Commissions & How I Work
Unique Textile Art for Your Collection
The way I work is directly related to how I used to paint: I mull over a concept, I sketch and consider and then I prep a fair amount of ‘canvas’ to work on and then I create.
Translated to painting: I would think about the size of a series of paintings that I had in my mind’s eye and I would spend the time to prep canvas or board to work on. Then with 6, 10, 12 panels ready to go, I would round robin those images until the series was finished. Because they were all created in a group, they all had similarities but because they were all variations on a theme, none were identical.
Translated to weaving: I mull over color and design, I sketch and (unlike oils) I figure out the MATH of thread count and yardage for the design. Then I prep, meaning the warp gets wound, the loom gets sleyed, threaded and beamed on. Once ready, I generally have 10 yards of warp – with a predetermined width – to play on. And then I weave. Just like with the paintings, I work on a theme but unlike the paintings and because of the nature of the loom, I have to weave each new work individually. Another interesting element is that as I finish one, it rolls onto my cloth beam never to be seen again until I cut the whole cloth off.
This is the type of work that I could work with clients for. A specific cloth item, in a specific set of colors. Napkins and Kitchen Cloths are really fun to talk to clients about; they choose color themes and I weave them up.
The piece you see here is a full-sized tablecloth representing in weave structure and colors the core, and extended, family in Beckett, MA. The weave structure is diamonds representing the couple’s diamond anniversary, the colors woven are the couple’s favorite colors. The 2 long bands are created with threads representing the parents, children and grandchildren and the shorter cross bands were woven using the children’s favorite colors and threads to represent their children. Whenever the couple has a new grandchild, I weave up a new band and attach it to the cloth.
Full-scale, create from scratch commissions are not currently available. Although they are tremendously satisfying, I just have too many bespoke pieces that I need to get out of my system before I can reserve the time needed to work on commissions. Never say never because a client may request a project that I am already thinking about or have never even thought of (exciting!) so subscribe to my list and send me an email. Let me know what you are thinking, you never know.
