How long did it take you to do that?

A year.

 

 

Easy answer to a question I frequently get if showing my work when a tapestry diary is among them.  Tapestry weaving takes a bit of time no matter what size or complexity.  But when there’s a self-imposed limit to the time to do the weaving—as there is in the daily practice I call Tapestry Diary—it easy to say how long it took to do it.  A year to do the weaving and then sometimes many more months to finish it, working on it occasionally to tidy weft ends at the back and to do the mounting for it.

My first foray into doing a daily bit was in 2008.  I decided to commit myself to a month of time, taking an idea I’d had for awhile and making it a reality.  I wanted to begin with few plans and weave a small area of tapestry each day within a set time frame.  As I started the adventure, I made some “rules” for myself.  I didn’t want to have an image to weave but I did want to have some sort of direction.  One of my rules was that I’d dig through my bins of past wefts and use only from those yarns, not get anything from unused skeins.  Another thought was that I’d mark the date in some simple way by using the structure of tapestry technique as my means. 

I set up a loom with sufficient warp length to allow about an inch high each day.  I made the warp only 4” wide since I thought that surely I could weave an area of 4” x 1”  for thirty one days without a plan!

As simple as it sounded on May 1 of 2008, the month-long daily weaving was challenging. I had a trip scheduled and so the loom had to be with me if I wasn’t going to fail the project!  Thus, I wove a daily bit in a motel room and another couple of days were woven while on an overnight visit with friends. 

A challenge that I hadn’t anticipated (and should have) was that indicating each day’s date would become harder and harder as the days added up!  Since I’d made the rule of using a “weaverly” method for the date marking I couldn’t let myself resort to weaving digits—I felt I must use structural aspects of weft-faced weave in some way to accomplish it.  Pick and pick became my good friend—as did individual passes of contrasting colors.  Yes, it’s hard for others to see the date but I know it’s there.  I can count the marks indicating each day by the way I’ve done the weave.

The rest of 2008 passed and I didn’t do another a daily tapestry in that year.  I wanted to give myself a longer time for a daily tapestry commitment and so I decided to wait until the beginning of the new year.  A whole year!  Could I do it?  Would I do it? 

With 2009 approaching, I set up a tapestry loom with linen warp and length enough to weave throughout the year with ten days of varying heights across the 12” warp width. Why ten days across rather than seven days of a week?  I don’t remember why now—seemed to make sense at the time.

Again, as in the earlier month-long tapestry, I created rules to follow but had no particular plan other than continuing those simple guidelines of space allotted to each day and using scrap wefts only.   I wanted to again mark the date and since pick and pick had been so useful in the monthly venture I decided to use pick and pick throughout the piece.

I began 2009 and the tapestry diary with high hopes—got to the 6^th of January and FORGOT to weave the day.  Well, I’ll say in my defense that I was still teaching weaving at the university in 2009 and that happened to be the first day of class for the semester.  I’d spent the day in last minute preparations, met the students at the night class and was tired when I got home.  The next morning when I went to the studio to weave the day I realized I’d forgotten to get to the loom the day before!  After some choice words to myself about the lapse, I arrived at a solution.  I knew this wouldn’t be my only missed day of the year because I’d be out of town with teaching and other travels.  If I was truly going to think of this weaving as a diary of sorts I should figure out how to acknowledge those times.  My solution was that I’d weave a white “blank” for each day I was gone, putting those in place upon returning home.

The year of 2009 passed as slowly as any other year but I kept the faith with the piece.  By the end of the year I’d actually done it--stayed with the commitment to weave a discrete bit that recognized every day.  With the year-long tapestry diary unrolled from the loom, I could look back to see that I had many white days to show my trips, yet over-all the year was filled with color.  It was a happy record of a year in my life.

I've been posting about my tapestry diary adventures in my blog since 2008.  Here's a link to one.  If you're curious to read more about this obsession, use the search tool at the left side and type in tapestry diary.  It will take you to at least ten previous posts, some of those linked above and others after that.

I finished my tapestry diary for the year of 2015 yesterday, December 31.  You saw me holding it at the top of this post after cutting it off around noon.

Here's my new warp, tied on now and waiting for me to add the first of 2016.  What will I do this year?  Well, I have a few thoughts about it…

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ONE AND ALL! 

May your days be filled with daily makings of any and all kinds that 

cheer your souls and spirits.