Monday 14 December 2015

Finishing the latest sparrow

I wove the sparrow's breast up to the opening where the legs are inserted, weaving from the outside edge to the centre line. This wool is very springy and tends to spread out. So before I wove from the other side to close the gap I temporarily whip stitched the woven edge with a contrasting thread to hold it in place. This gave me a firm border to weave up to. 

I inserted the finished legs into the pocket and wove between them.

I chose a suitable piece of driftwood for the base and drilled two small holes straight down to hold the leg wires. All that was needed was to adjust the toes a little bit to look natural.

8 comments:

  1. I am always totally fascinated by your work! This patience and the great subtleties ... just incredibly impressive :o)

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  2. I COMPLETELY agree with "tabata" ;-)
    Such special creatures !!!!

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  3. Beautiful! Very natural looking.

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  4. I had a real treasure map hunt to find you! I saw a picture of something you made, and followed that image all over and ended up here LOL. I was wondering if you could let me know what threads you are using? I have done some fiber arts in the past, but where I live now there are no stores at all. I have to do everything over the internet, and it's hard because you can't really tell what it feels like or what color it really is. After the divorce and moving I don't have any kind of stash. Can you help a gal out?
    Thanks for sharing your work.

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    1. Hi Libby,
      It must be hard to be without a proper stash!
      The wool I use for the sparrows is 2-ply I spin myself on a drop spindle. The colours of fleece are bits and pieces I've acquired from various people in the local guild of spinners, dyers and weavers. If you are a spinner and live in the UK, I recommend http://www.norwegianwool.co.uk for ordering different colours of dyed carded fleece of a consistent quality. If you want commercial tapestry wool, you can send away for sample cards of the colours available from different suppliers and order from that for accuracy. For the warp of the birds I use a strong smooth cotton, like good quality crochet cotton. The colour doesn't matter because it doesn't show in the final tapestry weave.
      I hope that helps. Ruth

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