You take the high warp, I'll take the low warp . . .

If you're a weaver, you know that one sure-fire way to start a spirited discussion is to ask whether warping from the front of the loom or the back is better.  Everyone has a definite opinion on this question, and the truth is that both methods are good, depending on circumstances (type of yarn, type of loom, type of weave structure) and what you're used to.

I'm wondering lately if the same is true for tapestry weavers regarding whether weaving on a vertical loom (high warp) or a horizontal (low warp) loom is better.   The end results are exactly the same: you can't tell by looking at a finished tapestry what type of loom it was woven on.  There are long traditions of excellent work done on each type of loom.

LeClerc Mira, my first love  loom

Lately I've been weaving on both types of loom and learning first-hand about the differences.  I acquired my first loom, a counterbalance 4-shaft LeClerc Mira, in 2008, specifically because I wanted to learn to weave tapestry and I was assured I could do tapestry on this loom.  But I knew nothing about weaving at all, and to learn I took classes from the good folks at the Chattahoochee Handweavers Guild in Atlanta.  I fell in love with weaving cloth, making scarves and shawls and baby blankets and for years that was the weaving I focused on using the Mira.

But meanwhile I searched for a way to learn tapestry.  To my great good fortune, Tommye Scanlin and Pat Williams, two world-class artist-weavers who live right here in Atlanta/north Georgia, offered a weekend workshop.  Finally I learned what I needed to get started.  I learned on a small copper-pipe loom and eventually upgraded to a Mirrix and then a big Varpapuu rug loom--all of which are vertical looms.  Until now that has been the only way I've woven tapestry.

Varpapuu upright loom

I like being able to see what I'm making right in front of me on a vertical loom, much as a painter does at the easel.  Beating in the wefts with the bobbin or fork is easy because you are working with gravity, packing down.  It's fairly simple to attach a cartoon behind the warp to follow as you build your shapes and design.  And while you don't have to use bobbins to hold your wefts with a vertical loom, I think it helps.  And they are such lovely tools, especially the ones made by Milissa Dewey at Bobbin Boy and John and Joy Moss.

M3 (working title) in progress, (c) Molly Elkind 2017.
Faces are distorted as they wind around the beam. 

I am just now weaving my first tapestry on my horizontal floor loom.  My first loom.  That I bought so I could weave tapestry.  And I'm shocked to discover how much I'm liking it.  For one thing, I use different muscles.  Working at the vertical loom stresses my shoulders a good bit, even if I try not to raise my arms too high.  It feels more natural to me to let my arms work more at lap level.  It also seems easier to sew slits on the floor loom.  And if you build the tapestry line by line, pick by pick, evenly across the width of the design, you can use the beater to pack the weft.  I started working that way on this current project, but eventually my preference for building shapes independently took over, so I'm using a lovely Snipes wooden fork to beat.

Mater Dolorosa in progress, (c) Molly Elkind 2017

And sometimes I use this heavy-duty chocolate splitter my friend Terri got for me years ago.  Since there's no way to attach a cartoon to a floor loom, if you want to use the beater at all, you have to transfer the design to the warp by inking it on the individual warp strands.  I thought it would be a huge hassle to have to ink the warp, but I'm finding I don't mind that too much.  It's kind of nice not to have that rattly paper in the way.  And I find it easier and faster to make butterflies for my wefts rather than winding bobbins, though I have been experimenting with that.

Mater Dolorosa in progress, (c) Molly Elkind 2017

No doubt you more experienced tapestry artists out there have additional thoughts (and probably corrections) to offer.  Tell me, which kind of tapestry loom do you prefer, and why?  Or do you use both?

What's looming?

How did it get to be the middle of February already?  I think it's time for a work-in-progress update.

This year's tapestry diary is taking shape.  I'm weaving a 5" x 7" piece for each month, inspired by things I see on my morning walk.  In January I wove irregular bits every day, responding to something I noticed in the landscape or the sky.  Here's January's piece completed and turned to its correct orientation.  Not too bad for weaving without a cartoon or much of a plan.  I like how the gray stripes and dotted lines sort of look like streets I walk on. . . .

This month I'm choosing one color from the morning sky and weaving a rectangle-ish shape,   I finishing with half-passes in red that indicate the date.

For a multi-colored sky like this I choose one hue to weave that day

This one will also be turned sideways. . .maybe it will look more interesting that way!

I'm also moving along on my two bigger tapestries underway.  On Mother/Mary/Me I'm about halfway done:

I'm excited to have Mom's eyes just about completed, though I'm going to tweak the one on our right one more time.  For the record, that would be the fourth try on that eye and the second on the other one.  About the standard number of iterations for me!  I wish progress would come faster on this piece, but I have to admit that I'm distracted by this other, newer one, on the floor loom.

I'm weaving this one from the side so the left-hand edge in the photo is actually the bottom of the tapestry.  This is Mater Dolorosa, a dark, quiet piece mostly done in natural-colored Churro wools. Yesterday I was excited to start weaving Mary's dark blue cloak--you can see a tiny wedge of it on the far left.  This gorgeous indigo is also a New Mexican wool yarn.

