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| This is Ringo |
The American Tapestry Alliance hosts an unjuried exhibition every two years, in conjunction with the Handweavers Convergence conference. It will be held in Wichita, Kansas this summer in a gallery that is mostly aimed at sight impaired visitors. So the challenge for the small tapestries is that they need to be highly textured, as visitors will be allowed to see them by touch.
So, I looked through my sketchbooks for something that would inspire me to weave textural, as well as visual interest. I decided this sketch of Ringo would be my maquette.
I bought a really fuzzy yarn, a skein of something I would normally NEVER consider weaving with, but that said ‘Ringo’ to me. It turned out to be SO fuzzy and textured, that nothing showed up, either visually or texturally, but fuzzy yarn. I knew I’d never get any details to show up, using this yarn.
So, I unwove it. Looking through my stash of knitting yarns, I found some less fuzzy, but still textured yarns. One was blue, one was tan, and one white. I decided I could try them.
When the tapestry was woven, I added whiskers, and the word CAT, in braille. This tapestry is about 7x9”. It turns out that I actually enjoyed being challenged to do some out of my comfort zone, with materials I wouldn’t normally use. I hope it will be enjoyed by all viewers in Kansas this summer!
