Tapestries seem to come alive while on exhibit

2015 in Tapestry Graffiti

This tapestry depicts the world from my studio: the local weather, world events and celestial happenings. Each day is represented by a square color-coded to indicate the weather. A yellow square is a perfect Rose Bowl Parade—not a cloud in the sky. A green square indicates rain. Black horizontal lines depict earthquakes and small triangles— a variety of weather advisories.  Short memorable phrases reference the turmoil going on around the world and the more hopeful events happening in space. My favorite— the NASA rover Opportunity that completed its first marathon on Mars in a time of 11 years 2 months during the first quarter of 2015 and oblivious to the rancor on earth continued its journey ending the year exploring the sand dunes of Mars.

Tapestry Graffiti

Finally my tapestry diary is hanging... 

It's a wall of tapestry graffiti memoralizing the four quarters of 2015; my local weather, world & celestial events plus the 3.0+ earthquakes in my area. 

Still some finishing to do but it's quite a feeling of accomplishment to see the pieces on the wall.  I enjoy just sitting and looking at the tapestries. I designed them to be contemplative so no real focal point.  The eye can explore, linger or hurry along. I certainly will never forget 2015; quite amazing that this represents one entire year of weaving. 

Each panel is 23" by 51" and each square is one day of 2015. I must say they look so much better than the photo. I'll post better images when this storm passes and the sun comes out. 

Developing a Cohesive Palette for a Group Tapestry Project

 Our tapestry group always creates a group submission for the ATA's unjuried show.  In the past we have not been entirely satisfied with our previous submissions to this exhibit so each time we try something different to improve our results.  This year we decided to use common yarns dyed in specific colors. We hoped that by limiting the yarns to the same palette for everyone our tapestries would look more cohesive and "sing" with one voice - or at least in harmony!  Many folks, myself included, are still weaving so we won't know whether we succeeded or not until we get together in early March and unveil our creations.

The yarn for our group tapestry project was dyed last year in March.   We dyed our chosen silk and soy fibers in three colors each at four saturation levels for everyone to use.  That yielded 26 choices including natural colors for each of us to create the palette for our individual tapestries.  The yarns were quite thin so we could combine yarns and create even more combinations of colors than were originally dyed.  For me, at my sett, there would be over 2,100 potential permutations of color!  Clearly this is not as limiting a factor as it appears at first glance. 

So clearly there are a plethora of choices.  Often with so many choices, the analytical side of my brain kicks into high gear and indecision reigns.  There is always one more subset of colors which might yield a better result than the one selected.  And one more after that... Surprisingly, this did not occur.  I knew exactly what I wanted to do, the minute we decided to limit our palette. I decided I would weave my tapestry based on value and not stress on color. That idea flashed into my brain and I never changed my mind over the many months since then.

Here are my 20 yarn samples all organized by color and value.  

So ten months after the yarn was dyed, with the deadline quickly approaching, I found some free time and finally began creating my actual palette consisting of five different values.  

To be continued...

Completing a Tapestry: Step 2

It is important to be self-aware when it comes to weaving a tapestry...actually this is true for completing anything important.  One needs to know how one works and how to set up the environment to make the mind, the hands, the tools and the yarns flow seamlessly among themselves.  It is the only way to effectively move that image burning in the mind onto the loom so everyone can see it.

I cannot start a tapestry unless I dedicate a specific workspace for the project.  Everything must be neat, organized with everything in its proper place.   I will admit it does not always stay that way once the weaving is in process but I must start with everything in its place otherwise I just putz (spelling?) around and accomplish little.  

Here's a photo of how my back studio looked after several days of weaving...yes, it still looks neat and tidy.  It was not a few minutes ago... Once I finish a major section (here the blue background on the lower left),  I usually clean up the work area again to start a fresh with the next new section. 

My back studio up and running...
focused entirely on an 8 by 8 inch tapestry of a seashell in silk and soy.

