Recently, I made a video about cutting up garments to upcycle them by weaving or knitting with the fabric strips.
In early October of 2017, my son in law’s step-dad passed away.
This was, of course, very hard on our grandson.
I talked with him about what it meant to him to have his ‘other’ grampa (not my husband) pass away.
I asked him if he needed something of his grampa’s to hold onto, and he said yes.
So, I asked for a couple of Bill’s shirts so I could make comfort critters with them.
I cut them up and wove them into kittys, as that was what my grandson asked for, so he has one, and other family members have them too. (I didn’t photograph all of them).
I also knitted a teddy bear for one of our relatives, as he is definitely a teddy bear guy 🙂
The bear and kittys have been well received and they do carry the love that went into every stitch of making them.
I’ve done this before, and have found that ‘compassion critters’ made from upcycled clothing of a dear one is very comforting for people in grief.
Every little thing helps….
Here’s the video:
The woven kitties and knitted bear are made from the following patterns:
Last month, when there was a spectacular Super Moon, we stepped outside to admire it.
The gigantic moon looked like it was suspended in the huge trees that line our street.
The image of the Great Tree Mother, rocking the Moon in her arms, rose up in my mind….
and I knew that I had to build one of my 6th Sense one of a kind art dolls.
Here she is:
Great Tree Mother Rocked The Moon in Her Arms:
While I was contemplating how to build the Great Tree Mother piece, my husband and our daughter took the dogs for a walk one morning.
Chloe came home with a wonderfully gnarly branch that had been pruned from someone’s tree and tossed into the alley.
She just knew I needed it…. even though, at that point, I hadn’t told her what I was mulling about 🙂
We have a very deep connection!
It is perfect.
So’s our daughter….
Anyhow…
The faces….
Years ago, my dear friend found a moose antler that had been shed and she asked me if I could use it.
I cut 3 faces from it, and carved them and painted them.
Two of them became part of this piece:
Tree Mother’s face.
She also has a ‘Hidden Face’ that is hidden inside the piece and will never be revealed.
Too bad I didn’t photograph it! Oops…
Here is Moon’s face:
I carved the hand from wood.
I wove the bands on 2 different looms and knitted the grey hand spun cloth of her robe.
All of the 6th Sense Woven Women have 6 pennies incorporated into them, as a metaphor for coming to our senses, and embracing intuition, intelligence and inspiration.
She is 29 inches/72.5 cm tall and the branch spreads out to 15 inches/37.5 cm wide.
She is not for sale.
By the way, she is also a celebration of creative adaptive re-use and upcycling. I love that.
I unraveled the sleeves of the sweater and used the Comfort Bear pattern LINK to pattern
It’s taken awhile, because, I think that I needed to design the Comfort Bears first.
I was so pleased when I had an ‘AHA!’ that I could use the Comfort Bear pattern to make the Memory Bears for Marie’s daughter and her partner, her son and grandson and her grandson’s Mum.
They’ll be able to cuddle a little of their Mum and Grandma whenever they need a small bit of comfort…..
I am finding the Comfort Bears to be very inspiring… They have many aspects, and more keep being revealed.
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:
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:
For the last 6 weeks or so, I have been weaving up a storm, working on an installation for the Green Window City project in Edmonton Alberta. Link to Green Window City
I wove 7 banners ( each 5 yards long) from cut up clothing and t shirts cut into t shirt yarn (tarn and ‘Farn’- fabric strip yarn) on my Saori loom.
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’:
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
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:
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
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….
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay
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.
I am participating in all kinds of craft fairs and maker’s markets this summer in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
I’ve been weaving up all kinds of bracelets for the upcoming shows:
The bracelets are a combination of paper yarn, t shirt yarn, vintage buttons and charms and other embellishments, as well as copper and brass findings and embellishments that I have made.
Here’s what I asked for, and they have designed and created:
1: Taller pegs so I could see more of the weaving emerging before having to advance the warp. This is especially important in weaving tapestries on the peg loom.
2: Fine wooden pegs that are slimmer and closer together to give a firmer, tighter weave. A close sett avoids too loose, loopy fabric.
Another important note about the pegs: I asked for close grain wood for the pegs, as smooth pegs that don’t catch the weft are essential. Gary has found the perfect wood for the pegs that is smooth as silk. He also carefully shapes the top of the pegs to make them guide the yarn beautifully. His attention to detail is exquisite!
3: A really nice threading tool – I came up with a rather crude one, and Gary totally surpassed my concept.
4: Legs that would stabilize the looms- Gary’s design for the legs is so elegant that it knocked my socks off!
They suggested tilting the looms backward slightly. This is brilliant, as it improves the ergonomics of the loom enormously and makes the loom more comfortable to work with.
They also decided to offer a loom with 3 sizes of pegs, for people who want to work with larger pegs.
Personally, I am so smitten with the thinnest pegs that I probably will just be working with them and not the larger pegs, but Gary and Donna wanted to appeal to the widest possible group of weavers.
Gary also decided to make the base of the loom removable in case a peg gets stuck. What a great idea!
Peg looms are eco friendly, as they are great for using t shirt yarn, or tarn, or fabric strips torn from discarded clothing.
And, I am working on a new book for peg loom weaving, so do stay tuned for that 🙂
I have made a little video that introduces the Dewberry Ridge Peg Loom:
Tottie Talks Crafts Blog 