~August 2015~
Many different shades and colours of wool are being
woven into the Whangarei Community Tapestry.
Each colour is wound onto a separate bobbin and presently
there is fifty-five bobbins being used to weave all the
different shades and colours!
Each colour is woven back and forth to form the shapes
in the design. Sometimes, only one colour is used to form
a solid colour but sometimes more than one colour is used
Shading in tapestry weaving is carried out by a hatching
process which is most simply explained by a diagram
There's lots of different terms and techniques in
tapestry...too many to explain here so I'll post some
links for readers to investigate at their own leisure.
When the bobbin is not in use, it is secured with a half
hitch knot. In process of making; the loop is passed
from the finger on to the bobbin; it will unwind as
wanted and yet hold firm whilst hanging down.
Glossary of Weaving Terms
Beater: Frame holding the reed, used to beat the weft threads in place.
Cartoon: A drawing in full size used as a "map" for the weaver.
Cloth beam: A beam in the back, below the warp beam, that rotates and holds the woven tapestry.
Dent: Narrow spaces in the reed that hold the warp threads in place.
Heddles: Loops held by the shaft with eyes for threading the warp through: in conjunction with the treadles they enable the warp to open and close and bind the weave.
High-warp loom: A loom with the warp set on a vertical plane.
Loom: A structure made to hold a warp in position for weaving.
Reed: A comb with both sides closed which sits in the beater below the heddles.
Shaft: A frame, with heddles, which moves to form sheds.
Shed: The opening created on a loom where the weft passes.
Slit tapestry: A tapestry technique, leaving slits where two colors meet.
Treadles: Foot pedals used to move the shafts to open and close the sheds.
Warp: Threads running the length of the loom, across which threads are woven.
Warping mill: A four corner frame that rotates and arranges the threads into the correct length of the warp, and produces the right amount of warp threads for the width of the tapestry.
Weft: The threads which are woven under and over the warp threads, building the design in the tapestry.
You can learn more about the history and techniques
