Tag Archives: weaving

December 23, 2016 · 1:48 pm

Wooden and Woven Dolls for Christmas

Recently, I had a lovely conversation with my darlin’ grandson.

He said to me: ‘Nanma, I LOVE your dolls. Will you make me one for Christmas?’

I was thrilled that he is pleased with my work and that he wanted me to make him a doll for Christmas.

What an awesome 7 year old he is!

I asked him if he wanted a wooden one or a woven one, and I was convinced that he said, ‘Wooden’….

So, I stayed up very, very late one night, and got up early, to carve him a wooden doll:

I used a birch branch from our son’s neighbour’s tree. It’s been drying for a year and a half and is lovely to carve.

Tottie Tomato cheered me on as I carved.

She comforted the new doll, because she knows that the knives, chisels and sandpaper are very uncomfortable, and that paint brushes tickle….

After he was done, and I had knitted his sweater and jeans, Tottie Tomato and New Boy went to hang a few ornaments on the tree in the village.

Something was feeling not quite right….

I thought: I have to check and see if Grandson actually said that he wanted a wooden doll…..

So, I asked him which dolls he loved?

Wooden or the woven art dolls?

We were out at a concert of his Grampa’s music, so I sketched the shape of the 6th Sense art dolls in the air.

YES! he said, firmly!

THOSE are the ones I love!

Oh oh….

I asked him to draw in the air and show me what shape he had in mind.

Yup….. Woven Women 6th Sense art dolls, and NOT 6 inch tall wooden dolls….

oops.

He specified that he wanted it soft to cuddle and that it had to wear black shoes.

I asked him to draw exactly what he wanted…..

He held his hands up in the air and showed me the size.

So…………………………

I have been weaving up a storm……………. well, a doll, along with a few other things……

I used the tapestry weaving technique to weave the body front, and plain weave for the back.

I did a clasped warp technique for the arms and legs to make the color changes work for the arms and legs.

I hope that he approves of how I interpreted his design!

I hadn’t thought of making him a doll for Christmas, so I am incredibly grateful that he asked.

And, because I didn’t get the brief right first time around, our little sweetheart gets TWO dolls, not one!

For now, they are chilling out by the Village Christmas tree, enjoying themselves in knitted armchairs that I designed for Findlay and Flora Bear.

The pattern for the chairs is in my etsy shop:

LINK

I can’t bear to wrap them until the last moment, so I will have a chance to enjoy them, too!

Merry Christmas, Happy Channukah, Happy Solstice, Happy Yule, Happy EVERYTHING to you and yours!

Love and blessings all round.

May 2017 bring Peace, Wisdom and Compassion!

14 Comments

Filed under doll & dolls & dollmaking & doll making, Findlay Bear and Flora Panda, gifts & easy to make gifts & presents, knitting, Loom & looms & small loom weaving, wooden dolls

Tagged as Christmas dolls, Christmas gifts, dollmaking, dolls, hand made dolls, handwoven, holiday gifts, Noreen Crone-Findlay, small loom weaving, spool knitting, tapestry weaving, weaves, weaving, weaving techniques, wooden dolls, woven

December 13, 2016 · 1:06 pm

6th Sense One of a Kind Art Doll- Tree Mother

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.

6 Comments

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Tagged as celebrate the moon, celebrate trees, doll, doll making, dollmaking, dolls, hand weaving, hand woven, handwoven, knitted doll, moon, moon doll, narrow band weaving, Noreen Crone-Findlay, one of a kind art doll, small loom weaving, textiles, tree, tree doll, Tree Mother, trees, upcycling, weave, weaves, weaving, wooden dolls, woven, Woven Women tapestries by Noreen Crone-Findlay

September 17, 2016 · 3:39 pm

Woven Women: 6th Sense One of a Kind Art Dolls

I have been working on new handwoven one of a kind art dolls.

They are a somewhat different approach to my Woven Women Mixed Media pieces.

Earlier this summer, I read a wonderful book, called: A Monk in the Beehive.

The author spoke about humanity needing to come to our senses, and to connect with our sixth sense, which is wisdom, intuition, peacefulness and integrity towards the planet.

This moved me deeply, and I have been thinking about it a lot.

This is how I have woven these thoughts together- in the first 3 of a series of ‘6th Sense’ Woven Women.

Each one is totally one of a kind.

I wove them as contemplations on wisdom, compassion, kindness, peace and peace making, connection, and a longing to care for the planet.

