First there was the photo, taken at Healing Ground in Oak Ridge, North Carolina.

Then there was the idea and the cartoon…

Then there was a long period of dithering because I couldn’t decide between two approaches. One was to make the “path” blue, the maze white, and sew on buttons or smooth worn pieces of shell.

The other was to use all these little samples of handspun, natural or naturally dyed wool that were given to me along with the used loom I bought eight years ago, and make it more realistic.

I decided to start with the more traditional tapestry, and if I’m hungry for more, weave the other one.

Update:  I’ve added a place near the top of the sidebar where you can see the latest progress on the tapestry.

3.5 x 2.5″
cotton yarn, cardboard, brown paper, shipping label, ink

See this post for the story behind it.

I jammed up my printer playing with this brown paper and I think that I killed it! But I do like the effect it made on the words. The “prettier” side is actually the back of the card. It is supposed to have my contact information on it and I have to figure that out. I have a blue gel pen at work that might do the trick.

This is my first artist trading card. There are only two rules for ATCs - they must be 2.5 x 3.5 inches (baseball card size) and they must be traded or given away, never sold.

This was a lot of fun and I think that I’ll keep it up. Hopefully I’ll have plenty to trade when I go to Art & Soul in early May.

The Take It Further Challenge for February had two options: a color combination and/or a concept prompt of “What are you old enough to remember?”

I wanted to do both, but blanked out on how to do it until yesterday. My concept had more to do with technology - the phone system, mimeographs instead of copiers, etc. I thought about collage and I might still work with this idea, since I have a great secretary’s manual from the 1930s to work with. (By the way, I’m a secretary, and I’m the daughter of a secretary.) But I ached to do some more with tapestry, so I began by pulling out yarns that were a close match to the color challenge.

I couldn’t find the shade of brown, and it irked me because I felt that it was so familiar that I must have it somewhere. I stopped and took a few moments to straighten up my studio, and there it was - my cardboard box that I used as a loom for the tapestry bag. I decided to incorporate a small cardboard loom into my project for the brown color, and I cut the box into small pieces. One piece had the UPS shipping sticker on it, and I thought, I remember when there wasn’t a bar code or number on every single thing that was sold or shipped, and you didn’t have a different password or ID number for every different purpose, and the technology that is supposed to make our lives more efficient has complicated our lives in many ways.

Then I realized that this was the piece that I would use for my loom.

The bar code is meant to look like the weft on that side, but I am so tempted to weave the whole thing. I’ll upload the finished object when it’s done.

(Later that evening…)

I wove a frame around the bar code. I’ll finish this tomorrow night. The weaving is done. And it was fun.

I finished the tapestry bag on Sunday afternoon. The closure is a drilled pebble button, and there is a piece of cardboard in the bottom to hold its shape between the lining and the bag.

Don’t…ask…how I did the lining. Dumb luck with much cursing and sticking pins in my fingers. It was a lesson in persistence and pain, and I finally resorted to an iron and Stitch Witchery.

Next time, I will make the lining darker, although it does help me find things in my bag. Also will make the inner pockets bigger. The straps are perfect!

Dimensions: 6″ wide on short sides, 10″ wide on long sides, 6.25″ tall.
Linen warp, wool weft.

The weft is mostly discarded wool given to me by other weavers or weaving teachers. Much of it is the product of beginning dyers, as there are many spots where the wool was tied too tightly in the dyepot and it created a resist. I decided to use these random spots as abstract sparkles in the water or reflections.

Here’s what the inside of the box looks like. I really love the backs of tapestries, so it’s a bit of a shame to line this, but I’ve decided to make it a functional handbag. The lining will be attached with velcro so that it can be removed and laundered.

Left to do: Weave two straps from the brown wool on my inkle loom, and sew in. Figure out how to sew lining. Sew lining. Attach lining. Attach a stone button for the closure. Maybe embellish with a few more stone buttons. Wear with joy and attack every day with a lint roller to keep the cat hair from embedding in it.

I’m working on my own on the Take it Further Challenge, since the sign-up was closed, and I respect how much work it can be for a host of one of these blog challenges. I figure if they close it, they have good reason. But I’ll still crash the Flickr group and upload photos there. Maybe!

The concept option of the challenge is “What am I old enough to remember?” Since I am a history buff and on the upward slope to 50 (yikes, did I read that right? HOO BOY), and since I am passionate about heritage food, this is a fun prompt for me. It saddened me when I read some of the comments from participants in other countries that said that they would do the color option because their childhood memories were painful, such as growing up under Pinochet. It makes me realize that despite my occasional rantings about the state of our government, I’ve had it pretty damn good.

I jotted down a lot of ideas. For instance, I remember when I was growing up we had a “party” line on our telephones that we shared with a neighbor. All phones looked the same (unless you were rich) and you rented them from the only phone company available: Ma Bell.

I remember watching the first man walk on the moon on television.

I remember when we made biscuits at home and you could not buy them at a fast food joint, or retrieve them from a can or the freezer. Biscuits were for Sunday “dinner” (lunch to you city folks). If a woman was skilled at making biscuits, that was a real source of pride. You always were in competition against your mother or your mother-in-law. I never have had the courage to compete against my mother’s biscuits. I know when I am licked.

I remember swinging on wisteria vines slithering up into huge ancient oak trees, yodeling like Tarzan.

I remember being able to roam freely in the woods, as long as it was after the first freeze and before it got warm. My mother’s fear was rattlesnakes, copperheads, and cottonmouths, not child predators. I collected tadpoles and made lean-tos. Once I slipped out my bedroom window in the middle of a bright full moon, and walked through my familiar territory. That’s a beautiful memory I’ll never forget.

I remember picking up arrowheads on our family farm, and tossing them over my shoulder because I thought they were everywhere. Now it is very hard to find one.

I remember copying our high school newspaper on a mimeograph machine, because copiers were very new and uncommon then. There was no such thing as a personal computer.

Here is a theme that I think that I’ll go with: I remember when it was illegal to patent life, and a living thing’s DNA was unmapped and its genes belonged to only itself. Many people today don’t realize what a huge shift in ethics and technology that ruling brought in the early 80s. I didn’t until recently.

What are you old enough to remember?

Tapestry - in terms of time, it may be the ultimate “slow” cloth. Especially for artists who raise their sheep, shear and spin the wool, dye it, and weave it.

There’s a wonderful interview on the latest podcast of Weavecast with my very favorite artist, Sarah Swett, she of the instructions for the tapestry box below and many, many exquisite tapestries. When you visit Sarah’s virtual gallery, and really you must, be sure to move your mouse around the tapestries and click on any spot where your cursor changes. It will take you to a close-up of the spot. Every tapestry is a glimpse into a different world.

So much of what Sarah said in this interview resonated with me. Tapestry is one of the most mindful arts there is - it is plain weave, simple stuff but so complex. You do not undertake tapestry if you are in a hurry to finish, but if tapestry undertakes you, you will live in every place that you lay the weft.

I just read a little book called “Craft to Heal.” The author talks about flow, the state you find yourself in when you are so totally absorbed in the present moment that time disappears. That is what I often experience when I am weaving a tapestry.

Listen to the podcast even if you are not a weaver. If you are a creative soul, it will speak to you.

Here’s the latest progress on my tapestry box! Whee!