I usually use the word "palarva" in a negative sense, but this time it has been an enjoyable journey! FINALLY all the prep work for my first big weaving project is finished.
The first photo shows my cartoon, copied in permanent ink from four sheets of letter paper (stuck together) onto Yupo (an acrylic watercolour paper). It is approx 20 inches wide and 15 inches high. The border is taken from a William Morris rug design that I began in my 20's and STILL haven't finished. I figured that if I worked both projects together, then I might actually end up with a hearth rug and wall tapestry at some point in my 40's!
The tree is the Celtic Tree of Life and resting under it's boughs is an acorn (for my English roots) and a pine cone for my Canadian future. These are the fruit of the woods that my loom is made of. The tapestry is called Homage to the Loom (at the moment!)
The second photo shows in detail the first stages in preparing the loom for weaving. Firstly I warped 120 double threads (the vertical threads), tying them onto the steel rods at the top and bottom of the frame. Then I wove across three double threads of the seine twine and formed them into tiny squares until there are 12 threads/inch. Then I wove 1/2 inch of the seine twine to fix that sett. I then made a double half-hitch onto all 240 warps with upholstery thread so that the tapestry will not fall off the twine when I eventually take it off the loom (the most important bit I think!). The dusky pink is an inch hem which will be tucked under when I frame the tapestry and then the darker pink is the first few rows of the actual tapestry! YAY! What an enjoyable palarva! I really did love each stage - good job that I've got an over-abundance of patience!
The last photo shows the cartoon stiched onto the back of the loom (which is actually the front of the tapestry!) and now .............vroom, vroom ............... I am raring to go! Can you tell I'm excited?!
I will no doubt bore you which oodles of photos over the next few months - hopefully showing more weaving successes than failures. I'm not at all sure that what I want to achieve is possible, but I do know that it will be fun along the way.........................................
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