Wednesday, July 3, 2019

Collage to Tapestry Cartoon

My first MAFA exceeded my expectations tremendously.   The conference was extremely well organized and attendees were all so friendly.   Within minutes of arriving, a nice group from Ontario invited me to join them for dinner.   The highlight for me was my class with Molly Elkind


Molly is a very deliberate and thoughtful weaver and her work reflects all the effort.   Molly generously shared her design process with us.  This class was focused on design, no yarn or looms involved.  Molly explained how to determine whether an image lends itself to woven tapestry.


I do not want to give away the "secret sauce" of Molly's design process but it is methodical and gives you the opportunity to work out the weaving obstacles prior to sitting down at the loom.  If you have the opportunity, take a class with Molly.  It will change your tapestry process.

This is "Red Letter Night" which is part of Molly's illuminated manuscript series.  It is pictured with it's woven sample and collage.

Cartoon for "Red Letter Night"
Yarn key for "Red Letter Night"

My collage "Dancing with the Black Dog"
I loved the process of creating this collage, it allows me to design without having to draw.  I joked that Molly had turned even this impatient woman into a thoughtful tapestry weaver.  I was so pleased to get my cartoon for the weaving of "Dancing with the Black Dog " done.  Check out Molly's Instagram post for a picture of my awesome work!


Connie Lippert signing her book, "A Wedge Weaver's Storied Cloth"
I also got to spend some time with Connie Lippert, wedge weave guru!  That was the icing on the cake.  Both Molly as well as Connie are teaching at Convergence 2020.  See you there!