Weaving in Beauty

Price: $115

(Click on any picture for a larger image)

Warps per inch: 9

Wefts per inch: 40

Weft yarn: Brown Sheep Commercial Wool

Warp yarn: Brown Sheep Commercial Wool

This bag is done in beautifully muted Two Gray Hills natural colors.   Gilbert is a master weaver from Crownpoint, New Mexico.  The bag has a detailed and beautilfuly woven pattern and  is 6 1/2″ wide and 7″ long. It has a hand braided strap that is 21″ long.  The hand twisted fringe is 2″ long and the bag has a zippered closure.   As the warp/weft counts reflect, this is a very tightly woven bag.  You can further personalize your bag with pins and beads for a truly one of a kind treasure.

[Show as slideshow]

This bag has been sold.

Price: $115

(Click on any picture for a larger image)

Warps per inch: 9

Wefts per inch: 40

Weft yarn: Brown Sheep Commercial Wool

Warp yarn: Brown Sheep Commercial Wool

Gilbert collected the plants and dyed the wool for this 6 1/2″ by 9″ clutch style bag.  He used walnuts, Navajo tea, rabbitbrush, berries, sage and juniper.  The bag has a stylized squash blossom pattern on one side and a Teec Nos Pos motif on the other.  It is tightly woven and has a zippered closure.

[Show as slideshow]

Gilbert’s bag has been sold.  Please contact me if you are interested in ordering a similar bag.

Price: $595

(Click on any picture for a larger image)

Warps per inch: 8

Wefts per inch: 40

Width: 22 1/2″

Length: 30 1/2″

Weft yarn: Burnham’s Trading Post Yarn, Size #1 (100% wool)

Warp yarn: Brown Sheep Commercial Wool

This unique design was developed by Rena, who lives in Hardrock, AZ.  It evokes the Hopi Figural rugs woven in the late 19th and early 20th century, but Rena’s version is utterly contemporary in color and composition.  This Storm Pattern variant version of the design depicts five varying faces of the Glittering World, placing them with the Four Sacred Mountains on a perfectly aligned Navajo compass.  The easternmost peak is Blanca Peak in Colorado (white, bottom), to the south is Mount Taylor near Grants, New Mexico (blue, left), on the west are the San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff, Arizona (top, yellow) and on the north is Mt. Hesperus near Durango, Colorado (right, black).  Rena has integrated the Pueblo messenger symbols of the dragonfly and butterfly to create a compelling blend of symmetry and chance elements.  This is a very tightly and skillfully woven piece.

This rug has been sold.

Price: $455

(Click on any picture for a larger image)

Warps per inch: 8

Wefts per inch: 40

Width: 20 1/2″

Length: 30″

Weft yarn: Brown Sheep Top of the Lamb Worsted (100% wool)

Warp yarn: Brown Sheep Commercial Wool

This single face version of Rena Robertson’s design even more closely evokes  Hopi Figural rugs but skillfully integrates the Navajo ceremonial basket and sacred corn plant, creating a depiction of the fullness of life within the Four Sacred Mountains, which are pictured on the rug.   The easternmost peak is Blanca Peak in Colorado (white, bottom), to the south is Mount Taylor near Grants, New Mexico (blue, left), on the west are the San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff, Arizona (top, yellow) and on the north is Mt. Hesperus near Durango, Colorado (right, black).  Rena has integrated the Pueblo messenger symbols of the dragonfly and butterfly, who are thought to carry messages between the seen and unseen worlds, and has included beautifully detailed prayer feathers.  The weaving reflects Rena’s mastery of her craft and is very tight and crisp.

This rug has been sold

(Click on any picture for a larger image)

Warps per inch: 8

Wefts per inch: 30

Weft yarn: Burnham’s Trading Post Yarn Size #1

Warp yarn: Brown Sheep Commercial Wool

Width: 7″

Length: 7″

Strap length: 20″

This bag is the absolutely first mini-bag done in this design and will be accompanied by a certificate  to establish this provenance.    The Spider Rock pattern was developed about 15 years ago by Emily’s niece, Harriet Whitney and her daughter Lavera Blake.  The girls were about 12 years old and were staying at their grandmother’s hogan at the base of Spider Rock in Canyon de Chelly.  They told Grandma that they wanted to learn to weave so Emily’s mother, Rose Yazzie, set up looms for the girls and told them they could use her leftover yarns from her Burntwater weavings and she told them that could also use all of the black yarn that they wanted.  The largest of the “balls” of the leftover colors were about 1/4″ in diameter, so the girls decided to make the background with bars of color and use the black for the pattern.  Trader Bruce Burnham loved the results and the family has been weaving the Spider Rock design ever since.  Inspired by Gilbert Begay’s bags, Emily decided to try a bag in the design and the results are charming.  The bag carries Emily’s feather hallmark.  She decorated the bag with a pin and you can add other pins to further embellish it.   The bag has a zippered closure to secure the contents.  That’s Emily on the right with her daughter Alyssa and her mother, Rose in the picture below.   I know that the price on this piece is a bit high, but I bid the item up at an auction so that Emily would get a better return on this first of it’s kind piece.  Our normal mark-up of 20% has been maintained for this item.

[Show as slideshow]

This bag has been sold.