A New Chapter

Haz-Mat suit!

  Once upon a time, in a desert thousands of miles away, I dreamed a very telling dream on the eve of my 37th birthday.  I dreamed I had long, streaming silver hair and a large silver hoop in my nose, as I sat at a tapestry loom, tapping yarn into place.  In the immediate time, it made me realize that I didn't want a tattoo for my birthday, but wanted to get my nose pierced.
  It also began my weaving journey, though it got off to a very slow start.  That was the first time I'd pictured myself as a weaver.  It wasn't for ten more years that I got my first loom, a Harrisville 22 inch on loan from my mother, and it was another year before I got my first tapestry loom.  The class with Tommye, the gift of LouElla from Bonnie, and my dream is still evolving.  I didn't know I'd fall in love with floor loom weaving, and couldn't have ever imagined the community I've become part of at the Center.  But I knew I'd be happy weaving.
 



Life has taken a sharp turn, with me checking my seat belt and bracing for the airbags, but this weekend, I found haven and therapy in making my own box of crayons for my first tapestry on LouElla.  I had 13 skeins of single ply yarn, from a donation to the Center several years ago, and I ordered 6 more from Weaving Southwest.  I bought some acid dyes from Dharma trading, and read their on-line directions many times.  I suited up to protect myself from the poisonous nature of what I was about to do, and I dove in.
  I scoured all the yarn in Syntrapol.  I carefully measured the dyes, starting with "True Yellow."  Whoa!  Is it ever!  It looks like French's mustard!
  "Fire Engine Red" was next, a deep, blackened red that looks like a good bowl of chili.
  After I did one skein of "Midnight Blue,"  I started mixing it up a little.  It was a little too little, though, and I ended up with a lot of red that each looked a little like its predecessor.  I did manage to get one orange I like, so I started on green.  I have three skeins of very similar olive green from those experiments, so I think it's the blue that's the culprit, too blackened to make a true green with the yellow.
  The purples came out beautifully, and I like the "brown" I tried to make, even though it came out more rusty red.  I ran out of yarn before I ran out of ideas, but I think I will pause here to see what I can create in a tapestry.  It's 19 skeins of yarn, all about 4 ounces each, so that should keep me busy for a little while.  The colors will dictate the design, so be prepared for a fiery image!

My own box of crayons