Tag Archives: tapestry weaving

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

April 7, 2014 · 11:25 am

Green Window project – weaving a tapestry of the earth

I have been incredibly busy, working to deadline on a really neat project: The Green Window City project. LINK

13 artists were paired with shops in the Old Strathcona district of Edmonton as part of Earth Day celebrations.

We are each creating an installation in our partnered shop, using stuff that was pulled out of the trash…..

I have been building and weaving like mad….

I can’t show too much until I have the installation up and running.

But – I am going to give a sneak preview of a small tapestry that I have woven for my installation.

I was nervous about using discarded fabric that I cut into strips for the weft of the tapestry- I had NO idea if it would work!

Also, I built the loom (more about that later) and wasn’t sure if it would be alright for tapestry weaving.

On top of all the other unknowns, for the warp, I used hemp yarn that was given to me by someone who gave up on weaving.

Fuzzy, sheddie, hairy hemp yarn? As warp? Bonkers.

I was sceptical when I saw that the cone of yarn was labelled as being warp, but thought- Why not?

This is all about experimentation, and creative adaptive re-use….

So, I warped up the loom:

And then, I cut up strips of fabric and started weaving.

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

I’ve never used fabric strips to weave tapestry, so I was really quizzical about it at first….

Those are the fabrics that I cut up, and wow…. I LOVED weaving with them!

Its’ very slow, but I was amazed at how well it worked!

I loved it, and I am eager to weave more tapestries with upcycled, re-used, recycled fabric cut into ‘farn’ (fabric yarn).

But, for now, I have to get back to cutting up more t shirts and discarded garments for the banners that I am weaving for the installation.

And, then, back to weaving weaving weaving…. I have 5 more long banners to weave….. oh my!~

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Filed under eco crafts & green projects, Loom & looms & small loom weaving, weaving & handwoven

Tagged as creative adaptive re-use, fabric strips, Green Windows City, hand weaving, hand woven, installation, Noreen Crone-Findlay, tapestry weaving, upcycled, upcycling, woven image of the earth

April 7, 2014 · 11:07 am

Tapestry Diary – 4

I’ve been working on a series of little woven ‘dancing ladies’ for my Woven Women show.

And, I am participating in a tapestry weave along on Ravelry.

This week, I finished one of my Dancing Ladies- “Snowy Spring”.

I have a thing about red shoes, so, I just had to make red patent leather shoes for her….

And I even made heels for them (the soles and heels are heavy leather, the uppers are very thin patent leather)

She’s about 13 inches tall/33 cm tall.

I wove her on the Schacht Mini loom, which is a small plastic loom that I quite like.

I was surprised by how well it worked for tapestry weaving- I wasn’t sure about tensioning on it, but that was not a problem. (I wove in a tiny thin dowel at the top, which worked beautifully as a shed stick, and provided some tension).

She delights me.

I love how the tapestry diary is leading me in unexpected directions.

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

Tagged as 'Woven Women' by Noreen Crone-Findlay, hand weaving, hand woven, Noreen Crone-Findlay, Schacht Mini Loom, Tapestry Diary, tapestry weaving

March 30, 2014 · 3:48 pm

Tapestry Diary 2014- 3

This week has been insanely busy, with a major new project being on the top of my list, plus a maker’s faire yesterday, AND having to rush to get a vest done that I have been working on as a wedding gift… busy… very busy!

Even so- I have been working on my tapestry diaries….

Here’s where I have gotten to with my latest ‘Dancing Lady’:

The Schacht Mini Loom has been surprisingly satisfying for this small piece (*no affiliations or profit from saying that I do like this little loom*) although, of course, tensioning is pretty minimal!

I still have a whole lotta work to do on her, but that is ongoing.

For April, I will be working on this piece, that is the other half of the warp strands from my first Dancing Lady of the month:

The light is so glaring in my studio right now that I am either getting totally over exposed or under exposed pics. Sorry.

One of the things that has kept me so wildly busy, is that I am participating in a very neat project in Edmonton, Alberta, called, ‘Green Windows City’.

A group of artists have been paired with businesses in Old Strathcona, a very artsy part of Edmonton.

The artists are scrounging up stuff that has been discarded, or donated to the ReUse center, and are creating magical installations in one storefront window of their assigned business.

