Compelling date: 25/5/25

 As the header says, today's date is pushing me to do a post. Not that I  have much to post about! I am still struggling with my tapestry! I am trying to do a bit of weaving every few days - can't seem to get it done every day.

I am working on an incomplete cartoon - mostly because I have made some mistakes and have not bothered to be too fraught about them. Also, I didn't do a coloured background in the cartoon so am making it up as I go. 

The theme seems to be that the longer we go through life, the dryer the surrounds become - a bit negative but that is how it is feeling! We are in drought here despite it not being officially acknowledged- we have had very little rain recently!!

Anyway, I am beavering away at it - sometimes. 

I usually do small tapestries, this one is not big but is bigger than I usually do. So I am finding that the seat and table I use are not that comfortable. I have lowered the table as far as it will go, have lowered the chair as far as it will go. I am trying to keep my arms at the level that is recommended for using a computer, having your elbows at a right angle. At this stage I am managing that but have to spread my legs more than I am used to as they no longer fit under the table. 

Ah, the sufferings we have to put up with. 

Anyway, it is going along and I hope to get it finished in time for the Bendigo Wool Show (also known as the Australian Sheep and Wool Show). I should have time, as long as I can stop myself from pulling out lots of it. 

On another note: there was an article about the textile course I did at RMIT. Not specifically about the course I did but relevant. Here is a link to the article.: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/may/25/a-new-room-for-a-doomed-loom-and-the-battle-to-save-australias-slowly-dying-crafts

The interesting thing is that it reminded me about the course I did, the changes that happened in the few years I studied and the fact that the Lost Trades Centre in Ballarat is going to take the old loom. 

Tapestry Weaving

 I haven't had the chance to get to the Bendigo wool show (actually called the Australian Sheep and Wool Show), it is only on for three days!! So much work and only three days of events. 

Anyway, I am hoping to get there on Sunday but may not -things are hectic at home. And the weather is rather uninspiring if you aren't going skiing. It is windy and cold!! 

However,  I was pleased to get a message from a friend who visited today - I have won first prize in the tapestry category of the Woolcraft section. There were only three entries but I am still chuffed to have won. The other two entries were from people from our tapestry weaving group that meets at the Handweavers and Spinners Guild in Melbourne. So we have done ourselves proud!!

We are hoping to make the category more popular in the coming years. So far, it is mainly our small group of tapestry weavers in Melbourne. 

We are hoping that more people will take the chance to do some tapestry weaving and participate next year. 

I visited the guild today to put up the display of the travelling tapestries - it is an online group that puts out a theme each year (this year was Between the Lines) and then people send in their entries. They are then displayed across the county. It is our turn to have them in Melbourne. 

We will put up our tapestries from the Bendigo show when they return. It will give us a few more tapestry weavings to show. - with certificate and ribbons!!

It is great to have these shows, they give us inspiration to actually weave. 

Hot weather and trying to develop ideas

 We haven't had a very hot summer, unlike most of Australia. But last weekend was very hot - and spoilt many festivals. 

I went away for the weekend, probably shouldn't have, given the extreme fire danger rating - but the rating was for the whole state, so why not??

I took my current tapestry with me. It is a work in progress. As I didn't want to venture out into the heat, I had the chance to actually get in a few hours of weaving. There was nothing else to do, even the television was not working. 

The theme is Fire and Ice - I had a lot of thought go into this theme and have ended up being inspired by the volcano eruption in Iceland. Not that you will know that from the finished piece (not that it is finished yet). 

I found some interesting images but most of them had only land and volcanic eruption. I had been thinking of a volcano over an ice field but there weren't any great images that I loved.

So ... I got out my Inktense pencils and drew up a rough image. Initially, I had thought to do it 30cm x 35 but that didn't really sit well with the loom I have. So I have resorted to an A4 size, sort of. It is going to be A4 wide (about 29 cm) but I have no idea how high it is going to be. 

I have drawn a rough image using the watercolour pencils but then, as I mentioned, changed my mind about the dimensions. So ... (again) I am making it up as I go. I have used the initial drawing as my inspiration but it isn't in the correct dimension. I am also making up the colours as I go!

I was gifted some money for a significant birthday a year ago (more, actually) and finally got to the ATW to buy some wools. I don't usually use cool colours so had fun buying some.  Now I am trying to use them as the cool ice colours (and water). I also found some white silk that I have no idea where I got it from! It is now being used in the piece. It was extremely difficult to unwind and so I have ended up cutting it into smaller pieces - they determine the length of the colours I am using. The thread is controlling me, rather than the other way around.

As you can guess, my tapestry has an overall idea but I am not being too bothered by the cartoon (not sure I actually have one, having changed the dimensions that I feel that I can actually weave). It is a work in progress. But I am enjoying the process! Process is as important, if not more so, than the actual product for me. But I will enter it into the exhibition that had the theme, if I get it done in time. (Australian Sheep and Wool Show, in Bendigo.)