As I created each one, I would hold thoughts of wellness, integrity, and all the other attributes that I mentioned previously.

Weaving is a meditation in motion, and there is love in every stitch.

There is joy and tenderness in the making of the ‘6th Sense’ art dolls.

They are all approximately 17 inches tall and they can either stand and lean on a shelf, or be hung from the woven hanging loop on the back of the head.

Each one has 6 pennies- six cents- to represent the Sixth Sense, in all it’s manifestations.

I wove each of the 6th Sense Woven Women Art Dolls on many different looms, using a wide variety of techiques.

Here’s a video of ‘6th Sense- Intuition’, ‘6th Sense- Deep Peace’ and

‘6th Sense- Listening to The Voice of Wisdom’:

Photos:

‘6th Sense- INTUITION’:

‘6th Sense- Deep Peace’

‘6th Sense- Listening to The Voice of Wisdom’

If you are interested in purchasing a ‘Woven Women- 6th Sense’ One of a Kind Art Doll,

please contact me

← Back

Thank you for your response. ✨

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Tagged as 6th Sense Woven art dolls by Noreen Crone-Findlay, art dolls, doll, dollmaking, dolls, hand weaving, hand woven, Noreen Crone-Findlay, one of a kind art doll, Sixth Sense Woven Art Dolls by Noreen Crone-Findlay, textiles, weave, weaves, weaving, woven doll, woven sculpture, Woven Women mixed media weaving by Noreen Crone-Findlay

August 14, 2015 · 7:14 pm

A truly tiny wooden doll

I couldn’t resist.

I just had to see how small a doll I could carve …

So….I cut very small doll parts from another birch tree twig.

And, I carved a doll that is not much bigger than a quarter.

Here’s a comparison of dolly sizes – ‘Bitty’ is right above the ‘yr’ in copyright.

She really is ‘Itty Bitty’.

She was fun, but rather challenging to carve. (of course LOL).

Bitty, Coco and Joy had a lovely tea party in front of the Story Door.

They had a lovely time, and were pleased that the missing teacups have re-appeared, but wondered where the cat and dogs were.

I wove a chair seat for Bitty, which is less than an inch square.

It makes her feel much more comfortable and she’s very please with it.

Coco, Bitty and Joy have heard the sounds of more carving in the studio, and are excited to see who is going to join them at the Story Door.

🙂

6 Comments

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Tagged as crafts, doll, doll making, dollmaking, dolls, hand weaving, hand woven, handwoven, Noreen Crone-Findlay, small loom weaving, weaving, wooden dolls, woven

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!

6 Comments

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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 31, 2015 · 12:05 pm

Quirky wonderful loom

My son, Angus Findlay, and I have just co-created a loom and stand that I absolutely love.

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay www.tottietalkscrafts.com

Last January, I asked Angus to build me a box that I could turn into a loom.

I made the ratchets and pawls from purpleheart wood, cut the ends and sides into the shapes I wanted, made the warp and cloth beams and started painting it.

I loved it, but found it a bit too big to hold in my lap while weaving, and I didn’t have the perfect table to sit it on and weave comfortably.

So, I asked Angus to take some funky old legs that I had bought at a garage sale, and build a stand for the loom.

Woo hoo! I love it! I am enchanted by Angus’ design and how he built such a whimsical and quirky (and VERY solid and sturdy) loom stand.

He intuitively made it just the perfect height for me.

I brought it home and started playing with embellishments.

I cut out some of my favorite wooden shapes to glue on it, and then painted 3 coats of gesso to prime it.

Then, I slowly began the layering on of paint:

Painting was a long slow process, as I applied layers of acrylic paints in thin washes to build up the color shifts.

The screen behind the loom shows how I use this layering technique on other pieces, too.

I was quite surprised when the loom started to lead me in this direction, as I had had a totally different concept

in mind before I started painting.

But, I believe in listening to the piece and allowing it to tell me how it wants to be.

The ‘Dancing Girl’ and ‘Resting Rabbit’ motifs are a theme that I have used for more than 40 years.

They’re just me.

I made the metal image of the Dreaming Lady of Malta with sheet metal, using the repousse technique of pressing and shaping the metal from the back.

Because I work with my dreams and use them as one of the main sources in my art and artisanship, I felt that placing an image of the Beautiful Dreamer was a great metaphor.

and on the stand, I attached another repousse image that I had made at the same time as making the Dreaming Lady.

