This week the tapestry has been cut off the loom ready for finishing.

It is being left for a few days to settle and then I will add the finishing touches.

The ends of the skeleton tree need stitched through to the back and there are some slits to sew up.  The 'pile' trees will get their final haircut.

The copper highlights will be added last.

A peek at the back immediately after it left the loom shows the wee forest of ends which need to be sorted out and tidied up.

A close up showing some of the textured and pile trees.

Trees 'darned' trees

Came back from 3 days in Aberdeen and had a fairly peaceful weekend. Then last Sunday night it was a wee bit windy. Alas one of the venerable trees decided to shed some branches and took out the phone line - third time in the past 6 months. Its amazing how frustrating it can get with no phones (we can't even get a mobile signal here!) and an internet connection which only popped up now and then and was really slow. The wee man in the call centre in India took a while to believe that he couldn't phone me back because I was ringing him on the mobile in a layby up the road and didn't want to hang around there for an hour or so!! By the time it was repaired on Friday I had a long list of calls to make and emails to reply.

It meant I couldn't update you all on progress. This photo was taken last week but I'll share it now and then take another tomorrow. In this one I was making a tree using a pile stitch.

It looks shaggy but will be much neater when its trimmed. You can see the grass and hedge are working better too.

Grass can be too green !

Despite some windy and cold weather I have managed to get in quite a few hours on the weaving thanks to my trusty gas heater.

Progress started slowly but steadily with lots of sampling along the way.

This is one of two sampling strips completed so far. I think by the time I get finished I may have enough to make a wee bag!

Progressing nicely .....on the right anyway.

Alas my attempts with the grass on the left of the weaving were not so good. You would think it would be easier as its just plain green grass but alas it has caused me several hours of frustration.

After several samples I actually wove about 2 inches but the colour just wasn't right. The problem was all my grass green colours were coming out just too green and bright.

I looked at the photo again and also at some others and eventually decided that part of the problem is the perspective. Photos are seeing things in 3 dimensions but I am weaving flat so the effect of light is different.

So I have stripped it out, remixed, resampled and started to weave it again.

Managed to get the sky showing through the foliage on the tree quite well and some texture in the bush. I'm not using texture in the reflection and all the reflection mixes have some biege or grey added to suitably dull the colour.

Working the weaving on its side is really making me think about techniques such as eccentric weaving. That's one I have used a lot in my landscapes but it's effect can be very different this way
round.

Yarn chasing!!

I've had a few days on the project now. I started by making up some colour blends and weaving samples.

Here you can see the first of my blending sheets.

Each 'thread' that I use is actually a blend of 5 finer yarns. I need to keep track of what colours I have used in each so I make up the blend, stick a wee sample on my sheet and write in above it which threads I have used.

Then I weave a small bit onto my sampler loom to see how it looks.

I had a slight problem when I started blending. The yarns are all in neat wee balls and when you try to pull lengths off several at once they tend to leap off the table and make a mass bid for freedom. So I tried trapping them in a box but they just wrestled themselves into a tangled mess.

After a bit of thought I cut some cane the right length to fit between the uprights of the bookshelf and strung them on there. That worked better but meant I was working in front of the door in poor light. My OH looked in on the way to his workshop on Sunday morning and discovered the problem. He disappeared for a few hours and then reappeared with a wee something he'd put together for me.

Hooray - wee balls firmly tethered.

And it solved another problem....... because every time they had run away once I'd caught them I then had to sort out which was which as some of the greens and blues are very similar.

Now they are under control and numbered so its much easier to create the blends..............and no more yarn chasing.

The weaving has started so I'll post another picture in a couple of days. Tonight I'm staying snug in front of a real fire. It was -5 outside by five o'clock this evening. If there are any brass monkeys out there I hope they have their thermals on!!

New Year - New Project

Happy New Year everyone.

I hope you are all faring well so far in 2012. Here we are fine - apart from the need for a little broken branch dodging as we drive in and out we have survived the winter intact so far.

I have a new project which I had intended to start before Christmas. It is a wallhanging based on this photograph of Sheffield Park Gardens.

Once I started gathering the materials I decided that I needed a wider range of greens. I am using mainly Weavers Bazaar yarns with some silk/cotton slubs from texere. I sent some little green squares off to the girls at Weavers Bazaare and the yarns arrived just a few days before Christmas.

Here they are all gathered together.

The wools are in the basket and the silks on the cones. I will use a blend of 5 strands.

This project is a challenge for me in more ways than one. It is a commission which means I have to stay within my brief and lot let my finished piece veer too much away from the original design. Although I usually start with a design I do quite often change colours, textures and sometimes the design as weaving progresses.

This piece will be hung in a place where it is intended it should capture and reflect natural light. The idea for this came from this practice piece which incorporates a few silky yarns and strands of heat patinated beaten copper. Copper strands will be added to this once the weaving is completed.

The bigger challenge is that this will be the first major piece which I will weave on its side. I usually work 'right way up' - that is with the front facing me and weaving from the bottom up. In this case there are lots of verticals in the trees which mean it will be better woven on its side.

Here is the loom warped up with my design sheet showing under the warps.

Instead of using a sketch or cartoon under the warps I am using the photograph enlarged.

Warps are fine cotton warp at 8epi. I have used similar warp but this is a new one which is a little stiffer. I hope this will help the hanging keep its shape when hung despite the added weight of the copper.

Now I'm ready to start weaving.....so watch this space.