Summer Time and the living is great-part 1

It’s been two weeks since my last post. I am enjoying my summer time. No deadlines unless they are mine. Doesn’t mean I don’t have a lot to do just that I am doing them in my own way in my own time, my own schedule, my own hours. Even spent one day out while Spencer went fishing. Tucked in my little tiny Lani mirrix, warped and wove beside a stream for a whole afternoon. The Lani says it’s a dedicated bead loom-gr, but to me it’s a perfect take along tapestry loom-that and a book and I am deliriously happy. It’s the beginning of another portrait of Chene. Looks huge, but the weaving is only a little less then 5 inches wide-maybe 7 inches tall. I adapted the loom by doing a continuous warp and then tied one of the warping bars that I don’t use between the sheds so I can weave faster. With one open shed I only need to pick one shed. I also had made small bars to go through the spring to stabilize the warps and hold them in place-just like the larger mirrix have. The whole loom fits in a very small book bag that’s about the size of a sheet of paper. I have no idea when I’ll finish it. Doesn’t matter! It’s meant to travel with me and be my entertainment when I travel or kill time while Spencer fishes.(Sort of a puzzle because he always throws them back. I don’t eat or cook fish.) This tapestry cartoon is a photo I took last Christmas of Chene when I was trying to tempt him into a walk in the rain on the beach. In a way it reminds me of the sly virgin in the Unicorn tapestries. He’s laying on a purple pillow that has edges of a tapestry(fake-Jacquard) loveseat.

Spencer helping with FFP so I get to weave more hours and he doesn’t feel guilty leaving to go fishing while I work. When he is not working on his EBay business or garage selling to find inventory. We spend a couple of days a week hitting sales. In another life I might have been a great picker. The sales were really good to me this week. I found 3 beautifully twined rugs(American Craft style) and a beautiful middle eastern storage bag that is both pile, flat weave and tapestry. The pile is so soft it’s fun to lay and sit on. It has a fringe on one side and you can see the back where it is folded back. The confusion in the photo comes from the kelim it is laying on. It’s colouring looks very dark, but actually has some turquoise in the pattern. I think it’s been wrapped and stored for a long time and I wonder if it will lighten as it is exposed to light making the pattern more distinct.

And, where I am at now-2/3 almost 3/4 of the way finished.

Before the turn--After the turn-back of the loom

The hardest part of this last 2 weeks has been worrying about turning “And He…” around the beams of the mirrix and not throwing the fell line and selvedges into unevenness. It’s really big and not as comfortable or as easy to turn as a smaller tapestry-21 inches wide. I found that If I wove fairly even across the fell line, inserted a Navajo batten with the sharp edge against the fell line, loosened the tension all the way, and used the batten as a two sided handle I could gently force the warps through the spring and the tapestry down and around to the back.(Very long run on sentence, but true) On the back of the loom the last picture of the 3 you can see weights hanging to hold the warps that I accidently cut with a spring loaded snips. The snips have been banished from the studio.

The order of things has been changed from the original post because the way I first had it wouldn’t publish to my blog. You’ll find more about Soumack after weft twining.