Weaving in Beauty

There are about 20 new forks to the Mercantile for your shopping pleasure. I haven’t had time to update the Mercantile tools for quite awhile and some new forks have just come in from Al Snipes and Gary Tsinniginnie. The design of the store pages has been changed so that you can see each fork by itself.   Right now, there are over a dozen of Al Snipes coveted ergonomically shaped Gillan style combs in a variety of woods and weights.   There is one rare left handed version.  If you prefer the look and feel of a traditional tool, take a look at the finely finished designs by Gary Tsinniginnie and Al Snipes.   There are a few pictures of those below.   You can see all of the new forks here.  There are more forks and battens coming shortly. 

Traditional Weaving Forks by Gary Tsinniginnie (Navajo) Click on any picture for a closer view.

Weaving forks are very personal and some people believe that your fork and all of your tools should be made by a family member or someone that you know well.   For most of us, that’s not an option.  All I can say is that these tools have been made by people who are very nice and very skilled and have been handled by people who really, really like them.  Contact me if you need advice on selecting a fork. 

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

Gilbert Begay Two Grey Hills Bag $185 Click here to see more pictures Click here to purchase	Emily Malone Spider Rock Bag $250 Click here to see more pictures Click here to purchase	Lula Brown Tree of Life Cross Miniature $140 Click here to see more pictures Click here to purchase
Click on any picture for a closer view Click here to see all of these items in the Weaving in Beauty Mercantile

Tempe, AZ I know it isn’t Cyber Monday, but now that I have a break in weaving classes, I have some time to add things into the Mercantile that you may find perfect for an upcoming gift giving opportunity, a reward for yourself or just fun to look at.  I’ve been doing quite a bit of buying lately because I did quite a bit selling over the summer and this fall!  On behalf of the artists that you’re supporting and myself, I want to thank everyone who is choosing to buy contemporary Native American crafts and all things that are hand made.

Today, you’ll find that I’ve added bags by Emily Malone and Gilbert Begay to the store.  There also several of Lula Brown’s most intricate and hard to find miniature weavings including one of her 60 bird miniatures, a Three Phase Chief Blanket set and a cross shaped Tree of Life miniature (the first I had seen).  I’ll be adding more items over the next few days and I plan to attend the Crownpoint Auction next week.

I’m also starting to add some jewelry and other items that are made by some of the talented Native American artists that I meet in my travels.  Today I added a unique set of fetish carvings of the Four Sacred Mountains of the Navajo by Christopher McCabe.  The four small stone mountains in the set represent Sis Naajini (La Plata Mountain, near Alamosa, CO), Tsodziił (Mount Taylor, near Grants, NM), Dook’o'oosłííd (the San Francisco Peaks, near Flagstaff, AZ), and Dibé Nitsaa (Mount Hesperus, near Durango, CO).  Christopher has adapted the Pueblo practice of fetish carving to the Navajo culture and is a hard working and creative artist whose work I think you’ll enjoy seeing and possibly owning.  Take a look at the picture below and I think you’ll see what I  mean.  The weaving in the picture isn’t included in the set (but we can talk about it if you want it).  You can click here to see more pictures or click here to buy one of the three sets that I have.

The Four Sacred Mountains of the Navajo represent the points of the Navajo compass. The East is represented by white clam shell, the South by blue turquoise, the West by yellow abalone and the North by black jet.

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

Laramie Blake graces the cover of the 2011 Weaving in Beauty Calendar

Tempe, AZ The 2011 version of the Weaving in Beauty calendar has just been added to the Publications page in the Weaving in Beauty Mercantile.  The calendar features Navajo weavers, weaving students, traders and trading posts and as many examples of the Navajo weaving art as possible.  This year’s cover features 18 year old weaver Laramie Blake, a member of the famous Spider Rock Girls family of weavers.   Also featured is work by Rena Robertson, Gilbert Begay, Nathan Harry, Verna Smith, Emily Malone, R.G. Sherman, Jennie Slick and Larissa Blake.   In addition to the standard holidays, the calendar shows the official holidays of the Navajo Nation and the dates of major auctions and other important events in the cycle of the weaver’s year.

The calendar photographs are selected from the 8000+ pictures that I take each year and the editing job always reminds me that I am one of the luckiest people on the face of the earth to be doing what I do for a living.  The calendar is priced at $15 per copy and you can click here to purchase a copy or click here to go to the Publications page in the Mercantile.