Never too late

I sent in my entry form for ATA's unjuried small tapestry show a couple of weeks ago.   That put me in a unique state - having committed to an exhibit while not having a loom even warped for a piece.  Not my normal state - I am not a procrastinator by nature but 2015 seemed to get the better of me. On the positive side I have an empty paper clip Shannock loom ready to be dressed for this project. 

The Seaside Tapestry group always does a group entry for this show.  We developed the parameters and dyed the yarn last year...back in March I believe. I was assigned an 8 x 8 inch piece- we all have different sizes. Our theme of seashells was suggested by the matriarch of our group and we all developed and discussed our cartoons with each other. 

So that was as far as I got as of a couple of weeks ago...cartoon complete and yarn samples available for inspiration.  Need to have it completed for photos on March 3rd.  Could be a busy February!

Step one: dress the loom...sett = 14 epi

Happy New Year!

Here is a very happy Nicki cutting off the fourth quarter of her tapestry diary chronicling the events of 2015.  "Whew! Glad that's over...never again."

Miss Scarlet's Diary

Inside the covers was an actual diary  

Murder in the Round-Excerpts from Miss Scarlet’s Diary was created for an exhibit of the Southern California Handweavers Guild. The exhibit was inspired by the game Clue. Each artist selected a piece of paper from each of three baskets.  On each paper were words—clues to inspire us to create a weaving. Each artist’s words were different. My three words were Miss Scarlet, bedroom and needle. 

From those words JoJo Plume and her friends and family were imagined, her diary written and finally the manuscript bound in dyed woven silk for the exhibit. 

The cover was made warp
and weft of hand dyed silk.
The beads we rolled from fabric.

The back of the journal was woven with weft of red
boucleand warp of golden cotton.

If you'd like to SEE the diary  it will be on exhibit at the Weaving and Fiber Festival, Sunday November 1 at the Torrance Cultural Center from 10am to 4 pm.

If you'd like to READ the diary, I reformatted the manuscript for the kindle and it is available for purchase on Amazon. And yes, it is a murder mystery!

Enjoy!

Dye Day for Tapestry

 A fabulous shot of our the results
of our dye day taken by Merna Strauch.

It was hot and dry today as we dyed twelve bouts of soy silk and twelve bouts of raw silk for an upcoming group tapestry project.  Lots of noisy helicopters were flying overhead as some dropped water and chemicals on the brush fire in Malibu just across the nearby mountain range.  Other helicopters with cameras took everything down to broadcast on TV.  They all ignored the five of us dyeing tapestry yarn below.

I belong to the Seaside Tapestry Group, who love to do collaborative projects in tapestry.   This year about twelve of us will each be weaving a small format tapestry with a seashell theme; quite appropriate since we live by the Santa Monica Bay.   Fortunately there is no requirement for a local seashell since my design is that of a shell whose natural habitat is Florida.

We have never been entirely satisfied with our previous group projects so each time we do one of these projects we try something different.  This time we will have everyone use the same yarn.  Given two of us are allergic to wool, we decided upon silk and soy silk.   We settled on three colors; a rust, a plum and a blue in four saturation levels.   That's twenty four bouts of yarn we dyed today.

It took less than four hours with three camping stoves, six big pots, an uncountable number of buckets, three dyes, lots of salt, vinegar and five people to accomplish the feat.  The raw silk required heat while the soy silk did not.  We were organized into two teams of two plus a floater. Merna had it so well organized it had to be the easiest dye day ever.

And the results are fabulous don't you think? Each type of yarn took the dye slightly differently so we should get an additional richness if/when we blend the yarns together. The soy is quite thin in comparison to the raw silk.  This will allow for some interesting color blending possibilities.  It looks like perfect yarn to try out the techniques Merna and I learned with Joan Baxter in the Fall of last year.  That was workshop was sponsored by Tapestry Weavers West.

Now that they yarn is dyed we next tackle design and firm up the parameters on sett.

The time nears when weaving will actually start...

My Calendar Tapestry

I started a new tapestry on my Big Shannock at the beginning of the year; a variation on the weave-a-day theme which other tapestry weavers have been doing.   My rendition is slightly different; although I have an area of the tapestry for each day of the year - I generally weave the entire past week on Monday due to the nature of my design.

