I Wanna Talk About Soumak...

What is Soumak?

“For the plant, see Sumac.”

(I’ll come back to this… but for now, I want to focus on the tapestry technique)

“Soumak (also spelled soumakh, sumak, sumac, or soumac) is a tapestry technique of weaving sturdy, decorative fabrics used for carpets, rugs, domestic bags and bedding, with soumak fabrics used for bedding known as soumak mafrash.

Soumak is a type of flat weave, somewhat resembling kilim, but with a stronger and thicker weave, a smooth front face and a ragged back, where kilim is smooth on both sides. Soumak lacks the slits characteristic of kilim, as it is usually woven with supplementary weft threads as continuous supports.

The technique involves wrapping coloured weft threads over and under the warp threads, adding strength and embroidery-like pattern.”

Kinda vague if you ask me. But only because I took a deep dive into studying the techniques (note that is plural) about 5 years ago when I was looking for a way to get more detail depicting intertwining tree roots. I tell this story in presentations, but I don’t think I’ve ever told it here.

When I returned to tapestry in 2018 after a very long absence, I knew exactly what I wanted to weave- tree roots merging together. I discovered Mirrix looms and bought the largest one they had (at that time), Zeus, along with the stand as a gift to myself for my 62nd birthday. And my first weaving on that loom was Tree Companions.

I had mixed feelings about it- still do - after completing this tapestry. It felt good to do a larger scale. I was happy with the mound and the emphasis on the roots, and I even liked the diagonals in the background. Other aspects, not so much.

Around this same time, I had seen an exhibit listed and was encouraged to submit something. I no longer recall the name of the exhibit or even who hosted it, but it had a size restriction. Small format. Soooo… I began to learn the restrictions I would need to work with to re-create this same concept into a small piece. Believe me, I failed miserably on my first try. It was a beautiful mess as they say.

There are all kinds of things wrong with this, which should be obvious, so I won’t point them all out. But looking back at it now, I’m kind of loving other parts!

So next… I changed gears. I discovered the Flying Needle technique, which I refer to as Vertical - or even Diagonal - Soumak. And I upped my game with materials and came up with this.

Around this same time, I had discovered Maximo Laura and became curious about his textural techniques and color sensibilities.

I dabbled around with the line Soumak for quite a while and as I was doing so, I was encouraged to write a class on the techniques I was learning. That’s how the Many Faces of Soumak was born. It’s a technique based comprehensive online course in which I pulled together every resource I could find to include videos of each technique with multiple variations of each.

So how can you learn some of these techniques- from me?

There are a few options:

Join me for a 6 hour mini-class I’ll be teaching for ATA this month. You’ll learn some new tips on Single Soumak you might not be aware of and my favorite line techniques in this day long class via zoom. It also includes a follow-up session 2 weeks later for question/answer, show/tell. And yes, it will be recorded with ongoing access.

Note: this class is now full. However, if the format proves to be one I enjoy teaching, I may offer another in the future. I’ve created a waiting list here to determine if there is enough interest.

correction: 3-13-25: 2 spots available! One person was accidentally registered three times.

Come to my last in-person class with the Chattahoochee Weavers Guild in April. It’s a 3-day event that’s bound to be filled with inspiration and fun. We’ll cover single, double, and my favorite knot in this workshop. Now open to non-members! After April, I will no longer be teaching in-person classes.
Sign up for the full comprehensive Many Faces of Soumak online course.
Below are some wonderful examples of student work from this course. (Clicking on the image will link to the artist if a link was provided).