Tag Archives: Woven Women tapestry by Noreen Crone-Findlay

September 26, 2017 · 6:43 pm

Mermaid tapestry mostly woven on hexagon looms

I love Mermaids, and I love weaving them.

This Mermaid has been tapping me on the shoulder for months, asking to be woven, so I made a plan.

I carefully chose my colorways when I was making all the ‘how to’ videos on the hexagon loom, (see previous posts) so that I could use them to build a Mermaid tapestry.

And, here she is: Sophia is her name:

She’s about 44 inches tall.

She includes techniques for weaving tapestry technique, mandala (tapestry woven in the round), Teneriffe and floral motifs on hexagon looms as well as a little help from the Vasilisa and Mollie Whuppie looms.

The glittery narrow band that outlines her body was woven on my little narrow band rigid heddle loom, using Kreinik metallic threads.

This tapestry is a one of a kind piece, and there are no patterns for her.

The looms and latchet lucet are from Dewberry Ridge looms, and the metallic threads are from Kreinik threads.

My friend asked me to please photograph the process of how I was weaving the mermaid tapestry, so I have – although I was well into the project by the time I started the photographing.

Anyhow- here’s a video showing glimpses of the hundreds of hours I put into weaving Sophia, the Mermaid, tapestry:

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Filed under band loom, Dewberry Ridge looms, hexagon loom, Loom & looms & small loom weaving, Mollie Whuppie and Vasilisa looms, tapestry, Three Sisters Looms, weaving & handwoven, Woven Women tapestries and woven works

Tagged as #hexagonweaving, #wovenmermaid, 2 inch hexagon loom, 4 inch hexagon loom, 6 inch hexagon loom, Dewberry Ridge Looms, Kreinik metallic threads, mermaid, mermaid tapestry, mermaids, tapestry weaving on hexagon loom, video of mermaid, Woven Women multimedia tapestry by Noreen Crone-Findlay, Woven Women tapestry by Noreen Crone-Findlay

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

August 8, 2014 · 8:03 pm

Woven Women- Small Bird Sang and All Was Forgiven

When we went on holidays in July, I took along 4 small looms- My Norwegian Cradle loom, my 8 inch Mirrix tapestry loom, my wee copper pipe loom and my tiny peg loom.

I warped up my Norwegian Cradle loom with fine cotton to weave a narrow band, using my Swedish double slotted rigid heddle.

The heddle is actually too wide for the Cradle loom, but oddly enough, this worked well in a quirky way.

I wove and wove and wove and wove as we drove for many, many days, with the Norwegian Cradle loom in my lap:

The cotton thread in the narrow band is in the same colors that I was using to weave the sampler for Part 2 of the online tapestry course offered by Rebecca Mezoff.

I knew that I wanted to have narrow bands as part of the figure that I was weaving, using the sampler as the body.

And here she is: Her name is:
“Small Bird Sang and All Was Forgiven”.

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay www.tottietalkscrafts.com

Her body is the sampler that includes the techniques that were covered in Part Two of the course.

I wove her arms separately, using techniques from Part 2 as well.
I have included driftwood from our beachcombing at the ocean, as well as found objects.

Her hands, head, feet and the archway panel are cut from Baltic birch plywood. (Lovely stuff!)

I burned the features with a wood burning tool, and then painted and embellished with encaustic.

She is 36 inches/90 cm tall.

I wove her body first, then re-warped the loom and wove the arms separately.

Her body and arms were woven on my 8 inch Mirrix tapestry loom, which I also took along on holidays, as it’s a fabulous little traveling loom.

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

Tagged as double hole Swedish rigid heddle loom, hand weaving, hand woven, Mirrix loom, narrow band weaving, Noreen Crone-Findlay, Norwegian cradle loom, Rebecca Mezoff, tapestry, tapestry weaving, textiles, weaving, Woven Women tapestry by Noreen Crone-Findlay

July 13, 2014 · 10:13 am

Woven Women- Edith’s Song

I’ve just finished weaving a new piece that I have called: ‘Edith’s Song: No Regrets’:

For the last 3 weeks, I have been weaving away, loving working on a sampler for Part One of Rebecca Mezoff’s online tapestry weaving workshop. LINK to her course outlines. (Love the course, highly recommend it!)

While I was weaving it, I got inspired to weave the last section in 3 panels- one for the torso, and 2 for the arms.

