Navajo Weavers Ellen and Lucy Begay

Untitled

Recently, one of my local libraries hosted an afternoon talk by Gary Beaudoin, an Oregon collector of Navajo rugs and author of “Unbroken Web: The Art of Ellen & Lucy Begay” (find in a library).

Untitled

Through Beaudoin’s words and display of his personal collection, we entered the world of this mother and daughter, who weave traditional Navajo rugs.

Untitled

Untitled

Only the red color is dyed, all the variations of browns and creams are the natural color of the Churro wool they get from their own flock.

Untitled

Rare treasures, each rug is unique and takes about one year to make. The designs incorporate traditional motifs as well as the artist’s interpretation of natural forms.

Untitled

Passed from generation to generation, weavers learn mostly by watching rather than direct instruction.

These women use weave by hand rather than by using a shuttle. The artist uses her fingers to choose each strand of the warp to go under or over.

In the video below you can see the process about one minute in:

For more information about the process, artists and their work here are a few helpful links:

The World of Navajo weavers and Navajo weaving

A History of Navajo Weaving

Arizona State Navajo Weaving Exhibit

A Brief Social History of Navajo Weaving (The Collector’s Guide)

Cool discovery: Preview of the Addi “quick” needle felting tool

One of the cool items that was available for preview at TNNA was the addi “quick” needle felting tool. Team IGK practically had to drag me away from the table once I got going. It really feels like sculpting and painting with the wool. Here’s a short video I took while Terry was giving it a go.

Addi has a demo up with a pro felter, Moxie, from Madebymoxie.com. Moxie was the person who first showed me needle felting at the Maker Faire a few years ago.

You can see that she holds it a bit lower, like a pen. This makes more sense since the on/off button is down at the base.

I can’t wait until these are released!