Many months ago, a friend sent us some samples of wool from his angora goat, one unprocessed, one carded into mohair. I set them aside, feeling like there was an art project there, but I just wasn't sure what it would be.
In the meantime, the idea for a wall hanging had started to crystalize in my mind. I bought an oak-framed mirror at Goodwill for $4.99 and took the mirror out. (It's actually a nice beveled mirror, so I'll use it in the house.)
I had found a big piece of electrical wiring and peeled off the plastic to get to the cool thin copper strands inside. Then I ordered wool from places I'd been - Quebec, Iceland, Argentina, Ireland, Australia. All of it in undyed natural earth tones of sheep and alpacas.
Then I started building the loom. I made a template and then I hammered in little carpet tacks along the top and bottom of the back of the frame. (Incidentally, not my rug - it came with the rental. I'm more a neutrals person.)
I strung copper wires from one end to the other, then finished hammering the tacks down to hold the wires in place. I watched a YouTube video on making a loom from a picture frame with yarn, so this was a variant on that.
Then started weaving. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, so there was some trial and error as I figured out how to work with the various fibers.
The finished wall hanging, with the frame painted black. I tried to make the lines a little curved to mimic the granite we chose.
No comments:
Post a Comment