Aug/Sept/Oct 2018

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!

June/July 2018 update

It has been a while since the last update and I am sure you are all interested to know how our tapestry is going. It is winter time here in New Zealand and trade has been quiet in The Bach gallery. We are still receiving lots of positive feedback from people who stop by to watch the weaving in progress.

 Over the month of June, the maori pa site known as Parihaka continued to take shape. Here is a little bit of history about Parihaka...

Parihaka was sculpted by early Maori inhabitants into a pa, or great fortress, and was reputedly the largest in all New Zealand. More than 100 household terraces and 322 storage pits have been recorded. Battles were fought at Parihaka and after the people of the pa were overwhelmed by attacking forces in the battle of Oparakau in 1827, a large section of the mountain was declared tapu (sacred). Parihaka takes its name from the haka, or war dance, of defiance performed from the steep slopes and cliffs, or pari, of the pa. 

The Hokianga and Dobbie Tracks have extensive remnants of Maori settlement extending along 3km of ridge and including three heavily defended pa sites. The summit is home to the World War II War Memorial to those New Zealand men and women who died in World War II. The obelisk, unveiled in 1957, that glows red in the night sky is a local landmark. A special carved kohatu (rock) at the lookout summit represents the mauri (life essence) of the mountain, inspiring a sense of gravity and significance to the lookout. Source: http://whangareinz.com

Lovely Lily, from Ruatangata Whangarei (11 years old) loved her weaving experience. 

Lily said she enjoys doing crafts at school and at home and hopes to be able to come back often to work on the tapestry.

Here is a quick over-view of where we are at: The tapestry has been hand-wound down so only the area being worked on is visible. 

Thank you for stopping by and checking our progress on The Bach tapestry!

April/May 2018 update

This is where we were at in March...

We still have visitors from near and far and a few that are brave enough to try a little weaving.

Robyn Wallace, a local from Whangarei stopped in to do some weaving.

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Christina Goss, from Sydney NSW Australia enjoyed doing a few rows with Naoko.

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 Sarah Ganzer from Germany enjoyed having a go at weaving.
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 Susan Bacehus from Manchester, England was really grateful to have the opportunity to work on the tapestry and said it was a great community project.
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So we are now over a third of the way done.

Thanks for stopping by and checking in our progress!

March 2018 update

The "water" is almost complete...

..and the whales have been woven.

(More photos to follow soon!)

Jan/Feb 2018 update

 ~January 2018~

Summertime in New Zealand brings many international and national visitors to our beautiful country
 and to the North of the North Island.

It is always a pleasure to talk with people visiting our local co-operative, what country they are from, where they have travelled from/going to and what the have enjoyed about New Zealand. They are usually very interested in our tapestry project and amazed to learn it's a community project and can contribute to it with a bit of weaving.

 Jules Taylor from the UK, was visiting New Zealand for 5 weeks. 

 She said she was having amazing experiences and loving every minute of it, so much so she didn't want to go home! She would have liked to have stayed longer to do more weaving and would love to see the completed tapestry in the future. 

Mira from Vancouver, Canada enjoyed doing a little bit of weaving.

 Minna from Helsinki, Finland had a go at weaving too.

Johann and Marike from Kiel in Germany took part in a few rows of weaving as well.

~February 2018~

Alec and Helen Mackay and their two lovely daughters from Seatoun, Wellington visited Whangarei on the 1st of February. They were delighted to see our tapestry project and both girls were very keen to have a go at weaving.

Annabel is 11 years old and younger sister Alexandra, almost 10 thoroughly enjoyed their weaving so much their mum and dad bought them each a tapestry bobbin. They wanted to be able to continue weaving once they returned home and after their dad made them each a small loom.

It's always so nice to see the young ones inspired to be creative!

Please note: we sell beautifully made hand-turned Kauri

 bobbins, locally made by Clive Ihaka for $15 each)

~o0o~