Artists of any ilk know there is much more involved in creating a piece than the end product. It is the culmination of concept, materials procurement, resources, communication, production, and advertising. That was the essence of this week in Fred's weaving business. Not only was he able to make new contacts with people in the Navajo-Churro wool business, including Kelli Dunaj at Rainbow Fiber Co-Op (more at https://rainbowfibercoop.org/pages/about-us), a Dine' led agricultural cooperative, but he ordered 30 pounds of their natural dark grey rug weight Navajo-Churro wool. Fiber will be even more abundant in the loom room when that joyous order arrives. Until then, he continues to weave and just completed Rug 389, a detail of which is shown below.
Rug 389 detail
He dyed four pounds of a natural oatmeal color from iiiDogFarm in Los Ranchos de Albuquerque - two pounds a Flame Red from Greener Shades and two pounds of the same red along with a pinch of Greener Shades Sunshine Yellow. Thanks to Andrea Harrell and Lulu, Cody, Gabe, and Bubba for sharing their wool. The pure Flame Red-dyed is on the left hand side of the image, the natural oatmeal on which it is dyed is in the middle, and on the right side are the skeins dyed with Flame Red and added Sunshine Yellow.
Navajo-Churro wool, hand dyed by Fred Black
The last time I featured Fred's weaving here was in March while he was working on Rug 384 in which he used remnants from last year's weaving. Because all the wool he uses is hand-dyed, dye lots vary, and thus, each and every rug is different.
Rug 384
Rug 385, below, is in the Moki style, which utilizes narrow stripes.
Rug 385
Rug 386 is as close as Fred gets to a pictorial weaving.
Rug 386 detail
Hanging over a balustrade or wall, an observer can see "weather" in the rug - stylized clouds with rain or virga above the mesas and canyon, and a river running through it.
Rug 386
Rug 387 is in the style of a Navajo Chief's blanket (Phase II)
Rug 387
Finally, a blending of six different dye lots of the same red - Chile Colorado (from Tierra Wools in Chama) - using the ombre or shading technique, make Rug 388 pop.
Rug 388
It was great to hear from Bill and Sue, TTT, Connie, Barbara F. R., Christina W., Charlie, Sam & Jean, Marilyn G., Steve, Ingrid and Marta this week!
Hope your week, and particularly the Solstice on Wednesday, bring extra light to your photography and your lives.
until next Monday,
DB
a passion for the image©