I shaped the upper edge in a semi circle to be the neckline of her bodice, and left empty triangles at the elbows so I could shape bent arms.

I pulled the warp strands to bend the arms and to shape her torso.

I chose to leave the slits unstitched in the lower panel so I could weave in narrow bands that I had previously woven on my double hole rigid heddle loom.

I also used the narrow bands as the hem and other embellishments.

I cut the head, hands and feet from 1/4 inch plywood.

The wings were a serendipitous thrift shop find.

The beads around her face are a peyote stitch tube that I made a couple of years ago and have been waiting for the perfect project.

Woven on my 16 inch Mirrix loom, using Paternayan tapestry yarn that I inherited from my mother and handspun from my daughter in law.

She makes me feel happy. 🙂

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

Tagged as hand weaving, hand woven, Mirrix loom, Noreen Crone-Findlay, Rebecca Mezoff, Rebecca Mezoff online tapestry workshop, tapestry, Woven Women tapestry by Noreen Crone-Findlay

June 2, 2014 · 4:27 pm

Tapestry Diary May 2014

I have committed to a year long project on Ravelry- weaving a tapestry diary.

I didn’t quite finish my May tapestry diary piece in May…. I just finished it today.

I have been bothered and irritated by one of the eyes and just wasn’t happy, so had to do some serious unweaving and unpicking.

I am still not quite there with it, but it’s going to be on the loom until I weave the next diary piece (I warped enough to weave several small diary entries) so, I can puzzle over it more, or simply accept it as is.

It’s called: Woven Women- Spiral Eyes.

Here it is in progress:

And here it is in it’s ~almost finished~ state (of course, it will have to be ‘really finished’ later when it comes off the loom, but that won’t be happening right away)

It’s about how we spiral inward when we are faced with difficult events in our lives-

May was very challenging for us, with the death of one of dear old dogs, the destruction of my website by hackers, then, learning that the gallery that was supposed to be hosting the solo show of my tapestries and other woven works has been botched by the builders, so the gallery can’t open this year- so my show is cancelled.

Then, we learned that a long, long time friend is very ill.

Rough, rough month…. and in the news, the school girls in Nigeria still not being released, as well as troubles all over the planet…. oh my….

And, the thing that I take away from my personal journey and looking at what others are facing,

is that we simply have to come from a place of compassion….

which is what the spirals represent to me-

spiral in, spiral out.

The eyes, of course, are about seeing….

the blue around her face represents tears,

the green in the spirals is all about hope.

So… that’s what’s woven into a very tiny tapestry. (It’s 3 inches by 5 inches)
I will be framing it in one of my painted plaster frames when it comes off the loom.

On a very happy note, I was thrilled today to receive the most gorgeous package of yarn from LeiLaniSue of Heavenly Fibers LINK

Thank you, thank you, LeiLani!

So very beautiful!!!!!!! and soooooooooooooo appreciated!!!!!

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

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

March 9, 2013 · 12:32 pm

Woven Women – Uncertainty

When faced with challenges, one of the ways I work my way through them is to weave.

This tapestry is the result of dealing with a huge challenge- how to cope with difficult news about the health of my beloved daughter.

This piece is called: ‘Woven Women- Uncertainty’, and she has a little poem….

She’s a mixed media piece, woven in soumak, with inkle bands and spool knitted cords.

I spool knitted wire to encapsulate sea glass, seashell fragments and pottery shards.

Her hands are shaped from wire, and they clasp a purpleheart wooden heart.

She’s approximately 20 inches tall by 11 inches at the base.

And, here is her poem:

Uncertainty

is the trembling bridge

crossing from

Here

What if?

Courage

is the

breath

that tears

the quivering shadows

from the heart.

Image and poem copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay

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

Tagged as abstract images of women, emotion, healing, sea glass, soumak weaving, spool knitted cord, spool knitted wire, tapestries, Woven Women tapestry by Noreen Crone-Findlay

March 1, 2013 · 4:27 pm

Woven Women- Sun setting, Moon rising

This week’s Woven Women tapestry has a long title:

Sun setting

Moon rising

Small wave at ocean’s edge

touches Her foot…..

Woven 2012-2013

7 inches wide by 14 inches tall

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

Tagged as Goddess image, Goddess tapestry, hand weaving, hand woven, tapestries, Woven Women tapestry by Noreen Crone-Findlay

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