Mother Superior: Lake Superior Triple Weaving

Remember the weaving that I finished for the Porcupine Mountains Artist Residency?  Well I had some warp left over and decided to make myself another Lake Superior weaving from all of the wonderful photos that I took while I was there.  I cannot stop thinking of calling it "Mother Superior" so that's what it is.  Plus that Beatles song keeps popping in my head when I was working on both pieces.

This weaving is much smaller and far different in texture than it's sister piece.  I perused my dyed rayon stash and found most of the colors I needed.  The yellow-orange ball of hand dyed rayon is actually from my years at the University of Michigan Art School.  It was perfect for this piece and I'm glad it's sat waiting in my stash for this long. The green weft I did do some over-dyeing on the skein and up close it has some fantastic hues of blues and purple.

Some major edits were done to the reflection of the sun (round yellow thing in the water) after I pulled it off the loom. I actually snipped the loops of rayon (lets be honest, I wove it the wrong direction, the loops were meant for the back of the piece, but I always do tapestry from the back so it ended up all wonky).  This is the first time I have ever stitched into a weaving for a fix/detail.  I was nervous and wanted it very faint, so I used yellow sewing thread.

I just submitted this piece to it's first show, so fingers crossed on it jurying in! Until then, it has a place on my wall.

UP Vacation and a Revisit to the Porkies

It's been two years since I have made it back up to the Upper Peninsula, or taken a week of vacation for that matter.  this was the trip I've been needing.  It's a bit of a trek to do alone and I feel very fortunate to have been invited up to the UP Beerfest in Marquette with Isaac.

We visted the brewing site of Blackrocks Brewery 

(any beer they put lavender into is my favoite!)

Isaac and his dad.

I agree with this statement, I feel this way about my artwork.

The Cabin, handbuilt, lots of stories here.

I finally understand Saunas....I wonder if the city would notice if I built one...

Ore dock behind us walking into Beerfest.

Lansing represents! Found Lisa amongst the rain and 5,000 people

Rainbow over Marquette

Then more rain.

This is me being sad that my favorite bead store in Marquette has closed (building behind me)

Blackrocks

Isaac cliff-jumping...maybe next year for me.

He's a bit drier by this photo.

It was an extra trek, but I really wanted to get back to the Pocupine Mountains (and Isaac had never been).  I found out that you can't book the rustic camping sites over by Dan's cabin online or over the phone, so I booked it over there to get our camping site.

The waterfall outside Dan's Cabin (the cabin I lived in for the Porkies Residency in 2014) 

Dan's Cabin

I also had to book it over to the Porkies to see my weaving hanging in the Porkies Visitor's Center

This guy is great.

Lake of the Clouds, it's the first I've seen it grey.

Ahhh, the amazing bark up here

Lake Superior Beach 

On the way home we visited Kitch-iti-kipi Spring, the boat allows you to see straight to the bottom and allll the huge fish. 

Cut River Bridge and the hike down is absolutly worth the stop.

And the sunset at Cut River

It was really hard to leave this time, Eventually I'll stay.

Finishing and Hanging "She Was Lost in the Woods and Followed the Sound of Your Waves"

It's finished.  And even a little bit before it's being hung at Grove Gallery & Studios this coming weekend so I can enjoy it at home for a minute.  I was kicking around a lot of titles for this piece.  I don't like how long it is, but it's descriptive and means a lot to me.  

"She Was Lost in the Woods and Followed the Sound of Your Waves"

I've had a lot going on since August 2014...really since before then.  My residency with the Friends of the Porkies was very enlightening for my future.  This is why it was so important for me to put the work into this piece.  I did a lot of hiking while I was there, alone.  Sometimes I would feel lost, and then I'd hear Lake Superior and head that direction so I could take off my hiking boots and socks to dip my toes in her cold waters.

This piece is also very defining for me, I feel a lot less lost these days and I cannot wait to get back up to the U.P. this August to visit Lake Superior and the Porcupine Mountains again (I'm teaching a 3-day Beadweaving workshop August 19-21!!!)

Anyway, on to what I've been doing to finish this piece.  I hemmed the edges.  First machine stitching 3 rows in my header (something I learned in a Mary Sue Fenner Workshop)

I decided a blanket stitch would look nice for the actual stitching of the hem.

I had to fix this weaving error, which involved cutting, pulling two weft passes and re-weaving them with a needle.

Then on to measuring out the webbing..

Sewing the "loop" (fuzzy) side of the Velcro to the webbing. So if you need to roll the weaving it won't catch on it.

Pinning the webbing/Velcro to the weaving.

A "fix" for me, I wanted to extend these light blue waves a little more for aesthetics. 

And during critique it was decided that the above white area stood out too much, so I needed to tone it back. I pulled some of it and stitched dark blue through.

The "hook" side of the Velcro I connected to my strip of wood and I drilled 3 holes in wood panel for hanging purposes.  

Why the Velcro? It's much easier to hang.  The wood panel is either nailed or hung to the wall first. Then you can press the weaving up against it and slowly level it.