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My first real education in tapestry weaving was at Northern New Mexico College in El Rito, NM. I was part of the Fiber Arts program which focused on traditional Hispanic weaving styles.* Our final weaving project of the course was to weave a large Saltillo.
Last weekend while reorganizing my studio, I found my Saltillo on a shelf. It is beautiful. And it is completely unfinished.
Many of us like to use small looms we can carry around or weave tapestry on on our laps. A few years ago I made this video for a blog post that Schacht Spindle Company did about their peg looms. In the video I show you how to warp these looms with uneven spacing to get the sett you want.*
The Schacht peg looms come with a rather odd sett of about 5.5 ends per inch and for weaving small, that doesn’t work for me most of the time. Often I warp these looms with a 1, 2, 1, 2 pattern to get 8-9 ends per inch or doubled to get about 11.
I have found weavers to be the most wonderful people. I suppose there are exceptions, but generally they are curious and able to ask questions. Sure, weavers also tend to like structure and can be slow to see around the rules they’ve made for themselves, but in general, the love of material and creating usually wins.
Weavers can generally also locate themselves in space. You have to have some spatial skills to figure out how to make weave structures, so the fact that they can also find their way to Taos, New Mexico from all over the Northern hemisphere doesn’t really surprise me.
I taught two retreats in Taos in close succession this fall. It is always good to be in Taos and the retreat I have in November is a group that comes back every year. I’m always so grateful for this group of weavers that have become friends over the years. It is important to find friends who are tapestry weavers if you can whether that be online or people you can actually meet in person.
Getting to Taos in the winter is usually fairly easy, and this day was no exception. Going home there was a snowstorm and I didn’t get to enjoy this view looking toward Chama from Highway 64.
Once a year I have a sale on all* my online classes. This sale starts today. Because so many of you live in other countries in different time zones, you’ll find that the codes below are good through Friday, December 5th. If you have been wanting an online class or two or three, this is the week to purchase those.
