Weaving in Beauty

Weaver Lillie Dugi at her loom (photo courtesy of Jim David)

Storm Pattern rug by Lillie Dugi.

Chinle weaving by Lillie Dugi

Jim is also helping Lillie to sell the banded Chinle patterned rug above.  Lillie dyed several of the colors with native plants.  She also handspun the gray wool that’s used in this rug, skillfully matching the size and twist with the commercial yarns used in the remainder of the rug.   The pattern is quite detailed for a Chinle design and is almost in the Crystal class of banded rugs.   The rug is 26″x52″  in size and Lillie has priced it at $650, but will consider serious offers.

Thank you for looking.

Lillie Dugi works at her loom at her home near Cameron, AZ

Five years ago, Liz Munk, Jennie Slick and I decided that we wanted to add to the materials available to help people learn to weave the Navajo way.  In particular, we wanted to provide a more detailed look at every phase of the warping process and add to the documentation on turned joins and diagonal lines.  We figured we’d be done in a year.  We got the warping portion done pretty quickly and it was well received.  Then, I decided to leave Corporate America and concentrate on Weaving in Beauty as a company; the book languished and it might still be in that condition if it weren’t for our friends at Convergence 2010 and Weaving in Beauty student Mike Barnette.  I’ll explain.

Jennie, Rose Dedman, Morris Muskett and I are doing a Boot Camp class for Convergence 2010 that will total 12 hours.  It’s long enough to find out what Navajo weaving is all about, but students will hopefully want more information and support.  The screws turned on my thumbs as I told myself that if the book were done, I’d feel better about the resources we were able provide.  Then Mike Barnette asked me if I’d ever thought of doing a class online.  I had, but once again, I knew that students would need media to support them at a distance and I also came to the nauseating realization that they’d also probably benefit from video, a nice augmentation to the book but a humbling check on what you really look like.  I tried to get Julia Roberts interested in the video part, but she can’t weave so I bought new glasses that looked better in my web cam and started working on getting the book finished.   It took six more months to get the book into final form.  We’re still building up the video library.

‘Atł’óhí Binaltsoos (The Weaver’s Book)  is 112 pages with over 140 picture illustrations, most of them in color.  It’s in 8.5″x11″ format with a spiral binding that keeps it flat while you’re trying to figure out what’s on the pages.  We made the font a 12 point Times Roman that early readers have found easy on the eyes.   The book contains instructions for accessing the growing library of video support that accompanies the book.    The book is priced at $35 and the first 100 copies will be back from the printer on July 2nd.  You can pre-order a copy from the Weaving in Beauty Mercantile or you can use this link. We will  have copies available for sale at our booth at Convergence 2010 (booth 722) and if you see me around town, I might have some in the car.  We’ll be glad to autograph your copy, but Jennie and I live 250 miles apart, so it may take me a few days to add her signature.  You can also purchase the book in PDF form for download at $18 and you’ll avoid postage, customs and waiting by the mail box.   The PDF has print privileges, so you can get your own hard copy if you want to do that.   Expect to pay about $25 to $30 for good color copies if you take the download option.  I have a copy downloaded to my Motorola Droid and I access it with Beam Reader.   I can’t say I’d recommend it as your only copy, but it is nice to refer to.

I would like to maintain a supply of books for Navajo weavers and students who cannot afford them.  Please contact me if you would like to help with this effort.

You can see a sampling of the pages in the image flow slide show below.  Click on any image to see it in a larger size.

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Liz, Jennie and I would be glad to get your feedback on the book and we’re starting work on another volume that will deal with more advanced techniques, hopefully available in less than five years!

Thank you Convergence, Mike Barnette and all of our students for encouraging us to get this project moved forward.

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

Rose Yazzie works with a traditional hip spindle during the Friends of Hubbell Native American Arts Auction

Window Rock, AZ All of the students from our May class have headed home and most of them are already there.  I’m still in Window Rock to take care of a few errands and I’ll be heading back to the Phoenix area today.  I’ll be writing about the class this week, but I wanted to say thank you to the students and to the many, many members of the Navajo Nation who dropped by to say hello while our class was in session.

