Tag: cartoon

Tools Day: Cartoon Trials

Karen

Making a cartoon for a lizard tapestry this size is quite a process. First, I enlarge the photograph. Then, I trace the outlines of the details onto a sheet of clear acetate. Next, to make the cartoon, I trace the bold Sharpie lines of the acetate image onto interfacing material meant for pattern making. But next time, it will be different.

Tracing photograph to make a tapestry cartoon.
Tracing outlines from the enlarged photograph onto the sheet of acetate. Photo image on the iPad helps clarify which distinctive lines to draw.
Making a tapestry cartoon.
White poster board under the acetate makes the Sharpie lines visible. The interfacing material lays on top of the acetate so I can trace the lines to make my cartoon.

I don’t plan to use this interfacing material again for a cartoon. It is not stiff enough. As the tapestry progresses it becomes more and more difficult to keep the cartoon from puckering and creasing in places. A better option would have been stiffer buckram, like I used for my transparencies. (See – Quiet Friday: Painting with Yarn and Animated Images.) But I am not able to find buckram in sufficient width.

Unwanted creases in the tapestry cartoon.
Interfacing material is susceptible to puckers and creases. Unevenness in the cartoon can result in a distorted woven image on the tapestry.

After I finished weaving the lizard portion of the tapestry, I decided to experiment. I removed the interfacing cartoon and switched to the acetate sheet instead. There’s no puckering with this one! It is much easier to line up the cartoon with the weaving. It has drawbacks, though. Noisy! When I beat in the weft it makes thunderstorm sound effects. (Not so great for our temporary apartment life.) It’s also harder to see the cartoon lines. And the magnets I use to hold the cartoon slip out of place too easily.

Using a sheet of acetate for a tapestry cartoon.
Slat holds the cartoon up to the warp. To beat the weft, I move the slat out of the way of the beater, just under the fell line. The sheet of plastic would be a good prop for making sounds effects for a film about a thunderstorm.

Next time... White paper, like the gorgeous tapestry cartoon I have seen in Joanne Hall’s studio. That’s what I’ll use. Next time…

Joanne Hall and her tapestry cartoon!
Joanne Hall in her Montana studio. This is the cartoon she made for her impressive Bluebonnets tapestry that hangs on display in a Dallas hospital.

May you learn from your experiments.

All the best,
Karen

Weave Beyond Your Momentum

Karen

Do you remember that I said the background is less interesting to weave? I take that back! Blending these colors and forming the shapes is no less interesting than weaving the lizard. The green anole is the featured subject, filled with detail and many minute color changes. Weaving that lizard was a skill stretcher! But as I continue, I am weaving details of a different kind. The background is a log, not easily recognizable. It’s like looking at wood grain patterns through a magnifying glass. I’m hopeful everything in the final image will fit together when we see it from a distance.

Four-shaft tapestry. Shading and texture.
Color, shading, and texture work together to make the surface appear uneven. Some areas look as if they are raised, and others, especially the dark places, look like they are indented.
Detail of lizard tapestry.
After about three more warp advancements, the lizard and his green toes will be nowhere to be seen.
Four-shaft tapestry. Glimakra Ideal.
Little by little…
View of the tapestry in the direction it will hang.
Standing on a chair, I get a view of the tapestry in the direction it will hang. This is only one slice of the tapestry image, but it helps me imagine what the finished piece will be like.

Continue. I don’t want to lose momentum just because I finally made it through the hardest part. Keep going, being faithful to what you know to do. Faithful to what you know is true. Don’t be fooled by compelling, convincing, and subtle messages that divert from the truth. Continue walking by faith, trusting the outline, the cartoon, that the Grand Weaver prepared for us. It will all fit together when we see it from heaven’s eternity. That’s real hope.

May you keep your momentum.

In faith,
Karen

Grow Lizard Grow

Karen

There are no growth spurts with this lizard. He is certainly growing, but at a slow and steady rate. If I can keep this pace of about ten centimeters a week, I will be able to finish this tapestry before we move from the apartment—our temporary residence. The timeline is set. Will this slow-going, slow-growing lizard cross the finish line before I must dismantle the loom again? Time will tell. I have woven fifty centimeters. I have seventy-five centimeters to go.

