The Tale of the Three Postcards

Months ago I signed up for the American Tapestry Alliance post card exchange.  You are assigned a partner and swap tapestry postcards.  To my surprise my assigned partner is Alex Friedman.  Alex is a professional artist from San Francisco.  I have long admired her work with eccentric weaving.

A little intimidated, I wanted to do something different.  Decided to do this little postcard of the Cape Hatteras lighthouse using recycled plastic bags.  It was fun but I had alot of drawn in with the plastic.  Sad little postcard wasn't up for the trip to California.

What to weave instead?  I decided to weave what I love, wedge weave of course.  Still fascinated with alternative weft materials, I spindle spun some newspaper.  

What was super fun about this piece was using a variable warp.  I am sure there is a proper name for that but I don't know it.  I warped at 10 ends per inch, wove the newspaper at 5 epi and the colorful linen at 10 epi.  I will definitively play with the technique again!

On the left is the postcard Alex sent to me from San Francisco.  On the right is the postcard I am sending off to Alex.

Proof that Alex's card was post marked in San Francisco and made it to North Carolina without incident.  Alex sent me a bit of her home.

I am sending Alex a bit of my home too.  The handspun newspaper is the Raleigh News and Observer.  In addition, the linen is from my guild's stash.  Triangle Weavers Guild is a wonderful group of weavers and we have a stash of tapestry yarn.  Our most celebrated member, the late Silvia Heyden donated yarn as have others.   I like to think I have included some of Silvia's magic in my little postcard.

Last but not least, some pictures of indigo fun with dear daughter Rachel this weekend.