I made a video while weaving some of the tapestry I talked about in my last blog post. It shows me weaving for about 13 minutes on The Beckys. This is a tapestry diary piece about personalities and perception. This version of the video starts with me talking for a moment in my campsite and then the rest of the video is me weaving. I’ve added music in case you get bored, but feel free to turn the volume off after I stop talking if my music choices are not yours.
I made a second version of this video with real-time commentary about what I was doing and why for the Weaving Tapestry on Little Looms online course. If you’re in that course, you can find that version of the video in the Answer Vault section of the class. It describes how and why I am making the choices I’m making while weaving. If you haven’t taken it yet, now is a great time to do it.
I was surprised to learn while talking to a couple of my very experienced colleagues that they had no idea what I was talking about as I casually mentioned a technique I use almost every day. I thought it was a common practice but now that I think about it, I can’t recall a specific instance of seeing it in a tapestry techniques book.* My teacher, James Koehler, used it all the time in his work and I easily adopted it. I talk about this “split weft” technique in my online class Warp and Weft: Learning the Structure of Tapestry Weaving and in that commentary version of the video above (which you’ll find in the Weaving Tapestry on Little Looms online class).
I hope you enjoyed seeing the way I weave these small pieces. It is slow, but that is part of the point. I make these tapestry diary pieces when traveling or chatting with friends. They are reflective and very much influenced by what is happening around me at the moment. I find this to be a great addition to my more planned out larger format works. And I also hope that seeing me weave these small casual pieces gives all of you confidence to pick up a small loom and try tapestry weaving!
*Never fear, my tapestry techniques book, out in October 2020 from Storey Publishing, covers it.