Wendy Gilmore sent a photo of her completed Frida Hansen peony, begun at my recent workshop for the Conference of California Handweavers (CNCH).
I was especially interested in her experience because she used a loom I was not familiar with, the Mirrix Chloe Pocket loom. Wendy uses hers often for tapestry sampling. To begin her weaving she inserted a wide strip of cardboard to leave an unwoven section for fringe.
The limited weaving area didn’t seem so satisfactory to me, as it left little weaving space, and makes it difficult to pick the shed when you near the top. Wendy said she was able to weave with bobbins until about 1.5″ from the top, and then switched to using a curved tapestry needle. Wendy managed it beautifully. She wove right up to the top, and when she removed the weaving from the top bar, she slipped in a bamboo stick to finish it off quickly and easily. The loops slipped easily off the lower bar. Voila, finished.
Wendy used a clothes steamer to help set the yarn while her piece was on the loom, and again after she took it off. Clever. I usually steam pieces off the loom by wetting an old linen napkin, wringing it out, and steaming the weaving with the damp napkin as a barrier. I’m not sure whether the steam makes a significant difference, but the intention is to use one more trick to help activate the small wooly hooks along the yarn to help the weft stay in place.
Aren’t the dots in the middle of Wendy’s peony sweet?
Beautiful