This is Xchtel, the Mayan Goddess of weaving, with her companion Rabbit.

So, the metaphor and message of these two images is:

Dream weaver. Weaver of Dreams…..

It is just pure bliss to weave on this loom.

Words cannot convey the delight.

I LOVE how my beloved son, and dear friend, Angus, and I created a loom that is so completely US.

I feel blessed.

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

Tagged as Angus Findlay, band loom, hand made loom, hand weaving, hand woven, handwoven, loom stand, narrow band weaving, Noreen Crone-Findlay, rigid heddle weaving, textiles, weaving, wooden loom

February 20, 2015 · 1:58 pm

Writing a book while moving- eegads

Oh my word!

The flurry of activity at our house is just completely over the top!

My blog has ground to a stop, as I just can’t keep everything going all at once right now…

something had to give, and it’s been the blog.

Here’s a little (but no where near all) of what has been going on….

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

Really- there are things that simply shouldn’t be combined….

Like selling an acreage that you have lived on for 21 years and buying a house in the city….

Um… a large acreage that has accumulated a lot of stuff

(I know, I know, WE accumulated all that stuff…

it followed us home when we saw all it’s creative potential) …

🙂

While working to deadline on a book (and doing all the photography and illustrations and diagrams AS WELL AS designing all the projects and weaving them all yourself…. )

eeks! The deadline is looming – pardon the pun 🙂

BUT…. I am so incredibly inspired and excited by the designs and projects for the book that I am just over the moon.

And, am seeing rather a lot of the moon lately, as there aren’t enough hours in the day, so the hours in the night are full of the busy busy of it all.

I can’t show any of the projects yet, but, wheeeeeee! I am just happy dancing and skippetty hopping over them.

I have been in love with peg loom weaving and weaving sticks for years, but that love has grown exponentially as I work on this book.

I am just boggled by the creative potential of the marvelously simple peg looms and weaving sticks.

In fact, I have passed along quite a few of my other, non-peg looms, because there is so much for me to explore with them that I just don’t have the time for many other of my looms.

Ah, the move: The downsizing, packing and dealing with all the insane bureaucratic hoop jumping has been epic. Sheesh.

Just sheesh.

Oh yes… another leetle stressor in our lives is that we suddenly adopted a darling little puppy from a relative who couldn’t keep her.

She’s enchanting- but wasn’t housebroken, so that’s been a challenge- another of those ‘don’t do this at home’ kind of things.

House training a puppy in deep dreary freaking freezing cold mid winter is not fun.

That’s not quite true- she loves gazing at the birds and thinks trips outside are marvelous. (When it’s a million below zero, I don’t share her enthusiasm)

She has taught me to keep my shoes in a box that she can’t get into…

(yes, she did chew my most expensive boots)

and to not leave my favorite glasses where she can get them

(yes, she did chew them, and my ipod earbuds up)

and to not let balls of yarn drop to the floor

(she outdoes a kitten in her enthusiasm for yarnplay- face palm)

She’s a right proper little scalliwag but we do adore her and are so happy that she’s part of the family.

There’s a million other things going on in our lives right now, but I must get back to work, so I shall just zip away and weave up some wonderful-ness.

Cheerio and tootlepip… which is what we always say to our grandson when he heads home from our time together.

I probably won’t be posting again for a couple of weeks, as we are soon to be hefting and heaving ourselves into the new (smaller, much smaller) house in the city.

And, then, it’s serious overdrive on the book….

so…. cheerio for now….

13 Comments

Filed under Peg and Stick Loom weaving, personal stuff, weaving & handwoven

Tagged as moving, Noreen Crone-Findlay, weaving, writing a book

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.

🙂

8 Comments

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

September 5, 2014 · 2:56 pm

A small video of my ‘Woven Women’ tapestries

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….

8 Comments

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

Tagged as hand weaving, hand woven, handweaving, handwoven, Mirrix loom, Noreen Crone-Findlay, tapestries, tapestry weaving, weaving, Woven Women tapestries by Noreen Crone-Findlay

August 20, 2014 · 9:57 am

Woven Women – Three Sisters

Three sisters of the heart- tapestry/mixed media pieces that I wove and fabricated this summer:

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).

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Tagged as hand weaving, hand woven, Mirrix, Mirrix looms, mixed media art, Noreen Crone-Findlay, tapestry, tapestry weaving, textiles, weaving, Woven Women tapestries by Noreen Crone-Findlay