Another month gone by!

 It being the 23rd day of the month, in the 23rd year of the century, I thought I should post.

I have done some sewing for the Reflections theme - just have to cut it evenly and decide how to finish it off and, possibly, mount it.

The image in silhouette is from 123RF, a site where you can purchase some images to use. Copyright here.

Then I decided that I really need to be doing some other creative thing: I have put in an entry form for 3 small tapestries for the Bendigo Wool Show. I have done two of them so far (here and here). I thought that I might inspire myself to actually do something if I said I'd do three. 

I have warped up the loom - didn't tangle any of the warps, for a change. When I had put in the floor and the waste yarn, I realised that I had not made it 20cm wide (which is the size of the other two). It is only 16cm wide. I am NOT going to undo the warp!!!

I have changed the design a bit, so it fits the new size. It is a very basic design that I can work on as I weave. I did this with the last two pieces. I have started by using leftover wool from the previous piece. I am going to try to use leftovers from both tapestries. 

My vague idea is to, once again, use yellow as my starting point. This time I am thinking to look at yellow as a cool and a warm colour, influenced by the colours around it. Here's hoping the idea works - and I get some lovely meditative time weaving. 

I have looked at some of the leaves in the garden, changing colour because it is autumn, and feel a bit inspired by the warm and cool variations. 

 Well, I have finished the tapestry. I was too late to post it to the Bendigo Wool Show but, all being well, I will be able to deliver it by hand (car trip) on Monday the 11th. 

It has taken me ages!! But I shouldn't be surprised, tapestry weaving is slow. I also spent about 4 hours finishing it off. First braiding the warps, then sewing them down, then sewing a backing on. I am very slow at this - probably don't do enough tapestries to practise. 

I am relatively happy with the braiding, only a couple of spots that are not quite right but I have done it tightly for a change. 

I kept taking photos of the progress, partly to check that I had actually made any (progress, that is). Sometimes it is hard to see because things are slow. One part of the tapestry was a lot slower because it was vertical weaving, which is slower as you can't do one part till the nearby parts are done. 

However, the top part was mostly horizontal which is generally faster. But I was at the end and tried to use up the bits of wool I had on bobbins, making the decision-making more complicated. But it is done!!

My photography is about on a par with my even weaving, it isn't as crooked as it looks here. 

Amazing Virtual Tour AQIPP

 I received this link today: AQIPP 2021

The AQIPP show is at the Box Hill Town Hall, not far away. I will try to see it in person soon.

Here is a screen shot of my piece, from the virtual tour.

Mine is the middle one, of course, the one you can see all of. 
I don't know that names of the other artists, hopefully I can find out when I visit. 

The virtual tour is amazing - how much has technology advanced in our lives recently?? And how much have we learnt to use it? It has allowed people to attend events that they otherwise would not have seen. Today I attended a Zoom meeting for our local tapestry weaving group and one person was in NSW, she is very unlikely to be able to get to our small in person meetings. 

I also got to the Handweavers and Spinners Guild to pick up my tapestry from the Bendigo Wool show, which was cancelled the day before the public could go, in June or July (it is so long ago that I can't remember). 

There was a certificate and ribbon with it - very pleasing. 

Rethink

I could have called this post several things but the idea is the same. I looked at my tapestry today and thought that I could see a scene that was of a valley, possibly with a river, at sunset. That is not what I had been working towards!! But I like it.

So ... what to do? Leave it overnight, see what ideas I have come up with overnight (if any) and go from there. 

If I decide to go with the scene I am seeing, I will have to decide what to do about the rectangle that is already there, how to finish off the sky, what colours to use. But that 'shouldn't' be too hard. I have many photos of sunsets!

At the moment, I see that scene. But I have the blue frame within the image. What to do??? 

Will I continue with the frame? Will it make the piece a differnt size? (Yes.) 

Will it change the idea for the, possible, entry form? (Yes again.) 

I like the emerging image - and I don't have any real obligation to do the original idea. 

The blue frame is sewn to the inside part of the tapestry. If I decide to cut it out, it would be a simple thing to do. But I like the outside parts too.

Also, I am only thinking about the theme and entering the exhibition, it was just an idea to get me going. I have the spot on the wall where it will go, so I can do whatever I like. 

Decisions, decisions. Not my best thing. 

Another title could have been What a Difference the Light Makes. I have taken photos during the day and the sunshine has changed the image a lot.

The photo also changes the colours. I have yet to get a photo that looks like what I am actually weaving. This is adding to the confusion. 

I really do like the idea of how background colours change the perception of a consistent colour but that could be done again. I'll go and watch some tv, go to bed and then see what I think tomorrow.