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A Tapestry Weaver's Toolkit and Beyond with Brenda Osborn

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WP Weaving Studio

This eight-week class will offer students some important tapestry weaving techniques that will enhance their abilities to design and weave a tapestry of their own creation. For students who have already taken this class, they will focus on designing and weaving a small tapestry.

First-time students will learn these techniques:

  1. Learning to weave in opposing sheds.
  2. Weaving small shapes and noting the difference in tension required to weave small shapes and larger shapes. 
  3. Weaving angles. The nature of weaving is a grid, and weaving angles must make use of the grid by maneuvering the highs and lows of the weft threads to create an angle that suits your intention.
  4. Weaving circles—like weaving angles, but more advanced. 
  5. Color blending, both on the bobbin and by weaving with hachures, or ‘hatches,’ for blending colors and shading.
  6. “Taking a line for a walk.”

This exercise will make use of all the techniques covered in class. Repeat students will begin with the exercise “taking a line for a walk” to refresh their skills needed to move on to weaving their own tapestry design. During weaving time, I will meet with each of the on-going students singly to work on designing a cartoon for your first project and as a group to refresh your skills on the techniques already covered when you first took this class. I will have some materials available for igniting your creativity. First time students may participate in this activity as time allows after they have completed the exercises on the individual techniques.

This class will meet once a week on Wednesdays, from 9:30 am – 12:30pm, from May 4, 2022, through June 22, 2022. The class is limited to 8 students, and there will be a materials fee that includes an adjustable tensioning loom, warp materials and some small tools. Repeat students can use the loom they purchased in the previous class. The teacher will provide weft materials for practicing techniques. Students must supply note taking materials, tapestry bobbins for weaving, basic drawing materials and their own wefts for their tapestry design. We will discuss appropriate wefts during the first few classes. The teacher will provide a link for where to buy the tapestry bobbins required.