Pretending to be calm

And when pretending isn't enough--

Twenty Tiny House Series:Willow Wand #1; hand woven tapestry; willow wand warp; willow bark, hand spun paper, indigo, natural pigments 3" x 2.5"; frame: cardboard box, used coffee filters, flour paste

there is always tapestry.

Willow-wand warp anyone?
It's weirdly compelling
(doesn't even require a loom).

And though Rebecca doesn't cover
these materials in her wonderful new book
The Art of Tapestry Weaving,
(officially launching today!)
she does provide instruction
on all  of the techniques I used.
(well, not the clamp and scrap wood support part,
but maybe I"ll talk about that
​some other day on this blog).

Twenty Tiny House Series:Willow Wand #1 (detail); hand woven tapestry; willow wand warp; willow bark, hand spun paper, indigo, natural pigments 3" x 2.5"; frame: cardboard box, used coffee filters, flour paste

Today --

Magic Medium --formerly white, now pinky red thanks to cochineal and madder

well today--

​all I knew for sure--

Cochineal dyebath

is that
color is marvelous--

weld + indigo

​and nature is generous--

magic medium with madder and cochineal; somewhat slanted with cochineal

(​when we let her do
the things she does so well)--

and that however things unfold--

self portrait with laundry and suspenders

---

I'm grateful
that my pants won't
​fall down.

Backstrap Blankets; backstrap strips sewn together; hand spun wool; walnut; indigo;

Also,
​ perhaps even more important
than the coverage of my derriere--

I'm so glad
that as we move through this time
and into a future
in which simple tools
are essential--

and the boxes we need most
are not even close to square
(thank goodness)--

Twenty Tiny House Series: Willow Wand #1; hand woven tapestry; willow wand warp; willow bark, hand spun paper, indigo, natural pigments 3" x 2.5"; frame: cardboard box, used coffee filters, flour paste

that we go forward
​together.