Though I may dream of winning an Olympic medal in women’s gymnastics — floor exercise! — I spent the first few days of Paris coverage weaving during the (endless) advertisements. I wove a transparent tapestry sample for my upcoming September workshop.
I wove the small sample for a few reasons. First, it is an example of Frida Hansen’s use of weaving some areas of fully-covered weft, surrounded by open warp threads. The sample came from a small section of Frida Hansen’s Sorte Roser [Black Roses] design,
In contrast, the flowers in her transparent tapestries are often woven with slight open warp between the petals.
The other experiment was using a thin wool warp, a beautiful z-twisted Swedish yarn, Heidruns garner, “Grane,” a z-twisted plied wool yarn (ca 400m/100g).
I’ve been leery of trying thin yarns because I worry that a warp will break. That wasn’t an issue with this very strong yarn. I warped at 9 epi, a slightly closer sett than my usual 8 epi. Bottom line? I didn’t like it. I didn’t like the feel of the thin yarn. The combination of thin yarn in the warp, at the sett I chose, didn’t produce the Frida Hansen magic of wool clinging to wool. I think it is because there are just fewer hook-like scales on a thin warp, versus a thicker warp. I found this illustration on the blog of Stephanie Metz. (Rabbit hole warning!)
And when you make a tiny piece, you see imperfections that go unnoticed in a larger piece. In this yellow leaf, notice in the “before” photo, the bottom weft thread is moving a bit away from the rest of the weaving. In the “after” photo, I fixed it. I used a strand of yellow sewing thread and sewed down one channel, up the next, down the next, etc. It’s virtually invisible, but if you look REALLY closely you can see the thread. I also used thread to keep the brown stem together.
My major take-away? I could try setting the warp threads more closely to add more wooly scales on the warp to grip the weft, but I don’t want to. Weaving wasn’t fun for me with the flimsiness of the thin warp, even at tight tension.
Finally, I am always experimenting with hanging devices, especially with small tapestries. After all, students in my workshops start out weaving samples or small pieces. Here’s an idea… This is my finished sample.
Every sample is instructional!
Robbie, will you be doing any more transparency workshops at the MN Weavers Guild?
– Cathie Mayr
Catmayr@yahoo.com
Hi Cathie, After the fun workshop at the Weavers Guild of Minnesota in March, we tentatively planned to hold another this fall — if there are people who show interest. I’ve been busy writing and have not followed up. Send Becky a note!