Tapestry Weaving finished at last

At last I have finished weaving this tapestry, the largest I have done for my Tapestry Diploma course.  Is about 46cm wide and 86cm tall.  It is based on a part of an abstract collage I did earlier this year.  This is the first time I have used mixed thread for the whole work but basically it is a colour study.  Mostly woven with 2ply wool, but with a little mohair added to achieve the colours and textures I wanted.  I also used some synthetic yarn and some small beads (hard to see) are added to the centres of the dark shapes.  Many of the colours are hatched into each other and I should have done more of this in the earlier part at the bottom but I was just feeling my way then.  Sewing up vertical slits is not my favourite task but I had some quite long slits to sew as I went.

I have 5cm hems turned under at top and bottom and sewn securely.  I have also sewn velcro to the hem at the top and attached an aluminium batten with velcro stuck on to it for mounting.  There is a slight shadow line across the photo near the top but this does not show on the actual tapestry.

I really enjoyed the experience of playing with colours and choosing ones to go together in the bobbins I used to weave with. 

Tapestry Weaving Progress

Large Tapestry
It has been a month since my last post but in that time I have been weaving most days trying to complete tapestry weaving assignments for my TAFE diploma.  Here is a picture of progress of the large tapestry which I begun some time ago.  I have nearly finished then have to do a hem and mount it with a batten and velcro to hang.  It has been a lot of fun mixing coloured threads in the bobbins to create effects.  But I can't say I like the rolling warp I had to use as it's not possible to get an overall view of the design as I'm working.



Tapestry Technical Sampler (below)

The title says it all - learning to weave straight lines, curves, outlines and points. It was remarkably hard to do (woven from the side) and is not perfect. But then tapestry weaving is a long process to learn - I'm into my 5th year of the course!

Tapestry Sampler for Commission (below)

Another assignment was to do a commission for someone's home. I used a friend of mine and she was interested in tree bark patterns for the wall space in her home. This is a sampler to scale of a photograph I took ages ago of snow gum bark when it is very red and green.

This is the original photograph of the snow bark and the sampler was done accross part of the top right section. I interpreted it fairly widely although the colours are actually a little closer than they seem here on the screen.