Tapestry Tips
I’ve been spending a fair amount of time on the internet this week - mainly research for the course I’m teaching. This week the focus has been to come up with some images of Knots used in tapestries. Primarily, the French Knot technique.
So, after checking Pinterest and finding mostly surface embellishment, I turned to my favorite rabbit hole, the American Tapestry Alliance website. Regardless of whether you are a member or not, you can access their Tapestry Topics archive (minus the most recent issues). It’s staggering the amount of information in this archive alone!
One of the links for French Knots was to a Winter 2009 issue so I printed it out and began my search. Before I knew it, I was scrawling unrelated notes in my journal and highlighting sections I wanted to come back to. This is what always happens with me. You recall I did call it a rabbit hole.
This issue began with an article by Silvia Heyden on the 90th anniversary of the Bauhaus. I was instantly “pulled in”. I especially enjoyed reading about her experience at the School of Arts and Crafts in Zurich during the 1940’s. She writes about a diploma project where students “were required to choose a motif from nature and apply its design to a number of art forms”.
She writes…
“It was the quintessential Bauhaus way of seeing the world around us because it forced us to observe how we had to change the motif to adapt to the chosen art medium…”
What an interesting assignment!
She goes on to say it was in this process that she discovered her life’s passion, weaving.
There’s another article by Terri Stewart with advice to new tapestry weavers that get bogged down with the lack of confidence when it comes to designing entitled I Can’t Draw! Lots of tips on getting the juices flowing. Another tip-laden article is by Joyce Hayes on how important problem solving is in weaving. In fact, she actually says she’d come to realize that weaving IS problem solving. So true!
The topic of the Winter 2009 issue is Tips & Tactics, so the articles are interspersed with little “Tiny Tips” throughout.
Sounds like a great tip!
Tips like the one above; I’d never heard of such a thing as a nylon netting shuttle!
And this one on Photoshop. I often use Photoshop when I’m designing…
Although I found no mention of French Knots in this issue, I suspect it came up in the search due to the article on Tips for Using a Linen Warp by Susan Iverson. No mention of the specific technique I was looking for, but the word “knot” is interspersed throughout her writing.
Unfortunately, none of my other searches pulled up any treasures on French Knots I wasn’t already familiar with, but they did lead to some interesting reading!
Got a Tapestry Tip to share?
Leave it in the comments below (or you can email me).
Who knows? It might even spark a new blog post!