingenious ways of tensioning the warp strands, and opening the sheds for ease of weaving.

All it all, it is a wonderfully functional loom and stand that is almost no cost.

To my delight, I have found it to be a loom that I love and will be using for years.

I liked it so much that I have built a second one to be weaving on while this one is busy being in the installation.

I made a video showing how to make the loom and stand, and how to warp it (including the warping device that I messed up on and then replaced LOL)

Here’s the video- it’s a cheap and cheerful way of creating a really great little tapestry loom.

I love it, and hope you will, too!

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

Tagged as Earth Day, green project, Green Windows City, hand weaving, hand woven, how to build a loom from a picture frame, loom, loom stand, Noreen Crone-Findlay, picture frame loom, recycling, tapestry loom, tapestry weaving, trash into treasure, upcycing

March 5, 2014 · 5:50 pm

Pivoting clamp for pipe style tapestry loom

The Archie Brennan copper pipe looms are easy-ish to build and wonderful to weave on.

Here’s a link to the instructions that we used to build mine: LINK

It struck me that warping the pipe loom would be so much easier if I could pivot and spin the loom.

I saw a video on Youtube that showed a woman rotating her loom to warp it and that got my gears clicking.

And, so, I designed a set of pivoting clamps for the pipe loom, and now warping the pipe loom is just BLISS!!!!!

Here’s the video tutorial for them in action:

By the way, the finished size of my clamps is:

I am pleased as can be with them!

Note: The clamps can easily be moved on or off looms that are already warped, so switching looms on and off a stand is easy peasy.

To see the stand that we built, please go to

https://tottietalkscrafts.com/2014/03/17/copper-pipe-stand-for-copper-pipe-tapestry-loom/

Happy weaving!

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Filed under Loom & looms & small loom weaving, tutorial & how to, video tutorial, weaving & handwoven

Tagged as #noreencrone-findlay, #tapestryweaving, Archie Brennan copper pipe, Archie Brennan Pipe loom, frame loom, hand woven, handwoven, hints and tips for weaving, Noreen Crone-Findlay, pipe loom clamps, pivot clamps for tapestry loom, tapestry loom, video tutorial, weaving

November 13, 2010 · 1:03 pm

A little woodworking with my tapestry weaving

Weaving and woodwork are completely interwoven at our house.

I am working on an ongoing series of woven tapestries.

(In amongst working on a new book and a million other things… never a dull moment!) 🙂

I love weaving on frame looms, and find them to be a joy for tapestry weaving.

One problem with frame looms – especially a BIG one like my Goodwood (no profit in saying how much I like their work, just a happy customer) 13 inch frame loom (actual dimensions are close to 16 inches wide by about 32 inches tall) is that it’s waaaaaaaaaay too big for working in my lap.

So, I went out to the workshop and made an easel for it.

I get the heeby jeebies at the thought of drilling holes into a gorgeous loom.

But, it was essential to have holes in the sides for attaching the folding stand.

So I got Jim to drill the holes! LOL 🙂

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay

While I was out in the workshop, I couldn’t resist making myself a couple of small tapestry beaters and some funky tapestry flat bobbins.

Why do tapestry bobbins need to be round and turned on the lathe?

They don’t.

I saw a photo of a flat tapestry bobbin somewhere on the net, and had a huge ‘aha’ moment!

And have discovered that I really quite like the little one of a kind carved ones.

They are slow to make (which is why machines are used to whip out the commercial ones) but are a treat to use.

And, will I be selling them? Nope…. too much work to make them.

Will I continue to make more for myself?

Intermittently…. I am deep into working on my new book, and there aren’t enough hours in the day…..

I have a tiny beater that I use for the miniature tapestries that I have been working on, but haven’t been able to find my full size beater.

So, it was a good excuse to play with some lovely walnut wood that we were given years ago, and make myself some Goddess shaped tapestry beaters.

The new beaters and bobbins are a treat to work with.

The tapestry is moving along nicely, although the ‘hours in the day’ issue is a hard one to get around!

One of the other tapestries that I am working on is on ‘wait’ mode…. but I hope to get back to it soon.

But, the new book is first and foremost, so that’s my focus right now.

As I make progress on it, and as we get the technical problems we’re having resolved, I’ll post more about it.

🙂

I have been having a very frustrating time with technical problems on my blog lately, and we have spent a ton of time trouble shooting. I haven’t been able to upload pics, so have spent hours and hours fiddling around with deleting old posts, in case that is the issue…. hopefully, we’ll get to the root of the issue soon!

All material on this blog is copyright protected and may not be used without permission from Noreen Crone-Findlay

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

Tagged as frame loom weaving, handmade tapestry bobbins, tapestry, tapestry loom, tapestry loom beater, tapestry loom easel, tapestry loom stand, tapestry weaving