Building on the skills and techniques we’ve developed in Levels 1 and 2, Intro to Tapestry Level 3 dives deeper into pictorial techniques.  Expanding our warping repertoire, we’ll use a wool warp at 10 epi, along with doubled selvedge warps for a stronger edge for this finer weaving experience.  We’ll also work new methods for spacing and creating headers that translates well to working on larger looms in the future.  Inspired by “mille fleur” (thousand flowers) tapestries, we’ll explore three delightful birds on a royal blue background.  We’ll weave our piece on its side, exploring why this choice for pictorial tapestries has been used historically and how it works.

Each bird focuses on a different facet of pictorial tapestry technique.  The warbler (inspired by a tapestry in the Vesterheim collection) explores billedvev techniques, with heavy outlining and use of “eccentric weft.”  The owl focuses on advanced shading technique, including Flemish and Aubusson styles, and the strategic use of floats for quick color changes.  The cardinal allows us to play with a variety of texture techniques, including soumak, tufting, embroidery, beading, and visible floats.