While January (piectured above) started with lots of sun (yellow)
it ended with days of rain (green) and cloudy skies (mottled green). 

 From a design standpoint, there are three layers or levels to the tapestry; local, worldly and celestial. The finished tapestry is to be a contemplative piece where no one layer  speaks louder than the others.

• The background is composed of squares; one for each day.  The color of the square indicates the overall weather looking outside my studio window; the top and bottom of the square represent the high and low temperature.   
• To continue with my love of words in weavings, I will be adding 3-4 phrases  to the tapestry to represent key happenings in the world during the quarter (e.g. Je suis Charlie).
• The last layer represents happening outside our atmosphere such as the phases of the moon. In the photo the exposed warps represent a new moon. 

There will be four tapestries; one for each quarter. It should be interesting to see how the background varies by quarter and how the worldly phrases hold up with the passage of time.  I am already surprised by the variety of weather we have had this quarter...

You will see more once the first quarter comes off the loom.

Starting the New Year

I write this post as my tapestry warp
rests in an azure pool...

I decided this year to work on one of those calendar tapestries that many tapestry artists have been doing...

I have done something similar in the past with my "Brick Wednesday" tapestry.  In that one, I wove at least one brick every Wednesday until I got a bit bored and ignored the tapestry for several years just finishing it this year with a bang. 

I have a concept but need some bright and cheerful warp to keep me going for the entire year.  I selected azure as my inspiration.  I hope the warp color is true to the color in the photo of the dye pot.  I always use dyed warp since I like to have the option of having exposed warp and white warp looks so naked and unfinished.  White warp also strains my eyes against all my white walls so a colored warp is always better in my studio. 

I will be using my Big Shannock for the piece even though it will be but a couple feet wide.  I envision four sections; one for each quarter.   

Ah the bell rings...I must go stir my dye pot!

Asian Ladybugs Under Glass

Every year I create a new beetle design for me and my fellow beetle collectors.
This year I present the Asian ladybug.

Yes, it's my favorite time of the year....I just finished my Beetles Under Glass limited edition for 2014.   I was inspired by a photo I saw with hundreds of multi-colored ladybugs on a log.  They ranged in color from yellow to reddish orange and had lots of spots.

Last year, I put the 'good' ladybugs under glass...this year I did their evil sister - the Asian Ladybug.  The Asian ladybugs (aka Halloween or Harlequin ladybugs) were introduced into the US to help eradicate pests but over time turned into pests themselves.   Even so, they were still fun to weave with each one a slightly or not so slightly different color ranging between yellowish green and reddish orange.  And of course, they had to have a bit of glitz.

Become a collector!



They will be available for a sale at the following events:

The SCHG Weaving and Fiber Festival
Sunday November 2nd
Torrance Cultural Center, Torrance CA

The Designing Weavers Exhibit & Sale
Saturday and Sunday November 22-23rd
Sierra Madre Women's Club
Sierra Madre, CA

Mr. and Mrs. Roberts Visit Escondido

Mr. and Mrs. Roberts hanging around
at the Escondido Municipal Gallery.

This is the other set of brass rubbings which I framed in fiber.  It is a rubbing of the brass of William and Joyce Roberts from 1484.  They are current on exhibit at the Escondido Municipal Gallery in Escondido until September 26th.

Here are the details about the pair:

Rubbed by Sophia Bair at St. Johns Church

Digswell, Hertfordshire 1970

Framed in fiber by Nicki Bair

www.nickibair.com 2014

In the original brass of 1484 the two shrouded figures, William and Joyce Roberts, were turned towards each other with hands raised in prayer.  The husband has his hair in pudding basin fashion while his wife has long flowing hair.  Note the shroud is tied at top and bottom and meets in the middle with the bare feet and legs visible. 

