Tag Archives: woven

March 24, 2017 · 3:30 pm

Tapestry Techniques- Part 2 woven on the Mollie Whuppie loom

I have posted a new video tutorial that is the second in a series of how to weave tapestry on the Mollie Whuppie and Vasilisa looms.

I designed the Mollie Whuppie and Vasilisa looms and Dewberry Ridge makes them. They’re wonderful!

This video shows how to
1- Start the weaving at the curved edge while weaving side to side.
2- How to fill the curved space that will form by using eccentric weaving (weaving that doesn’t go all the way from side to side).
3- How to weave dots of color.
4- How to use hatching to make a pattern- in this case, a circle shape in the middle of the weaving is made by alternating 2 colors of yarn.
5- How to finish the straight edge at the end of the weaving.

Here’s the video:

To see how to set up the Mollie Whuppie loom please go to my previous post, which will take you to the first video in this series: LINK

To buy the Mollie Whuppie and Vasilisa looms, please go to:
www.dewberryridge.com

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Filed under Dewberry Ridge looms, Loom & looms & small loom weaving, Mollie Whuppie and Vasilisa looms, tapestry, Three Sisters Looms, tutorial & how to, video tutorial, weaving & handwoven

Tagged as Dewberry Ridge Looms, hand weaving, handwoven, how to weave, Noreen Crone-Findlay, small loom weaving, tapestry, tapestry weaving, textiles, video tutorial, weave, weaves, weaving, weaving techniques, woven

February 20, 2017 · 9:32 pm

How to do a Bound Double Damascus Edge on Peg Loom Weaving

The Bound Double Damascus Edge works beautifully to finish Peg loom woven fabric:

It’s sturdy and secure.

Here’s a video about how to do the Double Damascus edge and then how to stitch over it for a Bound finish.

Octopus to weave on the Mollie Whuppie, Vasilisa & Thumbelina looms

Octopi are amazingly clever and rather charming creatures.

I’ve had so much fun designing a woven Octopus family to weave on the Three Sisters Looms that I designed and Gary and Donna McFarland of Dewberry Ridge looms is building and selling LINK.

The largest Octopus was woven on the Vasilisa loom: LINK

It’s about 13 1/2 inches tall.

The medium size Octopus was woven on the Mollie Whuppie Loom: LINK

And, the littlest Octopus was woven on the Thumbelina loom: LINK

All three are great for babies- as long as you don’t use beads or buttons, but embroider the eyes instead.

I just read a report that babies love holding onto the tentacles of toy cephalopods, because they find it comforting. Apparently, the tentacles feel like the umbilical cord, and most babies play with the umbilicus before they are born.

Fascinating!

The smallest octopus lives quite happily on a lapel or collar or pinned to a hat, scarf or bag when you stitch a pin to it’s back.

The loop on top of their heads is great for hanging them up on push pins or curtain rods for room decor.

The loop also is perfect to hang the octopus from the baby’s crib, cot or stroller.

The pattern, with step by step instructions is available in my etsy shop: LINK

Happy Octopus weaving! Enjoy those cephalopods!

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Filed under Dewberry Ridge looms, gifts & easy to make gifts & presents, Loom & looms & small loom weaving, Mollie Whuppie and Vasilisa looms, Thumbelina Loom, weaving & handwoven

Tagged as Dewberry Ridge Looms, hand weaving, hand woven, hand woven toys, handwoven, how to weave, Mollie Whuppie loom, Noreen Crone-Findlay, octopus, small loom weaving, Thumbelina Loom, Vasilisa loom, woven, woven octopus toys, woven toy

February 6, 2017 · 3:29 pm

Introducing the Mollie Whuppie and Vasilisa looms

The enchanting little Thumbelina loom now has 2 big sisters!

I have designed 2 gorgeous new little looms and Dewberry Ridge looms are building and selling them.

I am just thrilled with them!

The Three Sisters are: LINK

3-sisters-sizes-8-c

Tiny Thumbelina: LINK

And her sister: Mollie Whuppie: LINK

3-sisters-sizes-3-c 3-sisters-sizes-5-c

And, the biggest sister: Vasilisa: LINK

3-sisters-sizes-2-c

3-sisters-sizes-4-c

What can you weave on Mollie Whuppie and Vasilisa?

Well, everything that you can weave on Thumbelina, but on a larger scale.

I’ve written an instruction booklet that shows how to weave techinques so you can weave:

Tapestry pouches:

mollie-vasilisa-c-tapestry-pouch-1

Tapestry dolls:

mollie-vasilisa-c-doll-1

mollie-vasilisa-c-tapestry-matroushka-1

Freeform tapestry ‘Weavies’:

mollie-vasilisa-c-tapestry-freeform-1

Baskets:

mollie-vasilisa-c-basket-2

Statement necklaces:

mollie-vasilisa-c-tapestry-necklace-1

Prayer Flags:

Banners and bunting:

And, the Mollie Whuppie loom has a secret power!

She can mend socks!