I chose the theme: ‘Weaving a new world’, and have been busily building a mannequin and loom and stand and props, and will be weaving up all manner of things….
so, here’s the loom warped (I’ll show more about the loom and stand in the upcoming days), but I haven’t got the drawing done for the cartoon yet….

The warp is set at 6 epi, and is soft hemp that was given to me by someone who had given up on weaving. The label said that it was warp, but it’s sure new to me to use hemp as warp! Wish me luck!!!!

The next couple of weeks are going to be sooooooooo busy, as I have to have everything done and ready for the installation on April 17 – eeeeeeeeep!

But, I do feel that the weaving on the loom for the installation is very much part of my diary process, so I will be including it here, and posting about it.

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Filed under eco crafts & green projects, Loom & looms & small loom weaving, tapestry, Woven Women tapestries and woven works

Tagged as Edmonton Alberta, green projects, Green Windows City, tapestry, Tapestry Diary, tapestry weaving, upcycling

February 4, 2013 · 11:52 am

Woven Women-The Eyes of the Butterfly

When I became a grandmother, I saw the world in a whole new way…. through the eyes of the butterfly…..

Seeing my grandson emerge, and witnessing him ‘spread his wings’ makes it so heartrendingly clear just how magical and fragile our precious world is.

In response, I wove this tapestry, which is a love song to my daughter and her son.

Becoming a grandmother means that I now sing a love song to all the tender new lives that we must nurture.

Tapestry: Woven Women-The Eyes of the Butterfly

by Noreen Crone-Findlay 2012-2013

approximately 14 inches wide by 36 inches tall

The yarn used in the tapestry is special to me for 2 reasons…. one is that most of it came from my mother’s collection of yarns, and the rest of it was spun by my beautiful daughter in love, Alliston Findlay.

Lots of precious threads here…..

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Filed under tapestry, weaving & handwoven, Woven Women tapestries and woven works

Tagged as babies', baby, beauty, becoming a grandmother, creativity, grandmother, grandparents, hand weaving, nature, tapestries, tapestry weaving, weaving, woven, Woven Women tapestry by Noreen Crone-Findlay

October 14, 2012 · 11:48 am

Update on progress in tapestries Oct 2012

Yesterday, I took a tapestry off my 16 inch Mirrix loom- it’s nowhere near being finished as I am going to be doing embroidery on it.

I thought that I would give an update on the tapestries that I am weaving for my solo show next summer.

So, even though NONE of these pieces are anywhere close to being done, here’s a quick little glimpse at the works in progress:

And yes, I did plaster copyright notices all over them, as I have found that images have a way of getting away from you, so I want people to be able to follow them home!

The large tapestry is about a meter long – when you use extenders on the 16 inch loom, you can weave very long pieces.

On the music stand are 2 tapestries that I am just getting started on.

The 12 inch tapestry has gobbled up all my ‘s’ hooks, so I need to go buy some more.

I warped up my 5 inch Mini in a totally outside the box way….. totally outside the Scrabble box, that is!

I bought a couple of extra Scrabble games from the thrift shop so I could use the letters for my titles of my video tutorials.

I plunked the tile holders into a drawer and occasionally, I wonder what I will do with them.

Well… the other day, when I was puzzling over how I could warp the Mini when all my ‘s’ hooks are in use elsewhere, I had a flash of inspiration-

I duct taped 2 of them together to make a cap to go over the Mini’s knobs at the top of the loom!

This is the back of the loom, showing how I warped it continuously, going over the ‘Scrabble Cap’.

It works brilliantly!

I don’t like showing a piece before I have made some progress on it.

In November, I’ll do another update, and hopefully, I’ll have lots more to show you! 🙂

How to make yarn butterflies and upcycled wooden tapestry bobbins

Some people love weaving with yarn butterflies.

And some people (like me) don’t.

I love wooden tapestry bobbins and I love making each one a unique piece- and I especially like using upcycled wood to make them.

So, for those of you who like yarn butterflies, here’s a video tutorial on how to make yarn butterflies:

And, here’s how I make my one of a kind tapestry bobbins, which wouldn’t suit everyone, but I love them and find them to be a pleasure to use:

Start with a piece of cast off wood. In this case, a wooden plaque (don’t use chipboard or mdf ! This needs to be hardwood)

a thrown away plaque from a garage sale

Flip it over, and draw in the rough lines for the first cuts:

next, saw them into rough shape:

Working on getting more definition and shaping:

All the wooden offcuts are going to be burned in the wood burning stove in the studio in the winter- nothing’s wasted!

