A while back, I mentioned that I'd learned to weave on a frame loom. I took a class a friend of mine taught at the store, and I'm so glad that I did it! We built our own looms, and learned a few different stitch techniques. Or I would've if I hadn't plowed on through and finished my tapestry ahead of everyone else.
This is the one I wove in that class. I gifted it to a friend that let me stay at her place for 3 weeks while she was out of town and I was homeless after the breakup. She's a wonderful friend, and volcanologist to boot (that will make more sense when you read the description below).
It's mostly Icelandic wool, either commercially spun (top white and bottom black) or handspun (dark grey and bobbly cream), but the medium grey was Briggs & Little Heritage yarn. The item attached to the medium grey is actually a piece of vesicular basalt (volcanic rock with gas bubbles) wrapped with silver and sewn onto the tapestry. I was really inspired by the gorgeous shades of the Icelandic and of the layering that can occur with extrusive volcanism (lava flows). The whole thing was an ode to Iceland's geology, really.
I really love how this turned out, but the bobbly handspun second from the top intrigued me! See the little hill in the contact with the white? That formed naturally from larger bobbles stacking up as I wove. I really wanted to play with the nature of this yarn, and so the inspiration for my next design was born.
This tapestry was started before I moved into my new apartment in March, and was made as a "welcome to your new home" for myself. It was an essential thing to focus on when I was feeling so lost, since I find weaving really captures my focus and attention. Especially one like this, where I was really experimenting with the material and engrossed in the results.
Expect to see more tapestries from me in the future! They're so fun to do. I do need to make some for the store, since my friend has really hooked people into this art form.
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As an aside, this is the first time I really felt artistic in a long time. Unlike with the majority of my knitting and sewing, I felt like I wasn't just following instructions but actually using my artistic spirit to create something unique. Not that knitting or sewing can't be artistic, nor that others haven't created works of art in those mediums, but I never felt that way in regards to my own work; I don't consider myself an artist when it comes to sewing or knitting, but I definitely felt like one with these tapestries. What do you think? Do you feel like an artist, or at least, artistic when sewing or knitting? I always feel like I'm making pretty but practical items. I guess practical can be artistic as well, but I guess it comes from a prairie farming background, where you make what you need because it's necessary - hard to look at those skills as artistic as well.
