Claudine is a founder of the South Essonne Tapestry Guild. She finished last week her first weaving, very neat and well done, on a Hokett loom.

She will be part of the first meeting of the guild on Friday, for an afternoon of weaving and sharing (and eating cakes).

Le premier tissage de Claudine, membre fondateur de la Guilde de Tapisserie du Sud Essonne. Bravo!

I’m struggling! First of all, why did I choose as main colors orange and green, colors I dislike and never use? I don’t think I have anything of that color in my entire house. As a fellow weaver said, human are funny creatures.

Then I began to weave the background with an irregular hatching, wasn’t satisfied with it, unweaved, and tried regular hatching. It didn’t work neither. I realised it was because hatching has a meaning, looking like a shade, and was disturbing. I changed for a pick and pick with chiné, and was more satisfied.

But…..I dont’t know how I will manage these greens, oranges and yellows to work together. I event thought of giving up. I won’t, anyway, not today. We’ll see what happens next.

AA2 est une purge! Je ne sais pas comment je vais m’en sortir avec tous ces verts et oranges, couleurs que je ne peux pas saquer, je ne sais pas pourquoi je les ai choisies. J’ai même pensé à tout arrêter, mais bon, 100 fois sur le métier…….

It is that name weavers in Aubusson call the line of yarn with all the colors they will use on a piece. Mine are very small, in Aubusson, rosaries can have as many as on hundred colors. The one with numbers is Alice and Anita’s, because I planned the colors before weaving and decided where they would be. So I just had to look at my paper and know which color to pick. For Not Matisse, it was not useful, and I just made a rosary in order to keep trace of the colors. For AA2, I will do a rosary, but the colors are roughly indicate on a sketch.

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Celina, Claudine and I decided today, May 19th, 2019, to found this association. South Essonne is where we live, a green neighbourhood near Paris. Our goals are to help eacher other in mastering tapestry skills, to weave together from time to time, to promote tapestry weaving amongst our acquaintances . Maybe one day we will organize an exhibition, or workshop of initiation to tapestry ? Let’s give us a year and see what we will have done.

Claudine, Celina et moi avons fondé aujourd’hui la Guilde de la Tapisserie du Sud Essonne. Rendez-vous dans un an, pour voir ce qu’elle est devenue.

I’m bothered everytime I see the name of this tool, Lazy Kate. Where does it come from? I prefer the French word, much more neutral : un cantre.

Anyway, for less than 1 $, a piece of wood and nails, I made myself a Lazy John, I hope it will work, because it was a pain in the neck to do all these bobbins of chiné for Not Matisse without it.

Je me suis fabriqué un cantre, parce que ça a été une vraie galère de faire les bobines de chiné sans cet outil. J’espère qu’il va marcher, sinon je demanderai de l’aide au padawan de ma padawan!

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It began as a sample to try my new Big Sister Mirrix loom. I didn’t take time to elaborate something. I just drew a sketch of four dancers, wove the warp (8 epi) and went on. I chose on the go colors I liked, and decided to have a try on color gradation, chiné and demi-duite.

I learnt a lot. It was the first time I wove from the side, and so the first time I had to deal with so many curves. Due to my job, there was a gap of two weeks between the first three dancers and the last on. As I hadn’t any plans, at the end of the weaving, I had lost track of my initial decisions, and there may be a lack of coherence between the beginning and the end, and the width at the end is 1,5cm less than at the beginning. The whole piece is about 20×50 cm. (Roughly 10×20 inches)

What surprised me too is that I didn’t realize till the very end the picture will be the reverse, as I weave from the back. I knew it but didn’t really visualize it.

All in all, I’m quite happy with Not Matisse. I achieved all the little goals I gave to myself, I like the colors, I improved my weaving skills. It may be the first piece I finish and mount, something I haven’t done yet. Next project, Alice et Anita 2, which I will from now call AA2. I am still hesitating for some of the colors. I have another project on the side, which will be quite challenching, I will (or not) post about it later.

Mes amis français et d’ailleurs, normalement le Google translate sur la droite de la page devrait tout vous traduire, c’est son boulot….

Is improving each day. Here are her last pieces,woven on a Hokett loom

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Celina has just ordered a Mirrix, and is impatiently waiting for the delivery. Her dedicated husband, Olivier, wanted to help. So he built her a loom, inspired by the Mirrix. Isn’t it beautifully crafted? And it works! With a customised lice comb as a beater, Celina is ready to go. Happy weaving!

Olivier a construit ce fabuleux métier pour Celina, en attendant la livraison du Mirrix. Avec un peigne à poux adapté, tout est prêt pour une nouvelle tapisserie!

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The loom is ready, warped at 12epi. The header is woven. The cartoon has been taped, then sewn. The colors are chosen, the design is planned. Samples have begun. Launching next week-end I bet, if Not Matisse is finished.

Tout est prêt pour Alice et Anita, je commence sûrement le week-end prochain, après Not Matisse

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Done. Could have been smoother on the curves, but I am happy of the colors, the orange doesn’t seem to come from nowhere. I a going on with the chiné and the irregular hatching, sometimes struggling because I’m using different kinds and thickness of wool ( I’m blending Faro, Weaversbazar and Aubusson, that’s a mess). Let’s go for the yellow dancer!

Le danseur orange est fini, et je suis assez contente de la manière dont la couleur s’intègre aux autres. J’attaque le danseur jaune, avec toujours des difficultés à mélanger des laines d’épaisseur différentes.

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