You quilters out there have probably given up on ever seeing me complete the queen-size quilt I started about 18 months ago, that's inspired by Turkish ceramic tiles  . . . but the top is mostly done.  I threw it on the bed, over the current quilt, just to see if the size was in right neighborhood.  I have to applique some large shapes to the top edge, and piece the backing, and then it's off to the long-arm quilter.  That will be a great day!

I hope these mid-winter days are offering you a chance to explore new creative ventures too.

A day in the life

It's time for a WIP (work in progress) check-in.  This time I thought it might be fun to share with you "a day in the life" of this artist.  Yesterday, Tuesday 12/6, was somewhat atypical, in that I had no appointments, meetings or exercise classes on the calendar.  A blank slate!  And it was rainy--a perfect excuse to stay inside and work in the studio.

I kissed Sam goodbye at about 7 a.m. and headed downstairs.  I spent 45 minutes working on cleaning up the back of my tapestry diary.  I have tied off the warp ends in fringe on both ends, so it's stable at least.  Because I left so many open warps, it's not as simple as just trimming the weft tails on the back to about one inch.  I have to tack down those tails so they aren't visible from the front.  T-E-D-I-O-U-S!  Note to self:  no open warps on next year's diary!

The back.  The tails at the top are tacked down and clipped, and slits are sewn.

The same area, from the front

Then I wound the last of the skeins of dyed and natural Churro that I picked up at Tierra Wools in New Mexico last month.  I'm thinking of using these for the Mater Dolorosa tapestry that I have in the design stage.  Till now, I've chosen the yarn to fit the tapestry design.  This time. with this thick hairy singles, I'm going to have to adapt the design to the yarn.  That will be interesting.

possible palette for Mater Dolorosa

detail shot of collage in progress for Mater Dolorosa design.  Much work remains.

I fetched the PVC loom with the sample for my current, M3, tapestry in progress and decided there was enough warp on it to do some more sampling.  So I added a hem and wound butterflies from the yarns I want to try.

At 9:30 a.m. I headed to the office to work at the computer, fleshing out the classes I'm offering at SEFAA in the new year.  I'm really excited to share what I've learned about the value of a daily practice in  Discover Your Daily Practice, on January 15.  The following week, in response to requests from my design students last summer, we'll experience a non-threatening method of discussing and evaluating artwork, both others' and our own, in  Art Critique 101.  Three design workshops in Color, Contrast, and Collage will happen in February and March.  Click HERE for more information.  Registration will open in the next couple weeks--I'll let you know!

After lunch I wove for awhile on this piece, whose working title is M3 (for Mary/Mother/Me).  I like how it's going, but it is slow.

I wound the warp up to show the entire piece.  Soon it will begin to wind around the cloth beam! 

After the rain let up I walked Harry and then headed to the Y to swim laps.  For me nothing works so well to get out the kinks in my muscles . . . and my mind!

For me yesterday was pretty much a perfect day.  I am grateful.

Reconbobulation area

Something that made me smile in the Milwaukee airport last month was this sign, right after I emerged from the body-scanning machine in security.  Sorry the sign is hard to read; I was trying to take the photo with my old phone, unobtrusively, lest I bring down on myself the wrath of TSA.

Though obviously TSA in Milwaukee has a great sense of humor.  The official-looking sign says, Reconbobulation Area.  What a great word to describe the place for fetching your valuables from the x-ray conveyor belt, putting your shoes and belt and jewelry back on and so on. Reconbobulation.  

That's been what's going on in the studio since I returned from Convergence too.  Reconbobulation: remembering, Oh yeah, that's where I was with this tapestry/sketchbook/this other tapestry/scarf warp/new class ideas. . . .  Oh yeah.  Back to work.

Red This, (c) Molly Elkind

This is the third in a series of 4" x 6" pieces inspired by collages that include words or word fragments. Two pieces of matboard separate this just-finished one from the one I'm about to start. Two other pieces are wound around to the back of the loom.  If I get four small pieces from this warp I'll be thrilled.  It's going to be a close call--I may have to needle in the last few passes on this next piece. Note the warping bar perched on top of the Mirrix loom!

Here's the collage that inspired the next piece, and the yarns I'll use.  Though I may choose a brighter blue than the indigo ball resting on the white.  It'll be fun to try to weave that dictionary page in the background!  I'm thinking pick-and-pick.

On the floor loom I'm working on an infinity scarf in alpaca-silk and tencel, commissioned by my very patient sister-in-law:

  

And this is the piece on the big Varpa tapestry loom.  About 37" wide.

Tapestry, working title M3.  (c) Molly Elkind.  Another in my Mary series.

So far so good.  Really enjoying finally having this on the loom instead of on my design wall!

And the survey of works in progress wouldn't be complete without a peek at the diary:

Tapestry Diary of the liturgical year 

Every incidence of mass murder and terrorism this summer has been noted with brown leaves rather than green.  I acknowledged the anniversary of 9/11 on the far left with a hollowed-out brown outline.