Weaving in Beauty

Jennie Slick and Ellen Nelsen put the finishing touches on Ellen's weaving.

I’ve just finished editing a gallery of pictures from the two classes that Jennie Slick and I did in October.  I’m using a package that integrates directly into the web page so that you aren’t directed outside the site, which I hope will make the pictures easier and more fun to navigate through.  The gallery has options for stepping through picture by picture or viewing as a slideshow.   Click here to go to see the gallery.  Please let me know what you think by leaving a comment or sending me a note.

We  currently have six places left in our 2009 classes, four in the August class and two in the October class.

Window Rock, AZ Yesterday, our class took the afternoon off to visit Toadlena and Two Grey Hills, about 70 miles northeast of Window Rock.  We took one of my favorite routes: north on Indian Route 12, east on New Mexico 134 over Narbona Pass and then north on 491 before making a turn toward Toadlena and Two Grey Hills. At Toadlena, trader Mark Winter brought out three historic blankets that he’s acquired and allowed us to examine them.  One was a spectacular Chief Blanket dating from the time of the Civil War.  The red color is raveled bayeta and the blue is from indigo.  It was interesting to see the variations in the red color as the weaver worked to acquire enough yarn to complete her project.  You can see pictures of Mark modeling the blanket below.

Back view of Civil War era Chief Blanket.

Front view, modeled by Mark Winter of Toadlena Trading Post.

We also saw a woman’s manta wearing blanket from the same period.  It featured a point twill band at the beginning and end of the blanket that was just beautiful and something I haven’t seen before.  There’s a picture below:

The blanket in the top part of the picture is also raveled bayeta and features a unique twill band.

Finally, here’s a picture of Mark visiting with our group.

Mark Winter (left) and Linda Larouche (facing away) visit with our weavers. You can see Debi Ward (facing to the left) and Diana Frawley (right).

Before we returned to Window Rock we also stopped to visit Two Grey Hills Trading Post, where trader Les Wilson graciously opened  the store (closed for Columbus Day) and showed us his rug room and where lLes’ wife, Irma Henderson,  sold us some of her meticulously washed current year Navajo-Churro clip.  I’ve been spinning up some of the wool that I bought last week and I’ve been able to get some nice yarn even though I don’t have any carders with me!  Some of our current students are interested in spinning, so we may get some hip spindle lessons in before the end of the week.  I’ll include some pictures of the their project later today.

Mary Walker

Today, our Window Rock class took a field trip to Two Grey Hills and Toadlena.  These areas are noted for finely woven rugs woven in natural colors.  There are two trading posts in this area, so we had a busy afternoon.  We stopped at first at the Toadlena Trading Post and Rug Museum to visit with Mark Winter.  Mark took the class through the Master Weavers exhibit showing the development of the Two Grey Hills style through the years.  Mark made the interesting observation that it was in the Two Grey Hills area that rug weavers were first identified with their work.  Mark graciously allowed us to examine a Daisy Tauglechee rug while we were in the museum.  You can see Mark with the students in the picture below.

Mark Winter of the Toadlena Trading Post and Rug Museum shows the students through the Master Weavers exhibit.

One of the more interesting rugs at Toadlena is pictorial of an Indian chief in full regalia.  Mark had seen a picture of the rug, and it turned up in show within the next two weeks.  As you can see in the picture of part of the rug below, it’s very distinctive.

We went on to the Two Grey Hills Trading Post where Shirley Brown showed us one of her fabulous hand carded and handspun rugs.  It is approximately 4′x6′ and is priced at $9000.  Here’s a picture of Shirley with the rug in the Two Grey Hills rug room.

Shirley Brown with her handspun and handcarded Two Grey Hills rug.

Before we left Two Grey Hills, Shirley took us out to see Irma Henderson’s Navajo-Churro sheep.  I took the opportunity to take a picture of my favorite Navajo-Churro ram and I’ll call it a day with that picture.

Irma Henderson's Navajo-Churro ram.

I hope you’ll enjoy hearing Mark Winter talk about a recent trading experience that he had with 94 year old weaver Clara Sherman.  Mark was at the the recent Southwest Traders Rendezvous in Cortez, Colorado and was participating in the show and tell portion of the program when he told this story on September 27, 2008.  Mark wasn’t using a microphone and turned away from the camera, so a few of his words get lost as he’s talking, but I think you can get the gist of the story, which is about three minutes long.

Mary Walker

Jennie Slick and I are in Albuquerque on our way to do a three day workshop in Massachusetts.  Just before I left Phoenix, I washed and rinsed some custom yarns for the students to look at.  One group of them was dyed with cochineal.  There’s a picture of the grouping below.  Isn’t it amazing that one dyestuff can yield this many colors?   These are only a few of the results that you can get with these amazing critters, who are just stuffed with carminic acid.

All cochineal! Clockwise from lower left, high concentration dyebath with cream of tartar, late dyebath with tin mordant, ammonia afterbath, high percentage tin mordant

Many authorities say that the Navajos didn’t dye with cochineal; that they only used raveled threads, sometimes recarding them.  Others, such as Kate Peck Kent and Joe Ben Wheat thought that they could identify Navajo handspun that had been dyed with cochineal.  I’m interested in following up on this to see if there’s a definitive answer, and I’ll fill you in on my results.

Update on 11/07/08: If you’re looking for a broadcast time for Weaving Worlds, check with PBS at this link.

PBS will be showing Bennie Klain’s Weaving World’s documentary this November as part of their observance of Native American Heritage month.  The film was shown at this year’s Austin SXSW Film Festival and depicts the intricate interplay of art, cultutre and economics in Navajo weaving.  There is a trailer on YouTube and I found an extensive review by Chale Nafus of the Austin Film Society.  From what I’ve read, the film is well done and thought provoking.  I’m glad to see Navajo weaving coming to the media in a format that goes beyond a travelogue.   I haven’t had a chance to see the film, but two of my friends, Gilbert Begay and Perry Null, appear in the movie.   Below, you can see Gilbert with me in a picture taken back in May.   We were at a Mini Sheep is Life Celebration in Teec Nos Pos, Arizona.  Gilbert wove the bag that I’m holding and one of the weaving classes that I coordinated bought the bag for me.