A preview of each of the months in the 2011 Calendar (please click for a closer view)

The 2010 calendar is ready for your inspection!  By collaging the pictures in several of the months, I’ve included many more photographs than I’ve been able to show in previous versions, which is a darn good thing since I was only down to 78 pictures when I got done selecting the ones I wanted. The calendar is available immediately from lulu.com if you can’t wait, but I you can also pre-order directly from Weaving in Beauty.  Pre-ordered calendars will be shipped after October 15.

Many thanks go to the weavers, traders and students whose work and places of business are featured.   Weavers Lynda Teller Pete, Jennie Slick, Shirley Brown, Rose Dedman, Kathy Strathearn and the Spider Rock Girls (Emily and Alyssa Malone, Rose Yazzie and Lavera, Laramie and Lariisa Blake) are featured.  Work by Gloria Begay of Crownpoint, NM and Pauline Glasses of Pinon, AZ was photographed at Richardson Trading in Gallup, NM.  Multiple photographs were taken at Toadlena Trading Post.   The Ye’i rugs were photographed at auctions run by R.B. Burnham and Co. Thanks also to Two Grey Hills Trading Post for the beautiful background seen in Shirley Brown’s picture.

Sales of the calendar help to support the operating costs for the reporting and reference aspects of Weaving in Beauty.  I really love putting the calendar together, and although it’s difficult to select the pictures from the several thousand that I take each year, as I’m doing it I realize how very privileged I am to be a part of this community of hózhó dóó nizhóní (harmony and beauty).

A preview of the calendar appears below.  You can click on any picture for a more detailed view.

2010 Calendar Cover
January (Weavings by Gloria Begay/Richardson Trading, Gallup)	February (Lynda Teller Pete/Southwest Indian Fair)	March (Weavings by Kathy Strathearn)
April: (Weaving by Daisy Taugelchee and family/Toadlena Trading Post)	May (The Spider Rock Girls and Friends)	June (Ye'i Collage/R.B. Burnham and Co. Native Auctions)
July (The sheep of Navajoland)	August (Natural dyes with Rose Dedman and her family)	September (Shirley Brown with her handcarded, handspun rug/Two Grey Hills Trading Post)
October (Ye'i Bi Chei pictorial by Pauline Glasses/Richardson Trading)	November (A collage of pictures from the Toadlena Trading Post)	December (Jennie Slick at home with her loom)

Hagoshíí (so long for now)

Mary Walker

Our May 2009 class learns about current weaving trends from trader Bill Malone at Shush Yaz in Gallup.

I have just posted our class schedule for next year.  Once again, we will have three sessions of our popular weaving class and tour.  The dates for those classes are

• May 2-9, 2010
• July 26-August 1, 2010
• October 2-9, 2010

You can find more information and a link to enroll on the class page.

We will also offer our Advanced Weaving Seminar (aka Camp Weave-Alot) August 2-7, 2010 (Monday-Saturday).  This class is an opportunity for concentrated study of advanced topics with two master weavers, Jennie Slick and Liz Munk.

Our class on Navajo vegetal dyeing, Natural Dyes the Navajo Way, will run August 2-4, 2010  (Monday afternoon-Wednesday evening).  This class can be combined with the Advanced Seminar for those interested.

Jennie Slick and I will also be teaching our Navajo Weaving Boot Camp workshop at the Handweaver’s Guild of America’s Convergence 2010 conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  The conference is scheduled to run from July 18-25, 2010, but the Boot Camp schedule is not yet final.  I’ll update you when it is.  Please let me know if you’re interested in attending and I’ll work with the HGA to expedite that.

I am also working on developing a new class with the Spider Rock Girls.  Tentiatively called the Spider Rock Girls Boarding School, it will be based in Chinle and part of the weaving time will be spent at Spider Rock.  Look for details on this class in the next few weeks, but it will be more expensive than our current classes because of the logistics involved in getting people and looms in and out of the canyon and the expense of accommodations in Chinle.   If you are interested in the class, please contact me and I’ll keep you updated as we progress with the planning.

2010 will be our 13th year of teaching weaving the Navajo way and our classes have grown from one per year to five plus.  Ahé’hee’  (thank you from the bottom of our hearts) for your participation and support.