The Bach tapestry project slowly grew over the winter months and I thought I would share some detailed photos of the weaving for a change.
Master Weaver, Naoko decided to use the "pick and pick" technique for the pa fences.
With Pick and Pick you weave one weft in one direction in one color and then another weft in that same direction in another color to make a line instead of weaving in one direction and then back in the other direction. After weaving the first two wefts from left to right, weave two more from right to left (first black and then beige). Then weave two more (again, black and then beige) back from left to right. You can see that when I do that you start to see clearly the results of Pick and Pick. Half the warp threads are covered in black and half are covered in beige.When you first start out weaving these rows, they don’t look like much, but as you keep going you can see that the vertical strips start to become apparent.
Should you be a newbie or budding weaver and interested in knowing how to do this technique these websites HERE and HERE explain it really well.
Textural weaving techniques create a "3D aspect" and thus, an added interest to a tapestry.
We have achieved this by weaving with more than a single yarn and weaving the thicker weft over several warps instead.
The centre of the manaia has been woven using a number of different coloured wools with the addition of silver thread to imitate the shine a paua shell has. The outer ring of the "shell" was made by wrapping yarn around a piece of thick rope and passing the wound wool through the warps to secure it.
The Whetu is woven in the same way as the manaia using several strands of different coloured wool over 2-3 warps threads.
The tongue has been woven by passing two threads over 3 warps giving a much thicker texture.
Margaret Strong, current President of Northland Creative Fibre enjoyed doing some weaving on the tukutuku panel in mid-September.
Marion Maplesden from Whangarei found weaving very absorbing.
She is looking forward to coming back when she has time.
Aronanui Harris, from Hokianga/Kaikohe really enjoyed doing some weaving as well.
Aronanui has just completed her Visual Arts Degree at TWOA (Te Wānanga o Aotearoa) in Kaikohe. She said Fibre Arts were her inspiration.
The pa is finished...
..and we have completed Mt. Parihaka, too!
Thanks for stopping by to check on our tapestry progress!
