On Thursday, I watched Susan Iverson’s presentation from the Damascus Fiber Arts School (see last post). And I gotta say, as soon as the replay is up, I’ll be watching it again. If I could have hit replay right then and there, I would have! I really enjoyed seeing the progression of her work.

Something in her talk triggered a memory. This memory was of a piece I was working on in graduate school and never finished. It was to be woven in sections then either sewn together or hung with a layering effect. I hadn’t worked that out. I never got beyond the first section. It went something like this:

Loosely based on a memory of something that never came to be…

Funny- why does this drawing remind me of “The Little Prince”? One of my favorite books of all time and great for inspiration in and of itself! “If you please…draw me a sheep!” Sorry for that, I digress!

That memory had me grabbing my weaving journal to sketch it out. Suddenly possibilities were multiplying so fast I couldn’t record them.

The next day I was thinking of the weavings I did back in those formative years of weaving tapestries. I don’t have much to show for that time in my life. Either they were lost in my many moves, given as gifts, or still hanging on my wall; the same two that have been hanging there for over 30 years! The only other evidence I’ve been able to find has been a couple of old ektachrome slides of my senior show. No close-ups of any of the pieces. Just a partial overview of a few weavings hanging on the wall.

It sent me on a hunt. I remembered tossing one grad school era piece seven years ago when I had closed my yarn shop and was forced to bring my studio home. I was packing up my freelance knitting designs and stowing them in the hall closet. Maybe…

Eureka! I found 3 little weavings from my undergraduate days in the bottom of one of the bags.

I thought long and hard about sharing these with you. They’re a bit of an embarrassment in some ways. And wildly exciting (I’m sure only to me!) in others. But I decided to write this post about them because I want to encourage anyone in the early stages of their tapestry practice to save your work. Or at the very least, document it well before you let it go.

I soaked two of the pieces in Eucalan, my favorite method for knitting. I admit I’d never soaked a weaving before, but these guys seriously needed a bath! The water ran chrome gold; took 3 soaks before I began to see a clearing- and it wasn’t from yarn bleeding!

The Relics From My Past…

This piece I remember well, but I was surprised by the materials I used. I know some of it was silk- raw silk. But what on earth was that fuzzy stuff? I do remember the concept behind it. The format was based on a proof sheet; ( I was intrigued with cells at the time).

It’s easy to dismiss a work you’ve done long ago as insignificant, but I couldn’t help but do the “what worked and what didn’t” in my mind. I loved the textures. I loved the bits of plain weave, and I liked the proof sheet reference. It’s no technical masterpiece, but there are qualities I want to remember. What didn’t work? I really am not fond of the fuzzies. And where’s the value difference? I was very into subtlety in those years! You might have thought the yarn just faded after being stuffed away in one place and another for 40 years, but… not so.

Here’s the second piece (the one you saw soaking earlier). I got very excited when I saw this one again. It was originally part of a tryptich although it’s the only piece that stayed with me. I know it’s technically apalling in places; never mind that. What I like - what ignites me - is the playful experimenting with textures and shape.

Most of my yarn back then came from places like Robin and Russ and Briggs & Little Wool. The wool in this piece is super soft, almost like a roving; not what I would reach for these days. But it worked at the time. So here’s my second piece of advise for what it’s worth: Use whatever material you want. Experiment. And Play! You’ll learn from it and move on.

Fodder for the future. Something new from something old, maybe. Finding these pieces has been a huge “thing” for me. I see in these pieces a playful freedom - and it makes me want to play some more!

You didn’t ask for my advice, but here’s a little more. If you’re new to tapestry weaving, give yourself time. Learn from every weaving you do. Take notes on them. And if you’ve been weaving tapestries for awhile, go back and look at some of those early ones. Just don’t toss them away if they’re not up to your technical standards anymore. There’s so much more to a tapestry than technique!

Tapestry Inspiration and a Path not Taken

The Relics From My Past…