Weaving a tapestry of a lizard.
Lizard’s foot and leg are starting to disappear around the breast beam on the right-hand side of the loom.
Many wool butterflies in action for this detailed tapestry.
Head of the lizard is visible on the cartoon under the warp. Many wool butterflies crowd each other, due to frequent color changes in the details.
Weaving the lizard's mouth and eye. Tapestry fun!
Lizard is visibly growing. Currently working on the red mouth and blue eye.

Grow. We are woven together by loving each other. Each of us, like strands of wool yarn, with our own degree of hue, saturation, and value, not to mention twist and plies, are united with each other when we hold fast to Jesus Christ, the designer and weaver. His tapestry grows, not in spurts, but slow and steady, year after year, century after century. Always teaching us to love his way—sacrificially. And we know he has just enough time to finish the tapestry masterpiece that he has envisioned from the very beginning.

May you see slow and steady progress in things that matter.

Happy Weaving,
Karen

Lizard Tapestry Disruption

Karen

I started the Lizard tapestry right before our big disruption. Selling your house means that every in-process project instantly becomes vulnerable. Yikes! After a sleepless night, I contacted my friend Joanne Hall. Can this weaving be saved? Yes!, she assured me, as she gave me instructions for dismantling the loom.

Getting ready to dismantle loom for relocation.
Yarn supply is packed up, including all the wool butterflies.
Getting ready to dismantle loom for moving.
Cartoon is removed.

Everything is logical about the process. Undo things, tie parts together, take things apart. And I don’t have to cut off the weaving? No. Remove the beam cords from the cloth beam. It’s that simple.

Lamms and treadles removed for moving the loom.
Lamms and treadles have been taken off.
Moving a loom without ruining a tapestry in progress!
Beam cords are removed from the cloth beam.
Removing the warp beam. Relocating the loom.
Steve unscrews a bolster that holds one side of the warp beam so I can remove the warp beam.
Warp beam removed! Hope to put this back together.
Holding the precious bundle!
Taking the loom apart.
Taken apart. Tapestry, reed, and shafts are rolled and bundled up in the fish beach towel.

Now all I have to do is wait…

Relocating my loom.
Everything fits in the car, ready for transport.

All the dust has settled, the house transaction is done, and the loom has been re-located and put back together. It’s the first thing you see when you enter our ground-floor apartment.

Getting ready to re-assemble loom.
New location for the loom is in the living room of our apartment.
Simple Swedish loom assembling.
Simple Swedish loom assembling.
Re-assembling my loom after relocating.
Re-attaching the bolster to hold the warp beam.
Re-assembling loom after relocating.
Tapestry in view.
Using a spare heddle as a cord threader.
Spare Texsolv heddle works as a cord threader (I forgot to pack the “real” cord threader) to re-attach the cords on the cloth beam.

What about the Lizard? Can I resume where I left off? Good news: IT WORKED!

Ready to weave after relocating the loom!
Everything is put back together. Beam cords are re-attached. Yarn is unpacked. Warp is tensioned.
Lizard four-shaft tapestry.
Lizard foot grips the breast beam as weaving resumes!

When have you had to wait? Something you dearly long for is unreachable for a while. Waiting for the Lord is always waiting with hope. I trusted my friend’s advice. So, my hope was strong while I waited to see this lizard take shape again. In a similar way, I can trust the Lord when there is a disruption. Wait with strong hope. Wait for the grace to begin again.

May you wait patiently.

Happy Weaving,
Karen

Tapestry Territory

Karen

Here we go on this adventure! The yarn is plentiful, and sorted into color groups by value. I have tweaked and updated the cartoon, putting measurement marks along the edges and adding shading to places where I want texture. I wove a header after the sample, but it drew in too much. I pulled it out and redid it, making sure to use adequate weft this time. I am now ready! I’m walking into four-shaft tapestry territory!

Beginning of a four-shaft tapestry.
Background begins with wool butterflies in shades of black.
Wool butterflies for a four-shaft tapestry on the Glimakra Ideal.
Several butterflies are introduced across the beginning section of the four-shaft tapestry.
Four-shaft tapestry just beginning.
Linen weft is used between some of the wool picks.

Walking. It’s how we live our life. Step by step into an unknown future. To walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, we follow the Grand Weaver’s cartoon, which he reveals to us, sometimes row by row. And he supplies us with the yarn butterflies in the right colors and values to create the tapestry of his design. We may never see his whole cartoon, but we have the sure hope of seeing the finished tapestry in all its glory!

May you be ready for an adventure.

Happy weaving,
Karen