Our class ended with a trip to the Friends of Hubbell Native American Arts Auction at the Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site.  It’s one of the largest Native American auction events in the country and is held twice a year (the next auction will be on September 18, 2010).  Spider Rock Girl Rose Yazzie sat with our group and gave us a hip spindle demonstration as she watched the auction.   I thought that Roses’s picture would be a good one to leave with you as I head home.

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

Yarn dyed with copper solution, sage, wild carrot, ground lichen, walnut hulls and rabbitbrush dries on the fence in Ft. Defiance.

Window Rock, AZ Today, Rose and Henry Lee Dedman helped us to dye some wool in the Navajo way, over an open fire.  We collected ground lichen, sage and rabbitbrush on the Defiance Plateau and used walnut hulls and wild carrot that we had harvested last year and stored.  One of the students brought a copper penny solution that dyes wool in the color of a light green copper patina.   The most challenging plant to collect is the ground lichen, which grows in small clumps on the higher elevations of the reservation.  Once you learn to recognize the plant, finding more is a thrilling hunt.  It produces a beautiful burnt orange color that is quite beautiful and colorfast.  We carefully took only as much as we needed, leaving more to propagate for the future.

The day turned out to be too windy for a post dye session barbeque, so we invited Henry and Rose to have lunch with us back at the Quality Inn in Window Rock.  Since this is the first Thursday of the month, the menu featured the popular mutton buffet.  Rose said that it was delicious!

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

Tour vehicles head into Canyon de Chelly.

Window Rock, AZ A very deep and welcome snow pack in the Chuska Mountains has led to historically high water in Canyon de Chelly, about 67 miles from Window Rock.  The canyon was even closed to tours during late April, but the waters have receded enough in the last week or so to allow people to venture back in.   There is  still a lot of water and Thunderbird Lodge was using their large amphibious vehicles for most tours.  There were also plenty of tour guides using standard SUV’s in the canyon, but the open top of the Thunderbird Lodge trucks makes for some great sightseeing.  We returned to Window Rock through Tsaile and spied the guard llama below near the Snake Rocks north of Navajo, New Mexico.  In Navajo, the llama is called tł’izi bida’i (the goat’s uncle).

A guard llama (tł’ixi bida’i) at the Snake Rocks near Navajo, NM.

Depending on the weather, we’ll either be heading for Gallup or doing some work with natural dyes tomorrow.

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

This 1920's vintage Ye'i is at the Toadlena Trading Post.

Window Rock, AZ Today we went to the Two Grey Hills area, about 70 miles northeast of Window Rock.  We took a spectacularly beautiful route along Indian Route 12 and crossed Narbona Pass on New Mexico route 134, stopping to visit the abandoned Crystal Trading Post, where J.B. Moore helped to extend the market for Navajo textiles by pioneering the idea of selling Navajo textiles through a catalog.  Moore’s catalogs, issued in 1903 and 1911, established styles that are still influential today.

As we came down the east side of Narbona Pass, we could see the San Juan Mountains and Sleeping Ute Mountain in Colorado and we had a view out into the Bisti Badlands that seemed to go on forever.  Turning back toward the Chuska Mountains, we arrived at the Toadlena Trading Post and toured the weaving museum there with trader Mark Winter.  Mark allowed us to examine a 120+ wefts per inch Daisy Taugelchee tapestry and I was drawn to the vintage bordered Ye’i weaving shown above.  The figures reminded me of Yanapah Simpson’s work, but this weaving is from a period about 20 years after Yanapah’s career ended.

At the Two Grey Hills Trading Post, trader Les Wilson graciously allowed us free access to his rug room and we were really taken by the contemporary runner below by Rose Blueeyes.  Rose’s design work is very original, using commercial wool.  The traditional motifs take on a fresh and contemporary, almost electric look in Rose’s skilled hands.

Rose Blueeyes used commercial wool for this distinctive and exquisitely woven runner.

I need to close so that I’m up and ready to head for Canyon de Chelly in the morning.   This week is really flying by.

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker