Sunday, April 8, 2007

The last posting showed the roots tapestry just cut from the loom. I haven't had time to go much farther with it than that since I taught last week at John Campbell Folk School. The class consisted of 12 students--it was billed as a beginning tapestry class. Although there were a few people there who'd woven tapestry before, all started at the same place.

I took copper pipe looms designed like Archie's, with a modification in size of the pipe to 1/2" (so I can carry a stack of them easier!) Five of the students wanted to make their own so they got their copper pipe, and other supplies at Lowes in Murphy on Mon. night and cut the pipes to size. Tues. night they used the epoxy to put them together, as Thomas had shown me how to do with the new ones we assembled before the class.

We worked at a set of 6 epi for a 4" wide piece (plus two extra for selvedge guide strings). The length available with the looms was up to 14-16" and almost all were woven to that length by Friday, end of class. I'll post some photos of works in progress from the class later when I have time to go through them.

The class was intense! And I realized that I finally understand the very basic techniques that I introduced and walked them through. I've been doing these things without verbalizing or describing through drawings but now I did both, in addition to demonstration, to help the students understand the concepts. I feel like I've passed some critical exam in my own tapestry development!

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