The hardest part....

Beginning is always the hardest part of a new project. Beginning says that I am committing to continue with it until the end.

One of the hardest tasks about beginning for me is choosing the colors. It is easier when I paint. I can mix pretty much any color I want with the handful of paints I have in my stash. Not so with yarn. I don't dye my own yarns unless I am really desperate for a certain shade, tint, or hue. And it seems that the more subtle the colors of the image I'll be weaving, the more difficult it is to find the right yarns. Booker is trying to help. Booker must be involved with everything I do, whether I like his help or not. If he's not 'helping' me, I have learned to be suspicious - like this morning when he disappeared for a few minutes, and I found him in the kitchen, finishing off half of a small loaf of chocolate zucchini bread. That was supposed to go with my afternoon cup of tea, too!


So I have begun. I have woven the hem, and have begun on the tapestry itself, though I've not done enough to have reached a rhythm with it. It still feels awkward, like I'm not sure what I'm doing. The rhythm should come after I've woven a half-inch or so. On with it, then.... Ready, Booker? And wipe those chocolate crumbs from your face!

Get ready; get set....

I have been warping the Mirrix this morning, getting ready to weave. (Ah! I like the sound of that!) There was some discussion recently on the tapestry list about setting up small looms, so I thought I'd post a bit about how I set mine up it, in case it might be helpful.

One 'helpful hint' I can give is to put a piece of black paper between the front and back warps, so you just see the front warp threads when picking them up to put in the string 'heddles'. (I could tell you that Booker is pointing to the paper in the above photo, to be helpful, but he is actually saying to me, "PLEASE let me see if copper pipes taste good! And let me see how quickly I could turn all that into a billion small pieces for you to pick up.")

What the list discussion was about was how to weave comfortably with a small loom. I posted that I use a cheap painter's travel easel to put my loom on. You can see it above. The loom fits between the top and bottom adjustable canvas supports. That isn't really enough to keep the loom securely on the easel, so I also use a short-ish bungee cord, hooked on the side bars of the loom and going under the legs of the easel. That holds it all together nicely.


You can see in this photo that I can now have the loom at any slant I like, out over my lap as I weave. I can also adjust the height of the easel, so it really can be 'custom fit' to make the weaving comfortable for ME.


I warped the loom in my sitting room. It is upstairs, and is without a doubt the warmest place in the house. I may stay in there to weave, too! Across the room, many ancestors and family members watched as I worked. I think perhaps they would enjoy my company if I stay here to work. Gussy has also claimed this room as his domain until the spring thaw, but he will just have to share.

Milo's Duck

Today I sketched in my daily sketchbook part of what I will be weaving for the small format exhibit. I will call it "Milo's Duck." It is of a duck that followed my grandson around at a lake last summer on a trip he and his sister and I took to the mountains on the train. It was a special day, so I am excited to weave a memory of it.

I sketched it this morning so I could think more about what it is about the image that makes me want to weave it. I love the texture in the duck's head and the patterning in the feathers. I also love the designs the water makes with value differences. I have been wanting to weave the challenge of water for some time, so this small piece will make a good sampler for that! The color will be very subtle. In fact, the colors are much the same ones that I have been weaving in the almost monochromatic winter pieces; grey blues, with hints of brown and very subtle touches of orange. If I succeed, the color could be lovely.

The maquette I'll be weaving from is not the sketch, but is a photo. Here is the cartoon that will be stitched to the weaving in progress, and that I will be weaving from:

A matter of size....

As I trundle around the house in my baggy sweats (which I only wear when I'm sick) and my ever constant tissues, I have been trying to decide on what to weave for the ATA unjuried small tapestry exhibit. I have been spending time back and forth between bed and computer. I have finally made my choice! The 'winning design' is not one of the ones shown here. It was chosen mostly because of scale - it will fit best within the 10x10 inch size limit.


The two images shown were both ones I considered. They both are great for the theme, "Enchanted Pathways." And I think they will both make great tapestries at some point in time. But neither really will work well at such a small scale.

You'll have to wait and see what my choice is. I hope to begin warping the Mirrix soon. Wonder if I can do that in bed? It might be a good way of avoiding Booker's 'help,' at any rate!

But then again, perhaps I shouldn't make decisions and do tasks, large or small, when my head is full of swine ....

Sketchy thoughts...

I did not actually think I could feel worse than I felt yesterday, but I was wrong. I am trying to do more than just lie around, though, so am doing little things. I printed out the entry form for the Enchanted Pathways exhibit, and filled all out except title and size of the piece, as it is not only not yet woven, but not yet conceived! Must get to that soon, I guess.

I'm posting this little sketch I did of my grand-daughter watching Sesame Street the other day. I am keeping the sketches in the new sketchbook intentionally simple. I like this one because, though it is very simply executed, I did capture her pose, so could use that for a painting or tapestry later on. I didn't have time to get the camera, so am pretty proud of my attempt to catch her relaxed concentration quickly, before she moved. (I added the color and the SS logo in PhotoShop.)

I am going to look over my images from Maine to see if I can get inspired for something for the small tapestry exhibit. I hate to send it in 'Untitled'!

It's hard to be creative...

...with a tissue in your hand! And an achy body, a fever, and a cough that just won't QUIT, already!! It seems that I often begin a new year with high hopes, and a cold that brings me back down to earth.

I have sketched in my new sketchbook daily, so far. But the sketches are, well - 'sketchy', at best. Soon, I hope to do something worthy of sharing, but I am at least not sharing my cold with you!

Keeping warm, and drinking a lot.... I'll post more when the cough syrup buzz wears off!

A new start...

... a blank page, a New Year.

Next to Thanksgiving, I think my favorite celebration is the New Year. It is wonderful to me to be able to 'begin again.' I am starting a new sketchbook; the large Moleskin. My plan, goal, resolution is to sketch something in it as often as I can (hopefully, daily.) And I plan to sketch things that I love. A sort of 'gratitude sketchbook.'

It may be a challenge to begin it today, as I still have my four grandchildren here, with all of their parents and my parents, as well. Twelve of us in all. We have been having a wonderful, wild time over the holidays. We ended up the year last night with 'game night.' Jenga and a made up game with Play Doh for the small set, and Chicken Foot and Apples to Apples for the adults. If you've never played Jenga with two three-year-olds, a barely four-year-old and a six-year-old, you should open your lives to that experience. It is a loud and fun one!

I look forward to my new year. I look forward to filling the blank pages of my crisp new sketchbook. I look forward to warping my looms and filling them with colorful weft. Looking forward is what this day is all about, and I am hoping for the best future possible for all of those I love.

Happy New Year, and may joyful, hopeful creations come from us all in this year. If we fill our little parts of the world with Joy and Hope, surely if will make a difference in the world as a whole.

That is my hope for the New Year, at any rate.