Weaving in Beauty

Jennie Slick and I are teaching back to back sessions of our weaving class and tour over the next two weeks, so we’ll try to post our activities each day.  Yesterday, we went to the Friends of Hubbell Native Arts Auction.  It was a very rainy day, unusual for October, but the R.B. Burnham auctioneers did everything they could to move the auction along and bring cash to the local economy.  By about five in the afternoon, it was too dark to see in the tent, and we made our way back to Window Rock with some wonderful rugs, jewelry and pottery.

Today we started weaving in Window Rock, and as of this evening all of the students are making great progress and will start working on patterns in the morning.  Brenda Spencer dropped by and showed us her latest weaving, a stunning Wide Ruins/Burntwater Overlay pattern that is reportedly on its way to the Heard Museum Shop.  Here’s a picture of the tapestry grade rug, which boasts an impressive 88 weft threads per inch.  It took Brenda 15 months to complete it.

Our students did a great job with their warping as you can see in the picture below.  That’s Jan Souders and Mary Falzone working as Jennie watches.  Our classes do their warps in teams so that they have an opportunity to repeat the process right away.

This is an enthusiastic class and the students worked well into the evening.  That’s Gloria Thompson on the left and Jan Souders on the right.  Tomorrow, we’ll be headed to out to look at yarn and visit with Jennie at home.