I'm Back!!!

The cats, Sid and YoYo, OR, Frick 'n' Frack, are now about 7 months old. They are huge, happy and healthy, playing in the backyard as we speak and I am under-employed and weaving away. Since I last posted I completed three cut pile rugs using a double courdoroy technique from the Peter Collingwood epic tome, "Techniques of Rug Weaving.". It is basically a block weave, with threading blocks of either 3, 5, or 7 threads that create weft floats. I recommend threading in three thread blocks for a nice floor rug with a short pile. Seven thread floats creates a very clownish 70's effect, and even five is still a little too long for a floor rug. Three is perfect and you can really beat the threads with your head into standing up while the rug is still on the loom. The threading sequence and treadling are all described in Collingwood's book and are a little beyond the scope of this post (especially since it's been a few months since I wove them) but they are very simple and no weaver should be intimidated to try this! It was fun and successful and I would weave using this technique again to try even more possibilities of design. Here are two examples of the floor rugs I made.

This one I call Ellegua, in honor of the Haitain Loa of the crossroads. He is an intermediary between humans and the Gods, a trickster, a protector, and my special friend. If you make a shrine for Ellegua behind your door he will keep evil-doers from entering. I would love to put this rug behind my front door but with cats, constant traffic and three bikes coming in and out it would get more destroyed than it already is.This was the first pile rug I made and it was pooped on two days after I brought it home by the kittens. I hadnt even had time to do the hems! It never fully recovered and lives in my room now in a kind of wretched state. A shame, because it really was pretty!
Which brings me to a word about pile rugs: they can get really, really messed up fast. The more you walk on them, the more they lose their pile and collect dust and dirt way down deep. The pile seems to spring up again when vacuumed, but these are not for the precious. Unless you live in a child, pet and shoe free household, your pile rug is gonna get it. Luckily, they do love getting beat again and again, so they are long-lasting. AND one of the best advantages of weaving them is that you can do all your color changing on the front so there are no loose threads to stitch in on the back at the end!This final piece is a tapestry wall-hanging that I made in response to the Gulf Oil Spill. New Orleans has always been a huge part of me. I've lived there, many of my friends still live there, and I am always plotting in some corner of my mind how to return. It has influenced my art, my thinking, my soul in ways that are inextricable from the rest of my life. The oil spill affected me profoundly and I found that the only way I could not feel sick all day long was to make art. What resulted was this piece which features a cut pile wave of oil and the Louisiana coast in tapestry. It is the first piece I have ever had professionally photographed and I am very happy with the result. Oh! And it's for sale!!!!