When I am faced with self doubt I procrastinate. I knew I wanted to complete a tapestry for the Tapestry Weavers South show at the Yadkin Valley Fiber Room. I even posted the cartoon, chose the yarns and warped my 22 inch Mirrix loom. All set right. Uh, nope.
I kept putting off starting, clicking down the weeks. No problem, five weeks is plenty of time...Tapestry is incredibly slow especially for this beginner. The calendar screamed three weeks and I knew my original plan was too ambitious.
As I procrastinated, I wasn't totally idle. I thought about the fierce resistance I was experiencing and what was behind it. I wanted to do a tapestry I could be proud of and was having trouble picturing my weaving hanging in the same space with my more experienced friends. What a blessing to be in a group of such talented, amazing weavers but how to avoid comparing my work to others?
I continue to work on that but know the more I weave the better I will get. I have faith I will find my personal niche as a tapestry weaver and develop the skills so the pictures in my mind can be brought to the loom and executed with skill and grace.
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| This is Red Rocks, the simplified version. It will be delivered tomorrow in preparation for the Tapestry show. It is hard to see but there are three juniper berries woven into the bottom. |
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| The Navajo call these ghost beads. Some say they represent the interdependence of man, animal, plants and earth. |
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| Note the skinny linen on the left and the thick linen on the right. Both off the same spool of black linen. |
If I judge this tapestry by lessons learned it was wildly successful. I used thick and thin linen from Martha Matthews estate. I loved the color and the roughness of the linen. However, thick and thin yarn results in a very eccentric weave. I like this look but found it difficult to maintain my selvedges. In addition, I really need to do more preparation before beginning to weave and ideally no deadlines!
It looks great!
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