Blog Archives

Of Light And Air

11/30/2016

Hand Woven Linen (details); 144" x 9" and 108" x 7" 2016

Sometimes I write and talk as though the things I am weaving now
are inherently different from the tapestries I have woven before.

Blue Day; Hand Woven Tapestry; 48" x 36" Wool; Natural Dye 2007

But the more weft I tuck into warp
the more I see the work as a continuum--
an endless series of questions
about time, texture,
and the feeling of the breeze through a window.

Hand Woven Wool; Hand Spun Suffolk X; 72" x 9" 2016

There are just so many ways to play with light,

The Last Few Pages; Hand Woven Tapestry; 18" x 24" Hand Spun Wool Warp and Weft; Natural Dye; 2003

so many ways that light plays with us.

Light/shadow/linen/ backstrap loom; 2016

Mary Magdalene and Maud; Hand Woven Tapestry; 22" x 32"; hand spun wool warp and weft; natural dye; 2003

Hand Woven Wool (Suffolk X); Hand Spun; natural dye; 72" x 9" 2016

And how might a particular piece of cloth really feel?
How might it flow?

Fresh Peppermint Tea; Hand Woven Tapestry; 36" x 24"' ;Hand Spun Wool arp and weft; 36" x 24" 2002

What does it mean to look through?

Work in Progress; Backstrap Loom; Hand Spun Wool; 2016

What does it mean
to be on this side, or that
of a piece of cloth, a window, an illusion?

"It"s Raining" said the Lady with the Alligator Purse (detail); hand woven tapestry book ; laminated fabric; 8" x 10" x 2"; wool, natural dye; cotton, hemp, linen twine; 2014

I'm not sure I will ever know.

Hand Woven Wool (Polypay); Hand spun singles (approx 4500 yards per pound set at 12 epi); 72" x 9" 2016

But that, as ever, is the point.

And anyway, it's all plain weave to me.

yellow on my mind

11/22/2016

Work in Progress; Hand spun (Cormo X) and Commercially spun (??) Wool; Natural and Synthetic dyes.

Detail: Swatch Blanket. 1985 - 2010. Hand Spun Wool; Natural Dyes; Detail is mostly CVM

Spindle Spun Cormo X; Weld

Detail: Swatch Blanket. 1985 - 2010. Hand Spun Wool; Natural Dyes; Detail is CVM

Detail: Swatch Blanket. 1985 - 2010. Hand Spun Wool; Natural Dyes; Alas, I don't remember the breed.

Spindle Spun Rambouillet X; Weld (alum/tarter)

Detail: Swatch Blanket. 1985 - 2010. Hand Spun Wool; Natural Dyes; Detail is mostly CVM

Yellow is hard to photograph,
but irresistible nonetheless.

Hand Spun (cormo X) and Commercially spun (??) Wool; natural and synthetic dyes.

fine strands

11/15/2016

23 g Hepty Spindle by Henry C. Edwards

A couple of days ago this wonderful blog post popped into my computer.
Anny's words about process were just what I needed to hear.

linen -- two odd bits plied-- 12 epi

I was particularly struck by the concept of Awen,
(above is a definition from Modern Druidry and here is a Wikipedia link ),
and the idea of opening:
opening to nature, to my materials, to other people's ideas,
to things I cannot control.

Suffolk X wool singles approx 4000 yards/lb; natural dye; 12 epi

My materials are helping.

In the midst of my own wild time of experimentation,
(not to mention the unsettled state of so many things),
my reciprocal relationship with the work itself becomes ever more important:
hands responding to how things look, feel and behave,
mind noticing (and hopefully not judging) my response.

Suffolk X wool batt peeling from a Patrick Green Drum Carder

This practice, when it works,
has opened paths into unexpected territory,
each step--even the prickly ones--
providing information and provoking thought.

Along the way, I'm regularly taken aback by my own prejudices --
about material
about process
about the world.

I'm also astonished by how the simplest things
can thrill me to tears.

So far, all I know
is that the deeper I go
the more I am compelled by
light
energy
connection
and delicate threads that insist on taking their own shape.