Handwoven January/February 2021

from the editor

STAYING HOME BECAUSE OF THE PANDEMIC has brought my personal stash of yarn into high relief. Well, that and the stack of half-finished projects that seems to follow me around. It felt wrong not to be solidly digging into both of them, but somehow I wasn’t. When the stay-at-home time started to stretch out seemingly without end, I finally called Rosalie, a fellow weaver friend, and asked if she would like to get together (socially distanced) and knit on Friday afternoons. Almost like having a friend to exercise with will prompt you to stay on track, having that time with her has been invaluable, not only because I needed the personal contact but because it gave me a reason to pull out my stash yarns and restart one large project…

future themes

MARCH/APRIL 2021 Mid-Century Inspired We just can’t get enough of mid-century modern style and weaving. From the Bauhau-strained weavers such as Else Regensteiner and Anni Albers, who helped define the textiles of the era, to the fun and funky fashion, we want to celebrate the cloth and style of the 1950s and 1960s. MAY/JUNE 2021 Checks and Plaids Checks and plaids never seem to go out of style, and all of them are best when woven. Tartans and ginghams might remind us of our past, while other patterns are just beautiful in their complexity or simplicity. We want to push the genre a bit with new approaches to plaids and checks in this issue. SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021 Detail Oriented How do you make an ordinary weaving project extraordinary? It’s often the details that make the difference. It might be…

letters

EXPANDING ON ESSEN In the September/October 2020 issue, Deb Essen elaborated on weaving design software programs as wonderful tools available to modern-day weavers. I couldn’t agree more with her! I have Fiberworks Silver on my laptop, and I love to design my projects with it. I would like to mention another handy-dandy feature of Fiberworks that I used to manipulate tie-up on a recent project. I had woven a set of four dish towels with two different tie-ups. After removing them from the loom, I realized that the back side of two of the towels with the second tie-up looked nicer than the front of the fabric. I decided to weave the next set of towels showing the nicer front. With just a click of a key (Change Face) in the tie-up…

mary burns: weaver and fiber artist

A TRUE WISCONSINITE, Mary Burns set up her studio in northern Wisconsin in her grandparents’ house, a 15-minute drive from Lac du Flambeau Reservation and 100 miles north of Wausau, where she grew up. The soft-spoken, poised artist draws her energy and inspiration from the outdoor world and feels blessed to be surrounded by the woods and lakes she’s known since childhood. The large weaving studio she built to nurture her creativity is a safe haven where she can reflect on cultural or environmental issues she eventually incorporates into her designs. The studio conveys a sense of respect for excellent craftsmanship and reveals the weaver’s mindful approach to her art. Weavings inspired by the beauty of nature or the designs of Frank Lloyd Wright are on display for local art tours.…

mildred “tinker” schuman, “eagle woman”

Tinker Schuman and Mary first met to discuss the Ancestral Women exhibit. Tinker describes the memory: “Mary and her husband, John, came to my house to show me her weavings, then we smoked the pipe. I felt honored that she asked me to be part of this project. When she asked me to write a poem, I had to pray and think about the very essence of these portraits. It all came together in the poem ‘Ancestral Women of Creative Spirit.’ It’s about our ancestral women, what they went through and endured when their children were taken away and put in boarding schools. They went through a lot of historical trauma, including alcohol and many issues that were prevalent at these times, and they didn’t have much hope. “The assimilation effort…

the art of tapestry weaving

Have you ever looked upon a tapestry in awe of the imagery created in yarn and the skill of the weaver who accomplished it? The magic of this art form is revealed by tapestry artist, teacher, and author Rebecca Mezoff in the new release The Art of Tapestry Weaving. In her pages, tapestry is both a fine art and an accessible craft. Mezoff has taken years of experience teaching thousands of students and refined it into a thorough, clear, and methodical approach to the art and craft of making tapestry. Like all the best instructors, she gives the new weaver permission to weave less than perfectly when starting out, provides a solid foundation of technique, and encourages weavers to explore. Mezoff provides expert guidance throughout the whole process from choosing equipment and…