2012 Tapestry Diary is nearing the end

It's hard to believe that there are only 21 days remaining in the year of 2012!  That means only twenty-one more days of daily entries into my tapestry diary are left to do, as well.

This year's diary contains date numbering (most done with soumak) and for the most part echoes the weather conditions and/or time of day when I've done the weaving.  Often there's another bit of something reminiscent of what I've seen on a morning walk or other small symbolic shape that will remind me of something about the day when I look at it later.  Other than width (about 12") it's going to be quite different than the other full year tapestry diaries, those for 2009 and 2010.

So... where I am today, a rainy and foggy day here in Georgia:

I'm weaving this on the Tissart loom that's here at my home studio.  

I'm using yarns from my stash here at home but much of the weft is from past tapestries... see the scraps here:

And when I'm working at home I have a good helper--although he often relaxes a bit if the job gets hard... as he's doing here:

OK!  Day's done here at the house, now to put on a coat, pick up an umbrella and walk over to my real work at the studio.

Feathers are flying--yes, bad pun!

My weaving time has been curtailed a bit over the past couple of weeks because of this and that, but I'm still attempting to put in at least an hour or so on one or the other of the two tapestries that are underway when I'm in town.  Both have feathers as image/subjects.

Here's the big one today.  I've just started the second feather and did some sampling to find a suitable color... I think these blends are working out OK... although it's sort of hard to tell in the photos.  The details are a bit too bright and the overall is a bit too dark.

I'm liking the soumak lines throughout the background--thanks again for the suggestion, Kathe!

Here's where the smaller one is today.  I haven't worked on it since last week:

For afternoon break I had a lovely assortment of brand new publications to flip through... three of them came yesterday, in fact!  The other one arrived a couple of weeks ago:

On top is Tapestry Weavers, newsletter of the British Tapestry Group.  Below is VAV Scandinavian Weaving Magazine (English edition).  Next is Shuttle Spindle & Dyepot, publication of Handweavers Guild of America, and last but not least is The Journal for Weavers, Spinners and Dyers that's produced quarterly by the Journal Committee of the Association of Guilds of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers, UK.

I have an article in this issue of Tapestry Weavers, in fact.  It's about my tapestry diary process and is titled "Threads of Time--One Day at a Time" (although there's a typo in the printed title in the magazine... says "Threads if Time..."-- guess that works, too?!)  I was very happy to have been asked to submit an article and I've been wanting to have something in publication about my tapestry diary practice for quite awhile.  Of course, I write about the tapestry diary in my blog and occasionally post about progress on Facebook.  But having a statement about it in a print medium makes it seem more real, in some way.  In the article I mentioned several others who are also doing tapestry diary work, with links to their blogs.

About the tapestry diary.  As 2012 draws to a close so will my fourth year with this daily tapestry weaving practice.  I still find it challenging and so I'll be making the warp soon to begin the fifth year on January 1, 2013.  In that way I'll be preparing once more for commitment, discipline, persistence, patience, tedium, anxiety... all those qualities and more are wrapped up in this daily tapestry weaving habit that will be done, bit by bit, one day at a time.

NOW... about hints for weekend plans for anybody near Athens, Georgia, USA!  The Indie South Fair is taking place on December 8, 11 a.m.-6 p.m., 670 W. Broad Street, Athens.  My niece, Megan Smith, will be in booth 10 with her work... stop by and check out her creations.  Here are a couple of the one-of-a-kind stuffed critters she does using mostly repurposed/recycled fabrics.  Recently, I gave her some of my handwoven bits and pieces, and some of the critters at the fair will be from those.  The ones in the photos here are other odds and ends she's found in her stash or at thrift stores:

This one's torso is from a partially stitched embroidery she found at a thrift store.

Sweater adapted here, complete with eyelashes and bows.

I think she may also have some of her drawings and gouache paintings at her booth.  Her two dimensional work is quite different than the whimsical stuffed creations.  Her drawings and paintings are realistic, figurative works, almost all asymmetrical in composition and unusual in viewpoint. One drawing, for instance, is adapted from a photo of a friend of hers, taken of the friend lying on an airstrip in India, with mountains in the background.  The figure is in extreme foreshortened view, angled diagonally across the page, and dominating the composition.  Megan is working hard to be successful as an artist in the fickle world of making things and finding a market for them.  I admire both her creativity and her spunk!  And I buy from her when I can... for instance, these two critters are mine!!

Lots of loose ends...

I've been away from my blog for awhile.  Several things were going on including a couple of teaching responsibilities in late October and early November.  Now that I'm home I've immersed myself into studio routine but I'll see how much I can catch up with this post.  Here goes.

