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Tapestries-- Pictures woven into fabric

Weaving a tapestry is a fancy variation on the same science of weaving fabric that is destined to be made into clothing. The primary distinction between weaving fabric and weaving a tapestry is the a tapestry often has an elaborate design that depicts a realistic or abstract design.

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Plain fabric can be painted with dyes,

inks and pigments to change its color.

A tapestry is made with the color

changes in its structure!

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Seen above,  a simple version of a table loom. The Warp Strings are stuck into notches in the horizontal warp sticks, attached to the  loom, to keep the strings parallel and untangled. 

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The Weft strings create the color pattern, covering up the warp, and a hair comb is used to compress the fabric together.

 

In this case, the pattern is a stepped diagonal stripe pattern, to make the fabric, to sew into a bag, like the  hemp, wool and jute one on the left.

What you see in this picture:

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This is an upright two shed tapestry loom. It was made about 1940 at the Dryad company in England.

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The Warp strings ( vertical) are dressed on the loom and fed alternately through the the two sheds.

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The Warp Beam( with paper strips on top) holds the unused warp strings until use, parallel and untangled.

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The fabric or tapestry is made by feeding the Weft strings( horizontal) to fill in the space between the Warp.

 

The Weft is  coiled on stick shuttles  (seen on bench) to weave over- under- over- under the warp strings to make fabric.

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The Beater  bar or comb pushes the weft densely into the existing fabric after every horizontal pass.

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The shed is changed after every pass using rope, pulleys, and foot pedals.

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The Cloth Beam ( obscured by the striped tapestry on the loom) collects the finished work and maintains proper tension.

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Sandy Dunes

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Remember the last time that you want to the beach-- was it not serene and beautiful?

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$65

Landscape patterns 2

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This is an intricate, organic exploration of many tapestry techniques.

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There are shiny man- made fibers, wool, linen silk and cotton in this sampler.

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$50

 Sand and and sky

 

This beautiful tapestry has button- hole like slits where the color blocks transition, allowing light or the wind to flow through.

 

The bamboo that serves for a hanging rod goes through slits created in the weave.

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25 inches wide, 5 feet tall.

$400

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