A Cautionary Tale

I’ve often written about my sources of inspiration: especially the prairie surrounding my home and studio. There is one special place on my morning walks that I always marvel at. It’s a spot that commands my attention and makes me stop and give pause with a silent sign of gratitude for this land and all that’s been before.

Like the rest of the prairie, this particular spot is always changing. Depending on the light, the season, the weather, it can be serene or shimmering, ripe with blooms or heading into senescence.

Just after I finished “Like Rain Falling…,” I took the picture at the beginning of this post. It seemed the perfect “next tapestry” to follow. I started by breaking the image into six layers and gathering colors to bundle.

A selection of yarns to bundle for the different layers: Array, EPiC, Weavers Bazaar Fine, and Borgs’ Mora

This time, instead of jumping right in and starting with a larger scale, I decided to use the warp I had ready on the small Cactus Flower Loom and do a “sample” first.

The weaving went amazingly quickly- start to finish was maybe 5 or 6 short evenings. Which really surprised me since I’ve been known to openly admit on many occasions that I don’t enjoy weaving with needles. But with this piece… I did!

I was really happy with the results. So happy, in fact, that when I took it off the loom I got ahead of myself. Instead of calmly waiting and finishing off the back - I got scissor happy and clipped all the threads down. Ridiculously short I might add. I’ve never done this before and will never do it again.

Why? Why did it matter? Because I was having so much fun weaving this and combining yarns that it went very quickly- and I neglected to keep good notes. I had a pile of weft clippings in a jumbled heap without any record of the combinations.

I was actually “stunned” to realize I had skipped over my due diligence and never recorded the bundles into my journal. Without a record of the exact color combinations, it was hard to match them from the short ends.

I did the best I could, wove about 5 inches and kept comparing to the small piece. There were a couple of bundles that were ”off”… so I un-wove and started over.

I’m finally on the right track again.

What I would have done differently…

Obviously, take better notes, don’t get in a hurry, and never say never.

But also, I learned another valuable lesson. Treat every weaving with respect. Don’t assume it’s “just a sample” that would get tossed aside as resource material. Give it the same considerations as a more thought out piece.

I say this becuase I wish I’d used a more appropriate yarn choice for the edging on this piece than the same warp I used for the weaving.

The finished “sample” - Edging with weft yarns would have been better- and to weave down from the opposite end would have, too. Top edge (right side) sloppy as a result.

I love how I learn something new with every tapestry I weave.

Positive results… or negative!

Don’t you?

Another Photograph to Tapestry Story

A Cautionary Tale

What I would have done differently…