Tangled Wefts

Usually when I photograph my tapestries in progress, I get all the wefts out of the way so I can see the actual tapestry.

Here's the reality: this is what it looks like while I'm working on it.

As you can see I have MANY wefts, and in fact, something about the combination of using bobbins and the little shelf on this loom seems to encourage terrible tangling.

I made a lot of progress yesterday, but today, none at all, since I was driving to Cape Cod to see my Mom at the nursing home. We had fun looking at photos of her new great grand-daughter, Ruby, on Facebook.

I have finished the hardest parts of this tapestry and the rest should be relatively easy, so hopefully I can finish up in a few days.

Racing the Clock

Here I am, struggling to meet a deadline again. I really want to be able to enter this piece in a show with a November deadline, and it's not a large piece, about 12x12." So you would not think there's a problem. However, we're leaving on August 24 for a sabbatical in Europe, and won't be home again until December. So, I have about 2 weeks to finish it, but of course, there is a lot of other stuff to do to prepare for our trip. Leaving home for 3 1/2 months is complicated.

I have marked on my calendar every day when I think I could possibly get into the studio, and if I weave 1/2 inch each of those days, I'll make it. Although it's not large, it's finely woven, and fairly complex, so there is a certain amount of unweaving (to see the photo larger, just click on it). In fact yesterday, I ended up unweaving most of what I had woven.

This is the third in the Chaotic Fragments Series, and I posted about it here on June 9th.

Anyway, I thought if I wrote about it on the blog, it would give me even more incentive to finish, since if I don't, I'll have to confess to all of you!

Whew, I made it

I stayed up til 1.30 am to finish the postcard tapestry, and mailed it at 11 am on Monday morning. Fortunately I had the backing all ready to go. It's watercolor paper, with acrylic paint thinned down to look like watercolor, only permanent. Of course, once I had hemmed and ironed the tapestry, the backing was not an exact fit, and had to be trimmed a bit.

In an effort to avoid long lines, I tried the tiny post office in North Chatham, Massachusetts. It's just down the road from my Mom's nursing home. I hardly had to wait at all, and the postal worker was very helpful.

Imagine my surprise when I got an email on Wednesday, telling me it had already arrived in Arizona! I expected it to take at least 4 days. Kudos to the United States Postal Service!

The Weavers Dilemma

This particular dilemma is unique to weavers. I wove a 6"x4" postcard for "Wish You Were Here," the upcoming exhibit at Tohono Chul Park. It was almost finished when I came to Cape Cod on vacation so I tossed the loom in my car, and brought along everything I needed to weave the hem and do the finishing.

The dilemma is that I can't bear to waste all the remaining warp on the loom, and this is a glorified frame loom, so if I were to cut off the postcard, the rest of the warp would be useless. I hate wasting materials, and I hate wasting time (the time it took to put the warp on the loom). So I said to myself "I'll just weave another small tapestry before I cut off the postcard."

What with all the sisterly activities, and a visit from cousins last week, I didn't get around to starting the second tapestry until a few days ago, so I've been a bit stressed over whether I'd be able to finish it in time to send off the postcard. In addition, the cartoon for the second tapestry is ridiculously detailed, so I had to leave out a lot in order to weave it, even on this 12 ends per inch warp. I don't like weaving at 12 epi any more, it's just too small and picky for my middle aged eyes and hands.

I know I have a few days left before I have to mail the postcard, but I am going home tomorrow, which means a lot of cleaning and packing then a lot of unpacking and catching up on 2 weeks of mail etc. I'm afraid once I get home I just won't get it done.

So now it's 10.20 pm, and I am almost ready to cut off. I just have a little bit of hem left to do, and my back is aching, so I'm taking a short break. If I'm really energetic, perhaps I can hem the postcard and attach the backing, then mail it from Cape Cod tomorrow morning?

Tapestry Bloggers on ATA Website

The American Tapestry Alliance has a new educational article on the website. The title is "Blog Tech," and it's a series of essays by 6 tapestry bloggers, including yours truly, plus an introduction and resource list. It offers technical and inspirational insights into artists blogs, so check it out.