I know, bushy tassels isn’t the best word, but how else would you describe these fluffy guys? Fluffy Guy Tassels? Haha, nope not better. If you brainstorm a better name let me know.
I love how these tassels turned out, they are really kind of wild. I attached mine on both ends of a braided string, but you can attach yours at the bottom of a weave or where ever inspires you. Continue Reading
I’m so excited for today’s Weaver Interview! I’ve been a long time admirer of Lisa Pate’s work. She is super creative and I always feel inspired by her work. Not only does Lisa weave, but she also paints, art journals, spins and dyes yarn, and teaches art to little artists (I wish I could enroll my kids in her class). Lisa has a great sense of texture, composition, and color and she isn’t afraid to weave big. Ok so let’s get to know Lisa…
How did you first come across weaving? Continue Reading
I’ve been looking back at the weaves I make and noticed that I have a tendency to make weaves that have dimensional textures. And by that I mean I’ve only really made a few that were flat by design. I think this is because weaving is such a tactile medium and I love the ability to add volume.
At the same time, a weave that is flat can have a lot of texture to it too, which might not be something people often think about.
Whenever I’m feeling un-inspired I like to think through the different textures that can be woven. This helps me come up with some new things to try out. Mixing the flat textures with the dimensional textures is hands down my favorite thing to do. Continue Reading
As you may know, I really love to think of ways to use up my yarn scraps. It’s really hard to throw away all those scraps of lovely yarn , especially when some of them might be 5 inches long. But what do you do with those beautiful pieces of yarn? I shared the two ways I’ve used my scraps in the past here. And today I’m sharing a third way to use your scraps. This method is best for all those longer pieces of yarn that are just short enough to not want to use them in a weave.
So what are we doing? We’re going to use that weaver’s knot technique (which you can find the steps for here) and make ourselves some scrap yarn!! To make your scrap yarn the most appealing, I recommend sorting your scraps by colors. I didn’t only pick yarn scraps that matched, but I did focus on cool toned colors, with the exception of a yellow that went with my lime green. Continue Reading
If you’re like me, you have a large collection of yarn scraps that are just long enough to not want to throw them away. So what do you do with your yarn scraps?
I’m always trying to think up a new way to use them and two ways that have been really helpful are making a pom pom from the scraps and also making a shag weave. I find both of these to be really fun. The way I approached both was to take a bunch of scrap yarns that I had kept in a bag and put all those colors together. Both times it worked out really well and I used some colors together that I normally would not have. Continue Reading
As I just talked about, I purchased some cotton macrame string that I wanted to try weaving with. It weaves up really beautifully and even though the string is very soft, it has s great stiffness to it that would make added texture really easy. I plan to try the pile weave with this next and probably some other weaving techniques too!
While I was weaving with the cotton string, I thought why not try a simple macrame knot in fringe I was making? It’s actually pretty fun to knot with this string, I can see the macrame attraction. The knots in the fringe add a nice texture to the weave and can be done with any fiber (as long as it has enough grip to the fiber).
For a while now I’ve been eyeing the beautiful cotton string that macrame artists use. From the limited research I did, I saw that there are strings that are braided and strings that are twisted (and probably a lot of other information that I haven’t learned yet). The twisted string quickly became my target, because all I could think about was the amazing fringe/tassels/texture that I could create with it, especially having the option to un-twist it if I wanted. Once I was done daydreaming I searched for the cotton string of my dreams. Surprisingly a lot of what I found was outside of the U.S. so the shipping was waaayyy more then the actual price of the string (you know, because a spool of it is heavy!).
A lot of people have asked me about mailing weaves. I’m not sure if there is a better way to do it, but I will share what works for me.
The best part about weaves is that they are flexible. It depends on what you have created, but besides the rod/branch they are hung from, they can be folded to be smaller in size. Continue Reading
I’m so excited to have an interview with Kelly Chapman of Kelaoke. I’ve been following Kelly on Instagram for a few years. I really love to see all the unique and new things she makes. Her style is so inspiring and she isn’t afraid to take risks with her art. Besides weaving and macrame-ing (excuse me making up words) the coolest things, she also makes gorgeous earrings and necklaces. They really are stunning! Ok enough of me gushing, let’s get to know Kelly better…
How did you first come across weaving? Continue Reading
I was asked this question a while ago, a newer weaver was starting to pile up a lot of weaves that she had made. She wanted to do something with the weaves, but selling them was not an option she was interested in. This made me wonder what do you do with your weaves?
A few options that I’ve done and have seen others do are: