My tapestry diary for 2013 -- it grows daily

I have a simpler approach to this year's tapestry diary.  I am still weaving a distinct bit daily but this year I've decided to make each day a square of color that is color only--as in January, or has some quite simple variation--as the pick and pick used for February.  The wefts, as mentioned in an earlier post, are all from a stash of dyed yarn samples from years back.  Time to get them out of storage and into use, I thought.

The tapestry diary is something that I have on a loom at my home and I commit a few minutes each day to it before I go to the studio to do my "real" tapestry work.  Bit by bit, day by day, week by week, month by month these tapestry diaries are growing into larger works.  Fifth year of the process is now two months under way.

Oh... the strip of "blanks" in the row that's second from the bottom and the square at the right side in the row below... that is an area of linen woven in to represent the number of days that I was away from home.  The teaching, workshop, and other travel times I'll be spending throughout the year will be filled into the diary in that way.

A Blue Jay's feather is done

Three days to weave the Blue Jay's feather.  Now, on to the next ones.  Three of those underway will continue on for awhile.  The last of the eight feathers will be coming soon now that the Blue Jay is done.

One thing I'm discovering is that this piece is very hard to photograph.  I have some quite light areas (the white feather and now the tip of the Blue Jay's feather) and some dark and medium dark areas.  My camera is being fooled by the light.  It will be interesting to see if I can get a good photograph of it at all once it's finished.

Steps forward, several steps back, steps forward again...

"Whatever ye weave, so shall ye rip."

That quotation was stitched onto a piece of handwoven fabric with raveled ends that I saw many years ago in the weaving room at John C. Campbell Folk School.  I often tell students about that in my classes, especially when someone is needing to take something out.  And I occasionally say it to myself.  Yesterday was one of those "rip it out" days for me.

Here's the reason:

What's wrong with this picture?  Well, the weft bundles aren't the same, are they.  The two blues I'm using for the sky are Vevgarn, a yarn that's slightly larger than the light gray that's being combined with them.  That's what's on the bobbin at the upper right.  The ends that are at the lower right have two blues, both the right color but one of the larger Vevarn and the other of the smaller 20/2 wool.  And the lighter color is white, or rather, the natural, a sort of cream color.

Somehow in my rapt attention to my book on CD I'd wound a bobbin full of the bottom yarns and was happily weaving away--for several inches before I noticed what was happening.  Here's how wide and how high that area was.  The empty warps above and beside the ruler were what had been filled with the offending weft bundle.  Of course, there were other wefts involved and those had to be taken out, bit by bit, to release the bad weft:

Grrrr!!!  I ended yesterday by unweaving the mistake but I just didn't have the heart to weave it back in correctly.

But I did today.  Here's where I'm leaving it tonight as I head home.  Started with a quote and so will end with one:  as my friend, Diane, says, "Any forward gear will do."  

  

Good news came yesterday

I had this juror notification card in the mail:

Notice the two checks in the Accept lines!  

Now... back to the feathers.

Day by day, pass by pass...

... until it's done.  That's how tapestries are made.

Feather progress today

The tapestry continues to grow.  I've been able to weave for quite a few hours this week, measured in the number of books on CD that I'm listening to as I weave.  I've got a lengthy one underway now... should keep me planted on the loom bench for many hours to come!

Here's the progress as I leave the studio this afternoon:

And with the beginning of the white feather I can say that I've reached the 1/2 way point and begun to move beyond--only 27" +/- inches to go!  Speeding along now... flying!

Another detail with more of the soumak in the background showing:

Happy Valentine's Day!

From my tapestry diary entry for today (with a little help from the shape cutter in Photoshop).

Getting my ducks in a row...

... or something.

Yesterday my husband and I drove into Atlanta to pick up a tapestry that had been included in The Art of Georgia exhibit that was hanging in the Governor's Offices at the State Capitol.  That was the last of the pieces that have been out and about since sometime last year.  I think it was the first time I've had so many pieces being exhibited at the same time.  I thought I'd have my own mini-exhibition of those pieces here.

Starting with a small tapestry that was included in the NW X SE exhibit that was shown in the Southeast at the Gaston County Museum of Art and History, Dallas, NC and also in the Northwest, at the Harbor History Museum, Gig Harbor, WA.  The exhibit was a joint one with Tapestry Artists of Puget Sound and Tapestry Weavers South.  My entry was called "The View from Here":

Next, is a piece that was in a Piedmont Craftsmen members exhibit titled "Inspired Globally: Created Locally"and was held at the Womble Carlyle Gallery, Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts, Winston-Salem, NC  This tapestry is "Quilt Fall" and is 24" w x 42" long.

Also this tapestry called "Once Upon a Time" was shown in the fall of 2012.   It was juried into the American Craft Today exhibit at the Bascom in Highlands, NC:

The tapestry below was in the Blue Ridge Fiber Show in at the North Carolina Arboretum in Asheville, NC during the fall and was selected for the American Tapestry Alliance Award of Excellence; its title is "Life Force" and it's 60"w x 24" h.

Seems I wove two achromatic tapestries during 2012--my husband asked me several times last year, "Why have you abandoned color?"  Here's the second one and it was in the Southern Highland Craft Guild members' exhibit called "Black & White 3"--  the title of the tapestry is "Gray Dawn" and it's about 43" x 43":

And the last one from these several exhibits is this one, called "Leaf Dance" and it's the one we picked up yesterday.  So... these particular tapestry ducks are in a row once more, either rolled and stored or covered and stacked.

Now... other ducks to get in a row are the assorted items I take to classes with me.  I'll be teaching a class at John C. Campbell Folk School from February 3-9 and I've spent the day getting things together, packed and in the car while dodging big, fat snow flakes.  My fingers are crossed that the snow will NOT create a problem for our class next week!  

Preparations for class starts with making a list and checking it more than twice:

Needles must be important since I noted them two times.

Let's see how much yarn I can cram in a suitcase.

And then let's see how jumbled the back of the car will be as I pack--
trying to keep it all dry as the snowflakes fall.

I'm sure all will be fine, the roads will be clear and the John Campbell Folk School classes will be lovely, as they always are.  I hope to be able to post about the class in the days to come.

Oh... one last photo... my feather tapestry as I leave it today.  I haven't woven any on it yet and since the snow's still falling, probably won't.  Got to get home.