As noted on the 1484 brass, William Robert was the auditor of the Bishop of Winchester.   Apparently this is a memorial to his wife since William Robert was not dead at this time.  They had two sons and two daughters. William later remarried and died in 1508.  His brass at death pictured him, his two wives Margaret and Joyce plus all six of his children.  The later brass indicated he was the auditor of King Henry VIII.

A Brass Rubbing in a Fiber Frame

I thought I would provide some background on one of my Bonds & Connections pieces which is in the Designing Weavers exhibit at the Escondido Municipal Gallery.  Remember it’s there until September 27^th – so plenty of time to plan a visit!

As I have mentioned before, a requirement of membership in Designing Weavers is to complete and present an annual project.  This year, with the theme of Bonds & Connections I was actually able to complete three projects that have been rumbling around my brain for many years.

Here is one of the pieces along with the exhibit description:

I am connecting with the past through the bonds of my Mother.  I start in 1465 where this wife of an unknown civilian was buried in All Hallows Church in London.  My Mother connects with this woman about 50 years ago as she made a brass rubbing of the woman's grave cover with black wax.  The connections are completed as I lovingly wrap the brass rubbing in fiber woven in my studio on my Mother's newly refinished loom.

My Mother was a weaver/tapestry artist and when she passed all her ‘art’ stuff went to me.  This included a tube of brass rubbings she had done close to fifty years ago in England.  I thought how wonderful to give new life to her remaining brass rubbings by weaving frames for them on her antique counterbalance loom. This loom was in our kitchen when I was a kid and now resides in my studio. Of course, I first had to finish the tapestry on the loom which had been there for years…and then I had to refinish and retool the loom before I could weave the final pieces.  But these are stories for another day.

So what is a brass? Brasses are burial monuments introduced in the 1300’s; like a tombstone but flat engraved brass pieces acting as a grave cover.  They were better than stone slabs since the metal was more durable and since they were flat they could go on the floor, wall or top of a tomb.   There are about 4,000 left in England and I have about six in that tube from my Mother’s stash.

How do you make a rubbing?  My Mother had white paper, which she taped over the brass in the church.  On her knees she rubbed black wax onto the paper over the engraved brass beneath.   The design showed up in relief.  She used white paper to practice.  Later if she liked the design she would use black paper with gold wax or gold paper with black wax for a final piece.  All of her favorites were framed and given as gifts.  I have several on my walls. Her least favorite went into that tube and remained there for decades.

What's the history behind brasses?  One of the many fun things about brasses is that they are historical documents.  There’s not a lot around from the 1400’s yet these brasses say a lot about the existing customs, clothing, occupations and professions of the time.  In addition, quite a lot of historical research has been done on the families involved.  So anyone with a brass rubbings wants to know a bit about the history involved.

What’s the history of this brass? As you can see below, this brass was actually of two people, a husband and wife. It was a practice piece for my Mother and she only did the woman on white paper with black wax.  The couple was also rubbed on black with gold wax, framed and gifted away.   This woman is the wife of an unknown civilian who died in 1465.   Much of the inscription has been lost so her actual name is unknown. Some scholars believe it may be Avisle Treffy.  She is wearing one of those horned headdresses with her hair pulled upwards to form horns over which the veil is laid. She is wearing a gown with full sleeves seemingly edged with fur. Her hands are raised in prayer.

And what about that fiber frame? The fiber frame is deceptively simple yet complex to plan given pull in, shrinkage and all those textile issues. The yarn was super high twist, which made it a beast to weave.  I only needed a couple of yards of material so it wove up quickly and my good humor remained intact.  The resulting yardage folded up like origami into a frame with the rubbing nesting inside.  The rubbing is hung with Velcro within the frame so it can be removed, if necessary.  I used strategically placed empty dents in my reed so the thick material would fold nicely.  And then of course I had to do some embellishment.

And how do I feel about the piece?  When I think about it, the overall concept is a bit macabre but also quite unique. Whenever I see it, I feel cool, calm and connected.  It is my favorite.  I do have a tendency to always  consider my most recent finished piece my favorite.  But this one may remain my favorite due to the bonds and connections within it.