Working Alone Together

With the new normal imposed by Covid-19 our monthly meetings have been suspended indefinitely. However this does not mean we have been idle. We still communicate with each other. Here are photos of projects from Natalie, Sandy, Sharolene, and Frank.

Here is Natalie’s no-pattern knit cardigan and the beginning of her basket being made from fabric and yarn.

no-pattern knit cardiganbasket making in progress with yarn and fabric

 

 

 

 

 


Sandy, our tapestry aficionado, finished her stunning tapestry of a burro. Those of us who have been learning tapestry techniques from Sandy are left speechless.

Sandy's tapestry burro


Sharolene has added three tops and a hat to her wardrobe and has some new yarn to experiment with.


Frank has stunned us by learning to do Irish needle lace and making this memorial piece for his neighbor’s cat out of hand-spindle spun cat fur. It measures 4.5 x 4.5 inches.

Handspun needle lace

Hand spindle and cat fur

Who knows what the rest of us may be working on! We are eager to get together again to share our love of fiber.


By early October our prolific tapestry weaver, Sandy, finished her tapestry called My Father’s Ghost and is already hatching ideas for her next tapestry.

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Frank has caught the tapestry bug fish too. Here is his Fish in a Tin.

Our Tapestry Samplers

We are continuing the tapestry project we started last January. Every month we learn a little more. This month some of us finished our samples and are looking forward to designing our own tapestries now that we know some of the tricks to making shapes, dyeing our yarn with natural dyes, and starting and finishing our piece. Here is a glimpse of this ongoing project.

members of Fiber Artisans working on their tapestry looms
Members of Fiber Artisans working on their tapestry looms

 

New Year, New Project

This month everyone came prepared to launch a new tapestry project. Sandy has been doing tapestries for some years and has studied with some of the best instructors. She was prepared to get us all started. This included building our own copper looms from parts she had assembled into a kit for each of us–which even included a handmade carrying pouch that could accommodate the loom and necessary tools.

When the loom is assembled it can stand upright and has adjustments on the side bars to tighten or loosen the warp.We spent the first hour assembling our looms.Next came the warping instructions. Sandy had pre-cut enough 12/8 warp strands to make a three inch warp width. We half-hitched each doubled strand to the top beam of the loom and tied the strands together with a square knot around the bottom beam (as opposed to using a single strand that wrapped back and forth around both beams) .And finally it was time to weave. We established a base and wove a few rows. Next month we will start exploring shapes.

 

November 18, 2018 – From ikat to tapestry

Fiber Artisans met to finish their ikat projects and prepare for next year’s tapestry project. As they sampled the wonderful variety of homemade cookies Phyllis brought,

Sandy, Frank, Phyllis, Sharolene, Christine and her sister, Ann and Anne presented their insights, ideas, and questions about their ikat projects. Frank then showed the dazzling, jaw-dropping collection of indigo-dyed ikat pieces he has collected over the years.

Phyllis also brought a sample of her handspun natural colored cotton fabric.

fabric woven from natural colored cotton

We then talked about the future tapestry weaving project. In addition to constructing our looms from copper tubing, we will need the following equipment that Sandy showed us.
This includes (from top to bottom) beaters, scissors, a mirror (to see the reverse side), clips, a ruler, bobbins, a basket to hold our stuff, and a bag to keep it in.

We will meet again in January to get started.