The clouds at the top of this piece are going to prove to be the most challenging. I may need to dye some silk. But I’m going to try to go back in with a little dark grey on the tops of the bottom clouds and mix in a little more light grey on the top clouds if I’m not happy at the end. I’m enjoying this piece a lot but I have to stop myself from working too long at a time because of my tendinitis. Holding a needle is not good for me these days!
About half of this silk weft was handspun by a group of women in the mountains of, I think, Colombia. It was a project sponsored by a US group to set a community up with a legal and sustainable business in an area where lots of coca is grown. Unfortunately, the US also blasted them with paraquat so I think that they were not able to continue. They were raising silkworms and learning, so some of the silk was badly spun. But I was happy with it for my purposes, because I like uneven textures and it was perfect for a cloud tapestry. I dyed much of it myself and rest of the silk is commercially dyed silk floss from Treenway Silks in British Columbia, on a cotton warp.
slowly she turned 