This week was a milestone, of sorts, for Fred.  He completed Rug # 400, which means that, to date, he has woven 468 pieces since he began learning to weave at Tierra Wools in the summer of 2003.  Obviously, the class work stuck and he never looked back. I'll talk more about 400 in a moment, but first, I need to talk about Rug # 399.

Rug 399

Woven of 100% Navajo-Churro wool, this rug features natural indigo and cochineal, natural white, and natural dark grey.  The middle section design is called a Spider Woman Cross.   Fred wove the surrounding indigo wool in slightly more of an oval shape.  Zefren from the Shiprock area, dyed both the indigo and cochineal in this rug.  The images directly below are details of Rug 399.

Rug 399 detail 1

Rug 399 detail 3

Turning to Rug #400, Fred took Connie Taylor's words of wisdom during one of the first Wool Festivals in which he participated in 2005 at Kit Carson Park in Taos.  Connie said "Put the red one in front."  And she was absolutely correct.  Whether people are keen on having a large red rug in their homes or not, it certainly does gather attention.  400 is no different.  Bold and dramatic both in color and design, the weaving consists of wool sourced from three different flocks, two different mills, and eight different dye lots (one of them off of our kitchen stove top). With all the differences in wool and how it was spun, Fred feels it contains a bit of  Wabi Sabi, or in Japanese, imperfections.  

Rug 400 detail 2

The image below shows how the variations in color are used to create "mesas" and the space in between.

Rug 400 detail 3

And here is Rug # 400, in all is red glory!

Rug 400

But milestones come and go.  Not to burn daylight, here is Fred, once again, obscured by warp, using his instrument to make the rhythm of his next project.

Coasters 2

Pure tapestry, each of the eight pieces required its own balls of wool.

Coasters 1

A huge heaping of thanks to so many of you who have followed Fred's weaving journey, and helped along the way!

Thanks also to Barbara F. R., Sam & Jean, Steve, Victoria, Minna, Suz, Char, Robert, Sara W., Gustavo, Christina, Lawrence, Char, and Ingrid for adding to last week's blog with your comments!

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image©