I took a long break from this tapestry. Sometimes that works well for me to just step back and do other work for a while. Then when I come back to it with fresh eyes I find a new energy and the process moves on rather well. This work is sett pretty fine at 12 epi so it takes time. Tapestry weaving and time go hand and hand. Ha Ha making jokes now. But really if I were to think too much about the time I would probably not be a tapestry weaver. You have to love it for all that it is and it is far more than time. People always ask "How long did that take?" And I never really know for sure. I don't record very minute or hour or day or month. I just weave. 

And so it goes....stacks of pages ready to be sewn into journals. And the handwoven tapestry journal cover is now off the loom and ready for finishing. It's an experiment that I don't know if I will be able to part with because I'm in love with it so far. More coming soon....

hThis year is flying by and I got lost in my work and have failed to post in a bit. However, if you have been following on Instagram then you know what I've been up to. But today I'm sharing a pic of my new to me Varpapuu Upright Tapestry Loom. I have a Varpa floor loom that I love that I got used in the 90's and I fell in love with it but I always wanted a vertical tapestry loom made by Varpapuu too.

The hunt was on and no luck. Everything I found was in Europe. So I thought I would just run a goggle search every few months to see if one ever showed up in the USA. Well, that went on for years and years and years but I never really gave up. I would search at least a few times per year. And finally only 30 years later I found one in the USA and it was close enough for a road trip of 5 hours up north and she was mine.

Then came the clean up and new heddles were needed. I started making them by hand but gave up. I didn't want to make a 1000 heddles. Ugh! So heddles were ordered in Jan. of this year but with Covid delays they only just arrived 7 months later. That was more waiting.....but after 30 years that didn't seem too bad. So now she is finally ready to go. I mean ready to dress. I have to make a warp and then dress her and then I will finally get to weave on my beloved Upright Varpapuu. She weaves 58 inch width almost 5 feet. She doesn't have a worm gear like my floor Varpa but she has huge ratchet and pawl gears that look like they can handle tight tension for tapestry weaving like a charm. Here she is...isn't she lovely. I'll post more as I get her warped and start weaving. Yay! 
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