When the rough saw shaping is done:

I move over to the belt sander:

and I do a whole bunch of sanding (very carefully)

Did I mention that this is a really slow, meditative process? Yup.

Go slowly… and pay attention….

Then, it’s off to work with a bunch of different small sanding drums:

and files:

And more sanding:

and then, I draw faces on each one, and get out my wood burning tool and draw and burn faces and the year on each one:

Here’s a closer look:

I just listen to what each bobbin wants, and then I draw on their faces. Some of them crack me up.

Like the ‘Get to the Point’ guy… 3rd from the left…. I know, I am easily amused….

And, here they are, all wrapped up and ready to weave!

I hope that the photos will all open for you!

So, happy butterflies, and happy bobbin-ing!

Happy weaving! 🙂

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

Tagged as how to make tapestry bobbins from upcycled wood, how to wind yarn butterflies, Mirrix loom, Noreen Crone-Findlay, social networking for Mirrix loom, tapestry weaving, textile art, textiles, weaving

June 11, 2012 · 10:27 pm

Working with handpainted handspun yarn in tapestry

My daughter-in-law spins gorgeous yarn. Which makes me very happy.

Because, sometimes a skein or two finds its way into my studio.

Recently, she spun Merino and silk and dyed it turquoise and purple, separated by short sneezes of sunshine yellow.

I love it, and have been puzzling over how to use it in one of my new tapestries in a way that keeps the integrity of the colorway, while working across the entire width of the tapestry. Weaving narrow bands of it in vertical columns would not be a problem with maintaining the colors as units… but… horizontally- ah, well… that’s another cup of soup entirely.

I didn’t want to have the colors end up in little splats of one color arguing with another.

That meant working in short segments, weaving small blocks of each color.

I could have woven little squares of each color, with little slits that would need to be stitched or interlocked. Myech…

I sat down with my trusty little pencil and thought about this conundrum….

and came up with this:

If I started at the left hand edge, and wove a little triangle with one length of turquoise, then, I could use the little bursts of yellow to tell me when to nip down, and start a slanting wedge of purple.

This completely worked for me! I wouldn’t have any joins to deal with, and I could work each little section of color in order, so the colorway of the yarn stays intact.

It’s a happy solution to an interesting problem!

Tapestry weaving is full of nifty little voyages of discovery 🙂

My first little purple patch was not so perfect, but by the time I had woven across to the right hand side I was pleased with it.

Here’s the video:

Working with handpainted handspun yarn in tapestry

My daughter in law will be uploading some of her new yarns and batts and braids to her website soon. LINK

Making string heddles for my Mirrix loom

At the beginning of May, a ‘new-to-me’ loom , a large Mirrix tapestry loom, arrived in my studio. (Courtesy of my son and daughter in law who picked her up in the city 4 hours away, that used to be her home- the previous owner didn’t want to ship her).

I immediately sat down and made a whole lot of heddles for her, as she didn’t come with them.

And then, I warped her up- ooooooooohhhhhhhhhh, I love how easily she warps! Bliss!

As I was warping her up and starting to weave, I thought…. ‘Hmmmm…. there must be a group for Mirrix weavers on Ravelry’

(Ravelry= the facebook of the yarn world)

I looked, and sure enough! There is a Mirrix group…. which I joined, pronto.

And the first thing I saw was that Claudia (the inventor of the magical Mirrix looms) and Elena, her talented daughter, had posted that they were accepting applications for their annual ‘Social Networking for a Mirrix Loom’ campaign. Link

Well… I had decided within hours of starting to weave on my ‘Joni’ loom that I wanted to fill my studio with Mirrix looms.

So, I sent off an application….

Um… I wanted to fill the studio with ~Smaller~ Mirrix looms!

MEANWHILE>>>> The Joni is one big Mamma, and even though I am tall, my arms are short, so I found that I was having shoulder pain.

My clever daughter in law subtly sneaked the information out of me that I was longing for the treadle kit for the Mirrix loom. Then, she orchestrated the family buying me the treadle kit for Mother’s Day! What a sweetheart!

To say that I was thrilled was an understatement!

