HEMS AND MOUNTING

I received my tapestry back from the traveling ‘Circles and Squares’ exhibition a couple of weeks ago. I have not been showing any finished tapestries here for a while now and as it has been exhibited I thought I would show some photos, as someone has asked me if I would talk about this tapestry. I did enjoy working on a black warp, something that I had not tried before and it is always wonderful to begin a new colour as the design begins to take shape.

I am really not that keen on weaving circles and each circle in this tapestry is a different shape. Sometimes circles can end up looking more like an egg than a circle. Often I will weave a few passes at the top to pack the shape down just to see if I am happy with it. Then pull the extra weft out and start weaving the design again.

I did not take many photos of this tapestry while I was weaving. But I did enjoy beginning new shapes and colours although the squares drove me a bit crazy as it is a sure fire way to see if the weaving is uneven.

When you weave a tapestry that has no warp showing when the tapestry is finished, you either need to weave a hem and turn it under. Sew the warps to the back or you can use a row of soumac . If you choose to do the soumac in the same colours across the tapestry as the design, It can elongate the design. I realized after cutting the tapestry from the loom that I was not happy with the edge.

I was not certain if I could change the hem after the tapestry was off the loom, but I did have a practice on another tapestry on a different loom. I did feel reasonably confident that I could re chain the edge, but I used the pins to make certain that the other chaining did not pull out. It did not take long to fix and I am certainly happy with the results.

This tapestry is woven in mercerized cotton and is terrible to try to get a good photograph. The sheen on the tapestry makes most of the photos appear out of focus. I keep telling myself that I will NEVER leave it till the last minute to mount my work to get it ready for exhibition. I have a frame for this tapestry and I need to sew it to the matt board. Due to the fact that it is so difficult to photograph I have decided to get a local photographer with experience in photographing textiles to take some photos for me once it is on the matt board and the title and signature underneath it are done. Sometimes it is difficult to know what is the best thing to do. Some exhibitions require un mounted works. Sometimes there are restrictions on the overall size of the work. I cant leave finished tapestries just sitting around not mounted, but I also don’t like the idea of unstitching one that is framed just so I can exhibit it somewhere else.