Unfinished

What to do, what to do...

Summer has set in (ok, not really but I'm feeling that way) which means more time for thinking. This summer I'm thinking about the perennial question: What do you do with a Tiny T?

When I have taught the occasional one day or even half day workshop we naturally end up with a very small piece of cloth. The inevitable question is asked: What do I do with this?

I have my own pile of tiny t's...and my own ideas. Just when I think I have solved this problem I become dissatisfied. Suddenly metal sectional frames just don't seem to be the right answer. Don't these pieces need something more interesting?

These days I often paint canvas and labor over the just the right value and shade. Do these two materials really go together? A few weeks ago I was sorting through a box of rejects and used an old teacup for the cover of my sketchbook. Why not, it was officially in the reject box...

I EVEN zig-zag stitched it to my watercolor paper with the sewing machine! Imagine that....as  my friend Kathe Todd Hooker would say, "the tapestry police are not going to show up". It felt liberating.

But I still struggle and probably always will.

What to do with her.....

And then that self portrait .... I've mounted the t and changed my mind 3 times . It's still unmounted.

Looks as though I have plenty to think about this summer. Any ideas?

The H Project

I've written other posts that tell of my love of the woven word, so when I read a note from Christine Rivers last year announcing a challenge from Archie Brennan, I knew that was the way to start 2016. I even had my word picked out. Then I realized that was a problem.

Christine describes the challenge this way. "Archie set us a project to go on a tapestry journey.  To thread the loom at 8epi for 1 1/2”, 12 warp threads.  Weave an “H”, then a vowel and as you weave, decide what word you want to weave.  It can be a word or a phrase."

I scrapped my idea for the Spanish word 'hacer', used a loom already warped at 8epi and counted off 12 warps. I chose a dark purple yarn for the letters and added to the journey by restricting myself to yarn lengths from my sourdough starter  (warm colors only).

I've come to refer to my leftover ends as 'sourdough starter'...there's quite a collection.

After the 'ha' (guess I could have stopped there) I felt compelled to write 'have'. 

'Have' didn't feel as though it could stand alone, so another day the rest of the writing came to me. I always have more questions than answers these days.

entry for The H Project, a question that brings a lot to mind...

Archie Brennan opened my eyes to possibilities. I went back to my journals this morning and pulled out 1990, my first workshop with him and read through those old notes. At one point I wrote 'Weaving By Osmosis', his advice to plan and sketch beforehand if you must but then put the drawing on your chair and sit on it. 

First Face, Woven by Osmosis....thanks Archie!

I'm so glad I participated in the H Project. Many thanks to Christine Rivers for taking this project on and further working on an Educational Article planned for the ATA website later this year. 

Now we can  look at all the journeys taken by tapestry weavers.