I was saying to a friend that I will never be a minimalist artist when I remembered the last drawing I made. It was last year, made on sheets of the paper you put in your washing machine to prevent colors to bleed.

Au moment oú je disais à un ami que le minimalisme n’etait pas mon truc, je me suis souvenu du dernier dessin que j’ai fait l’an dernier, sur les feuilles qu’on met dans la machine à laver pour empêcher le linge de déteindre.

I’ve been collecting these sheets for years now, because I love their colors.

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I am the owner of this kilim because it is damaged and with holes. Otherwise, I couldn’t have afford it, as it seems like a museum piece.

The design is simple and powerful, the colors are natural dyed. From books I read, I think it may be more than a hundred years old.

Un de mes plus beaux kilims, que je n’ai pu acheter il y a bientôt 30 ans que parce qu’il était troué et abîmé.

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As in the first piece, eyes look quite creepy when you weave from the back. These hairy things in the middle of a face make me uncomfortable. But with my little mirror I saw that from the front the eyes of Anita look quite normal. So let’s go on. Another surprise is the twins are becoming more and more different, with a will of their own.

Sur l’envers de la tapisserie, les yuex sont très bizarres, comme s’ils avaient des cheveux. Creepy.

The next project will be a gift, so I won’t publish it till the recipient see it. I will have to manage two weavings at a time, I have to finish this gift before September 12 th, as it willbe a birthday present. Anyway, here is a glimpse on the colors.

Le prochain projet est un cadeau, qui doit être terminé pour le 12 septembre et qui ne sera donc pas publié avant.

I don’t know if I will like the whole of it, but I am beginning to be in agreement with parts of it. It was difficult with the rules I gave to myself, so I changed some of them!

Ca va mieux, je commence à être d’accord avec ce que je fais.

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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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