You can’t make socks on the Mollie Whuppie loom, but the patches that you weave are totally perfect for fixing the worn out heels of precious hand knit socks.

mollie-vasilisa-c-sock-patch

Here’s a little video that explains the origins of Mollie Whuppie and Vasilisa’s names and shows the projects:

I love Mollie Whuppie and Vasilisa, and hope that you will, too!

I’ll be showing you more with them, in upcoming posts.

Happy Weaving!

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Tagged as Dewberry Ridge Looms, Dewberry Ridge Thumbelina loom, hand weaving, hand woven, handwoven, Mollie Whuppie loom, Noreen Crone-Findlay, small loom weaving, tapestry, tapestry weaving, Thumbelina Loom, Vasilisa loom, weave, weaves, woven

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!

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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.

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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

November 2, 2016 · 7:17 pm

6th Sense Woven Woman Art Doll- The Light of Courage

Here is my latest ‘6th Sense’ Woven Woman one of a kind art doll: The Light of Courage:

The 6th Sense is actually 3 senses rolled into one: Intuition, Inspiration and Imagination.

We all need our 6th Sense to be working well these days, which is why I am making one of a kind art dolls in honor of our Sixth Sense.

The pink wire star was made using the Star loom that I designed for Dewberry Ridge looms: Link

The copper wire behind the wire star on her forehead was woven on the potholder loom.

Her face and hands are wooden.

The star over her heart is copper wire that I crocheted:

Because tatting is so contemplative, I have added some tatted elements that I tatted, using tatting shuttles that I made for myself:

I wove the Dragonfly on the Dragonfly loom that I designed for Dewberry Ridge Looms: Link

The 6 pennies = 6 cents= a metaphor for The 6th Sense

I wove the fabric for her on 3 small looms: Inkle, 4 harness Structo, and potholder loom.

I made wooden butterfly wings for her back:

The butterfly wings and dragonfly on the front are symbolic of transformation.

She is 16 inches/42 cm tall by 7 1/2 inches/19 cm wide by 3 1/2 inches/9 cm thick at the base, tapering up to 1 1/2 inches /4 cm thick at the top.

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Tagged as 'The Light of Courage' art doll by Noreen Crone-Findlay, 6th Sense Woven art dolls by Noreen Crone-Findlay, art doll, hand weaving, hand woven, mixed media weaving, Noreen Crone-Findlay, one of a kind art doll, weave, weaves, woven, woven doll

September 29, 2015 · 7:17 pm

Introducing Star loom and Dragonfly loom

I am hopping up and down with delight!

For the last couple of years, I have been working on the designs for 2 new small looms: A Star and a Dragonfly.

I’ve done dozens and dozens of variations and iterations, and now, they are the Bee’s Knees. Poifeck.

I took my designs to Donna and Gary McFarland of Dewberry Ridge looms and asked if they were interested in making them as part of their ‘Lil Weavers’ series, and they said, ‘Yes, indeed’.

Gary is working magic with his CNC machine and I love how he is building them.

We’ve decided to not show the front, working part of the loom, because, to be perfectly honest, we’ve worked so incredibly hard on them that we don’t want to be ‘scooped’ on them. It’s happened in the past with other designs, so we’ve chosen to be more circumspect about these ones.

Instead, I’ll show you the back of the looms and the dragonflies and stars that you can weave with them.

You can use yarn OR wire to make the niftiest dragonflies and stars:

The stars and dragonflies are somewhat challenging to weave, so I have made really detailed step by step instructions with full photographs.

To order the looms, please send Donna an email: donna@dewberryridge.com

The looms aren’t quite up on Donna and Gary’s website, but when their internet issues are up to speed, the looms will be on:

http://www.dewberryridge.com/collections/lil-weaver-looms

I am thrilled… I hope that you’ll love them, too!

Every year for Christmas, I make our family and friends a new Christmas ornament.

This year, I’ll be weaving stars and dragonflies for them! 🙂

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Tagged as dragonflies, dragonfly, Dragonfly Lil Weaver Loom by Dewberry Ridge looms, Dragonfly loom designed by Noreen Crone-Findlay, hand weaving, hand woven, how to weave, looms, Noreen Crone-Findlay, small loom weaving, small looms, Star loom designed by Noreen Crone-Findlay, Star loom Lil Weaver by Dewberry Ridge Looms, textiles, weaving techniques, woven, woven dragonfly, woven star motif, Yarn Crafts

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.

🙂

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Filed under doll & dolls & dollmaking & doll making, Loom & looms & small loom weaving, weaving & handwoven, wooden dolls, woodwork

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

September 5, 2014 · 2:34 pm

Woven Women- And All Shall Be Well

One of my most favorite prayers is Dame Julian of Norwich’s …

“And All Shall Be Well, and All Shall Be Well, and All Manner of Things Shall Be Well….”

This prayer is a mantra that I repeat to myself through thick and thin, through the darkest nights and hardest moments- we all have them, and they are transformed into a wellspring of compassion, but, oh my, how incredibly challenging it can be at times to navigate them.

Thank you, Dame Julian, for these words to live by…..

I love weaving words, and have done many woven homages to Dame Julian.

But, this is the first time I have woven her prayer in tapestry-