I was happy to see Kathe Todd-Hooker in late October at the end of the class she taught for Chattahoochee Handweavers Guild in Atlanta.  Kathe and I had emailed back and forth earlier in the year to see if we could coordinate a visit for her here in north Georgia either before or after her workshop.  Turns out that a couple of days after her workshop were good so I picked her up on the last day.  I got there early so that I could see what was up with the students (and see some old friends among the group).  I was able to sit in on a last discussion as Kathe moved around the room to see what ideas were being generated by the participants for future tapestry cartoons and give them feedback.

Kathe stayed overnight with us in Dahlonega, and she and I spent some time in my studio.  She gave me very valuable comments about the large feather tapestry cartoon that I've been working on.  One of the suggestions she had was to consider using soumak for the linear work in the background; that hadn't occurred to me, in fact I was trying to decide whether any of the marks would even be included in the tapestry.  I've taken her suggestion to heart... the tapestry is well underway with soumak being used for marks throughout the background.  I'll show a couple of photos of that at the end of the post.  Thanks, Kathe!

The next day was full of adventures.  First, we stopped to visit with John and Joy Moss, the wonderful folks who make bobbins.  John turned a small bobbin while we were there.  What a treat that was to see.  Kathe took lots of photos and will be sharing more about John's process in the future, I'm sure.

Next, we drove on a few more miles to stop and chat with Pat Williams.  Pat and Kathe were talking about one of Pat's cartoons in the photo above.  Then we drove to the Episcopal church in Clarkesville to see the wonderful tapestry kneelers that Pat did a couple of years ago.  Kathe was quite taken with the imagery that Pat used in the pieces.  Read more about Kathe's Georgia visit at her last blog post.

Then we headed on up the road about twenty five more miles to Hambidge Center; I wanted Kathe to have a look at the place so that she will have an idea about the inspirational setting the Center provides to artists.  After Hambidge, we zipped back over the mountains and into North Carolina to stop by John C. Campbell Folk School.  We got there just around 5 p.m. and were able to get into the weaving studio--but we missed getting to say hello to Linda Weghorst who was teaching there that week.

On the way back to Dahlonega we drove by Track Rock Gap and stopped so Kathe could see the petroglyphs there.  Here's Kathe photographing one of the plaques that give information about the carvings in the stones.  

Very full day!  Kathe stayed overnight with us again, then we got up quite early to drive to the Northsprings MARTA station for the hour ride into the Atlanta airport.  I rode along to help Kathe corral her three suitcases and we had more tapestry-talk time.  What a treat to have her visit!

About the teaching experiences... both were amazing.  The first class was one that I co-taught with Pat Williams at Sutherland Handweaving Studio in Asheville.  It was called "Weave It Your Way" and our focus was on designing for tapestry.  There were five students (although one had to leave after the first day, trying her best to get back to MA before Sandy) and everyone worked hard, shared ideas and information, and (I hope) went away with new tools to use when designing tapestry.  Here's a slide show from the Asheville class:

The second class was one I taught in Norris, TN at the Appalachian Arts Crafts Center.  There were also five in that class and it was beginning level tapestry.  We worked on 6" wide, 6 epi warp with 3" used for sampling and the other 3" for a small tapestry they designed.  Everyone got both sampling and small piece done in the three days of the class.  PHEW!  Quite a task, made somewhat easier by the apples and chocolates my husband sent along for the class.  The slide show below is from the Norris class.

Then, finally... what's happening in the studio now.  I'm continuing to work on the smaller feather tapestry I included in the last post but most of my work for the past week has been getting the large piece underway.  Kathe's suggestions of using soumak for the marks in the background resonated with me as soon as she said it.

OK, that's pretty much it for now!  Back to weaving feathers.

Report from the Norris, Tennessee class

... from Maggie's blog:

http://asweetthread.blogspot.com/2012/11/day-three-of-tapestry-with-tommye.html

Maggie was one of the participants in the recent class I taught at the Appalachian Arts Crafts Center in Norris, Tennessee.  She posted about our adventures on the three days.

I'm hoping to get my own post about both the Asheville class Pat Williams & I taught recently as well as the Norris class, done soon.  Then there are photos from Kathe Todd-Hooker's visit to Georgia... and our trip to see John & Joy Moss (bobbin maker)... and Pat's studio... and ... more about all of that soon!

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Later today... although this newest tapestry is growing s-l-o-w-l-y because of all the other things going on, I did finish the first of the four feathers on this 24" wide piece.  Only three of the feathers are showing in the cartoon, by the way.  The fourth is hanging over the cartoon holder bar and is at the back.

The warp is 10/3 linen and sett at 7.5 epi.  Weft is 5 strands of 20/2 worsted wool from Norway (Kathe Todd-Hooker sells this through her business, Fine Fiber Press).  The linen warp is from Noel Thurner at Norsk Fjord Fiber.

The tiny circles on the piece are the magnets holding the cartoon in place behind the tapestry.  I'm also stitching in place.

I'm using soumak in places for details.