Intersecting Sine Waves

Intersecting Sine Waves, 9” x 35”, 2009
Wedgeweave, Wool and Cotton

Two sine waves in white and ash move in opposite directions down the weaving. Each wedge of the weaving alternatively belongs to one sine wave or the other. Therefore, the wedges cause the sine waves pass through or intersect one another without always touching. The waves are bounded by the “sine wave” edges of the whole work and lie on a wave of background color.

This artwork has caused the artist to question how much her life intersects with other lives without touching them or being touched by them, but never the less being influenced to continue in her path. Also how much her life is supported at the edges and in the background in ways that may seem for the moment far from where she is. It is a comfort to know that life will cycle back and around.

Comet in the Night Sky

Comet in the Night Sky, 3” x 5”, 2008
Woven Tapestry, Wool and Cotton

This tapestry design was taken from a section of a stained glass window made by the artist in 2005. The window is three overlapping layers of a pinwheel tile pattern. The transition to a tapestry in wool involved moving the pinwheel geometries to one layer and attempting to retain the transparency. The lines of the geometry are extended into the aluminum mat out to the frame to highlight the definition of the blocks.

Gifts For the Time

The chimney is down and I consider that to be a great gift from my husband. We are now looking through the next tasks and with the school being closed the week of July 4th, there's no telling where we'll be next week!

I have heard so many references to Peter Collingwood's book on rug weaving that I decided I'd better seek it out. I went to alibris.com and found a woman two hours away that was selling it and the second one Beyond the Basics. She let me have both of them for $100 since I'm a weaver! It's an amazing deal and I am grateful!

My parents took a short trip out of town and we did the dog sitting. They have what seems to mostly be an Australian Red Border Collie. She's quiet beautiful and smart. I've learned I would make a great grandparent. We spoiled her rotten doing things I would never allow a dog of my own to do. We took her for ice cream - the local ice cream place gives away "dog" sundaes = a small scoop of vanilla with a doggie treat. We let her up on the couch and the bed. It was only two days and I don't have to live with the consequences!
Then some weeks ago a great aunt passed away. My parents have been working with a number of others to clean out the house. I have been collecting tea cups and they let me have a number. I'm thrilled with these new additions!

Dovecot Studios - A Rich Tapestry

Weavers Douglas Grierson and Jonathan Cleaver provide perspectives on the history and current state of tapestry, while Dovecot director David Weir talks about the Edinburgh studio's illustrious past and the need for public funding.
http://www.creative-choices.co.uk/server.php?show=nav.561
http://www.dovecotstudios.co.uk/index.htm

Birth of a Tapestry

I came to the last intended wedge and thought I don't have enough purple yarn. I looked back at a color blending sampler I had made and considered tearing it apart. I did take one square of purple of out it and began to weave that last wedge. I only made it a 1/3 of the way across. "There's not enough," I thought. So I decided to look for the "happy mistake" and see how I could creatively get out of this. I ended up blending the purple with red. It would technically be the next block in the color pattern if I had chosen 4 colors.

I put it in and thought of Sue from Life Looms Large where she painted her sun room and was "deeply uncertain". She waited a week to see how she felt. An article in the latest Tapestry Weavers South newsletter talked of a group's visit to Sylvia Heyden's recently where Sylvia said if there is something not right in the tapestry it is likely that the color value is not correct. She also only uses 3 hues in a piece. I gave it 4 days and was still not settled, so I took the purple/red out and tore apart that color sampler harvesting all the purple I could get. It worked and I have exactly 2 feet of purple left. With no more purple, it seemed time for me to finish it off.

My first tapestry teacher always makes a special deal over taking a tapestry from the loom. I believe she even called it a birth. So here we have the birth of the wedge weave...

I'm still fascinated with the light shining behind it....

I also enjoy how the warp snakes back and forth to make the undulating edges.

So now we'll let it rest and I'll likely work on the back since I still have all the ends to work with. Then of course is how do I want to display it. Hmmm, the possibilities!

Weavolution

Thought this might be of interest if you haven't found it already. This is a beta site gathering place that started last September. It requires signing up as a member, but it's free.

Enjoy!

http://www.weavolution.com/

Balloon Wear

Okay, not what I would necessarily wear, but I have to admire the effort, the patience and the models!!!! My husband wondered what would happen with one crazed boy and a pin. A friend wondered how squeaky they would sound. I wondered how hot it would be under all that latex.

Faster than a Speeding Bullet

This blog entry is in celebration of an increase in Internet speed! Just finally got it installed and oh my word! This makes the T1 connection at work seem slow. So, we'll just see how easily I take to blogging now...

We went hiking in the Sumter National Forest this weekend and I was simply fascinated with the moss. I don't know what caught me this time - maybe because I have a little growing in the garden in the back yard and I'd like more! Maybe it's also got such a fiber look to it. I kept thinking - this looks just like chenille. Here's a few pics from that.

Coming to Light

I approach this blog wondering where to start! I really should just blog more with smaller entries, but I found it easier to just try once a week. I think a higher speed internet connection is in my future....

The chimney is down to the ceiling. We no longer have a hole in the roof and the stack of bricks has grown immensely. I had thought about a patio with them, but I think there is still more than I need. Hmmmm....

I did get marigolds planted in the vegetable garden to help ward off bugs. I like the splash of color. Now I'm just hoping the squirrels and birds will share some of the tomatoes and cukes with me.

Future Cucumber!

Future Tomatoes!

The wedge weave still moves forward and we are coming into the home stretch. I spent a little time with it in the backyard this weekend. It's one of the beauties of a small pipe loom for tapestry weaving! I discovered something this week with the wedge weave. The loom is warped continuously, so I'd added some black foam between the front and back to block my vision of the warp in the back. Seeing everything became a mass of white and I couldn't tell which warp I was grabbing when. Anyway, the weaving is long enough now, that I don't necessarily need the foam and I was tired of it falling out - so I removed it. Then, I made the discovery. Light shines through the white spaces making them glow like a lamp shade. I have not figured out what to do about it yet, but there's something there. It was hard to photograph but maybe you can see the difference between the top half that's backlit and the bottom that's blocked by foam? Especially, the one white wedge in the middle that's partially blocked?I had washed a quilt and threw it on the line the same day. And loved some of the photographs from the backside with the light coming through. How often can one complement some thing's backside???The reason I washed the quilt is we had taken it would to Lake Robinson for lunch. We were greeted by a number of Canada Geese who obviously are not shy of humans! There were two sets of goslings though that were just precious to watch.