Rebecca Mezoff Blog — Rebecca Mezoff

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100 episodes of Change the Shed: a video romp through three years of tapestry weaving

100 episodes of Change the Shed: a video romp through three years of tapestry weaving

I started doing my live YouTube broadcast, Change the Shed, in March of 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic locked us all down. Almost three years later, I’m still doing it. A few things I learned/remembered as I looked back over all those episodes:

  • The things that will make me cry in front of unknown numbers of people are (1) racism and (2) wildfire.

  • You sometimes always learn technology under pressure.

  • My live videos got a lot clearer once the city installed fiber optic.

  • Green screen is a bad choice for a weaving program.

Weaving the holiday gnome

Weaving the holiday gnome

On Change the Shed on December 7 and 14, 2022, I wove a gnome. If you’d like to make your own version, grab a pencil, decide what size you want to weave it, and join me!

You can watch the Change the Shed episodes HERE and HERE. I talked some about why I designed it the way I did in that first video broadcast on December 7th.

A gnome is a mythical creature (they aren’t real, right?). As such, you can be as creative as you’d like in designing yours. Most gnomes I’ve seen have pointy hats and round, squatty bodies. It is easy to suggest a gnome while leaving out many physiological details such as hands, eyes, and other appendages. It is a great holiday project for tapestry weaving because you can make it pretty simple.

A new backpacking/travel loom!

A new backpacking/travel loom!

Like a dog alerting to the small of cooking sausage, I noticed a loom I hadn’t seen before on the table of one of my students while teaching at SOAR. It turns out it was made by one of my favorite small loom makers, Janet Fox of Handywomanshop.com, but I had never seen one in person.

My backpacking loom was made by Jim Hokett and it is the lightest loom I can find that will allow me to weave small tapestries at 12 epi when hiking. Of course for backpacking I need something that is not only very light, but also very small but sturdy so I don’t break it in my backpack. Since Jim retired in 2019 I’ve been looking for a replacement, worried about the day that I’d lose or break his loom dropping it somewhere in the backcountry. When I picked up Emma’s loom at SOAR, I knew I’d found what I was looking for.

Some time at home in New Mexico, weaving and walking

Some time at home in New Mexico, weaving and walking

After teaching a retreat in Taos a few weeks ago I was able to go home to Gallup for Thanksgiving. I love returning home to the brilliant sunshine and the mesas and red rocks of my western New Mexico home town. I did some walking on the desert, a little weaving on a project I can’t show you yet, and had fun relaxing with my family. Below are a few snapshots of my southwestern wander.