THEN! on the 18th of May, was just tickled pink to hear from Elena that they had picked me as one of their team for the 4 months of the ‘Social Networking’ campaign. Whee! What a couple of thrilling days!

And, now… I am starting to keep my part of the bargain, which is to chronicle my experiences with the Mirrix loom(s).

So, since I began my Mirrix adventures with making string heddles, I am going to show you my quick and easy way of making the string heddles for the Mirrix looms (or inkle or frame looms, too).

And, here is the video:

How to make string heddles by Noreen Crone-Findlay (c)

Happy Weaving!

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

Tagged as how to make string heddles, Mirrix loom, Mirrix looms, Mirrix tapestry loom, Noreen Crone-Findlay, tapestry weaving, textiles, video tutorial

May 19, 2012 · 1:49 pm

Bead love

I love beads- how could I NOT love beads?

The colors! the textures! the complete wonderfulness of them- sigh….

For many years, I did a lot of off loom beading- using brick stitch and peyote stitch to create pieces like this necklace:

This necklace is an homage to the Minoan Goddess of the Bees.

The blue teardrop shapes are dew drops, as the Minoan Goddess of the Bees is also known as ‘The Dewdrop Goddess’.

I love that—- dew happens when the earth is waking up and shifting from the dreamtime to the waking world.

How wonderful that there is a tiny Goddess there, guiding us back from our dreams, to our waking lives, and refreshing our spirits with dewdrops!

The red petal is a pomegranate seed, as The Minoan Goddess of the Bees is also closely aligned with the Goddess, Persephone.

Persephone was snatched from this world, and taken to the underworld, where she ate 3 pomegranate seeds. This meant that she had to return to the depths for 6 months of every year.

In Western Canada, where we live, winter reigns for at least 6 months of the year, often longer, so I resonate deeply with Persephone’s journey!

By the way, I love how the corded part of the necklace formed a figure ‘8’ – tilt it sideways, and you have infinity!

I worked the cord in peyote stitch, using tiny brass beads that a friend found in a thrift shop. Nice!!! 🙂

I carved her face from a tagua nut (an ecologically harvested palm nut) that is also known as vegetable ivory.

I have never done much loom beading, but that is about to change!

Every year, Claudia and Elena at Mirrix looms have a ‘social media campaign’.

They choose 2 weavers (a bead weaver and a tapestry weaver) to be part of the team, and then give them each a Mirrix loom.

Then, the weavers blog and post and tweet and fb etc about their adventures with their Mirrix looms for 4 months.

Well… I am soooooooooooooo delighted!

They picked me as one of their weavers! wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

A few weeks ago, I bought a Mirrix Joni from another Canadian weaver who hadn’t bonded with it. I am working on a series of woven tapestries and fiber arts collages and I need Joni Mirrix to be my loomie for that 😀

Woots! I fell madly in love with Joni Mirrix (although I felt unworthy of her at first… will tell you more about it, later) and thought-

‘Hmmmmm… there must be a Ravelry group for Mirrix looms’.

I looked for it, and sure enough, there is! Link

I joined, and the first thing I saw was that they were having their annual Social Media networking campaign.

I sent in my application, and last night, I was doing a huge happy dance to discover that I got picked for the team!

(good thing I don’t have to catch a ball or throw one to be on the team, or else I would still be standing on the sidelines! ahem)

Oh ho! I want to fill my studio with Mirrix looms, (tapestry is slow, and I want to be doing bead weaving, toooooooo, so I am just ecstatic!)

Speaking of bead weaving, I treated myself to Claudia’s bracelet workshop on Craftsy (anyone who has seen any of my video tutorials will know that I am madly in love with bracelets!) and I am chomping at the bit to get going on a bunch of yummy woven bracelets!

Alright…. back to work on design deadlines so I get back to my weaving!

Go gently! 🙂

Oh! PS: if you would like to knit yourself a Minoan Goddess of the Bees, I designed one for you to knit, and can be ordered here:

Link to the doll page on my website (scroll down, waaaaaaaaay down the page to click the ‘buy now’ button)

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

Tagged as bead weaving, beaded necklace, beauty, brickwork stitch, fashion, knitted Minoan Goddess of the Bees doll pattern, minoan goddess, Minoan Goddess of the Bees, Mirrix loom, peyote stitch beadwork, social media campaign, style, tapestry weaver, tapestry weaving, teardrop shapes