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gliful.bsky.social
Sarah (🧶 + 👩‍💻 + 🎨)
@gliful.bsky.social
230 followers 240 following 120 posts
Software person who wishes they could just doing crafts like #tapestryweaving & #printmaking instead. Likes tinkering with things. London, UK.

All opinions are my own- there’s only me to blame.
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gliful.bsky.social
Solution for me: do a line of soumak using half the normal weft (ie half of the weft in the finer areas) to mark the transition between areas of higher and lower epi.

Good to use the colour that matches the chunky area, so raised sections match.
Better to do soumak back-to-front; blends in more
A small tapestry using white and purple yarn in stripes. Different stripes use either 4 strand of yarn as weft to weave between individual warp threads, or use 8 strands of yarn to weave between groups of 2 warp threads. The transitions between the sections are either a line of soumak (top, bottom) or there is no special handling of the transition and live show as a result (centre). The same tapestry as in the first photo, but now a final chunky section is woven at the top, covering some soumak that was visible in the first photo.
August 11, 2025 at 10:53 PM
gliful.bsky.social
I started a (very disposable) #tapestry sample to try out combining different setts; ie #weaving w/ 2x the number of weft threads while grouping duos of warp threads in places.

A challenge I encountered was getting the thicker weft to cover gaps from the previous pick done at a finer sett. 🤦‍♀️
An in-progress tapestry weaving that has weft made of predominantly white yarn, with a small section of yellow and black warp showing. The white yarn is used in different ways to creat distinct textures in the surface- areas where the weft is doubled and spans warp threads two-at-a-time, soumak using doubled weft, and regular soumak.
August 10, 2025 at 11:59 PM
gliful.bsky.social
I love the amount of detail in the plants, but I don’t think I have the skill or patience to create a tapestry this fine and large
A close-up of plants near the river bank of the Nile. Various shades of green, blue, and cream are used to depict several distinct types of plant. The fact individuals leaves are outlined, instead of treating the plant as a single shape, shows just how much work has gone into this small section Detail of a tapestry section showing wheat-like crops growing. Overlapping shapes of plants with separate leaves and tendrils creat the impression of a field, made of various beiges, yellow-oranges and browns. When I look at it I get the impression of dryness, on the edge of where farming is possible outside of the immediate river bank.
May 12, 2025 at 11:54 AM
gliful.bsky.social
I stumbled on a #tapestryweaving by accident while I was in Exeter this weekend- ‘Fields and Village on the Nile’ by Mahrous Abdou

Some parts were incredibly detailed (I’d guess it was ~18epi?) and I enjoyed spotting these figures smoking with big cartoony eyes 👀
‘Fields and Village on the Nile’ by Mahrous Abdou shows the river Nile passing across the tapestry, with lush green plants growing on the river banks. People tend to crops, wash clothes in the river, and sit together in the shade of trees. Further away from the river bank the colours shift from lush greens and blues to dry and hot-looking yellows. There are dunes in the distance where people ride camels, and on the far side there’s a village that’s under a hot red sun that’s surrounded by flame-like rays. A man depicted in the tapestry who is stood among plants next to the Nile, wearing a light tunic, a brown waistcoat over top, and a cap. The man’s shape is simplified, making his head larger and cartoonish. In his hand is a cigarette, that he holds up to his mouth Another man from the tapestry who is smoking. He’s sat with other men near some crops, and is wearing a light brown tunic and cap.
May 12, 2025 at 11:46 AM
gliful.bsky.social
There was some interesting transparency made in ‘At the length of a season: blood ghost’ with sashiko-like stitching between areas of the warp.

#tapestryweaving #weaving
The tapestry ‘At the length of a season: blood ghost’. Two black silhouetted figures carry a long length of wood above their heads, with a dead buck tied by its ankles to the wood between them. Superimposed over the buck is a faint red silhouette of a person who is also strung up to the wood by their wrists and ankles. It’s an eerie ghost, as if the buck being carried is echoing a past misjustice.
May 11, 2025 at 6:56 PM
gliful.bsky.social
Some details of the pig are made by some soumak
A zoomed in photo of the pig’s face from ‘Prodigal’. The white shape of the pig contains thin blue lines to indicate where an ear, mouth, and nostrils are Super zoomed in photo of the weavings (showing warp and weft) and the soumak on top
May 11, 2025 at 6:37 PM
gliful.bsky.social
Forgot to add #weaving #tapestryweaving #textiles

I think he uses double weaving (or more?) to swap between two colours when creating large areas of colour, and then superficially weaves wool to create the figures and more details.

Peep these photos showing the front and back of ‘Prodigal’:
The tapestry weaving ‘Prodigal’ shows an abstract landscape with a figure and a pig stood before a far-off horizon that features a burning red sun that’s slipping below the horizon. The black silhouetted figure is poised to strike the pig with an upheld knife, which is equally red hot as the sun. The pig is stood calmly by the figure, unaware of its fate. It’s unclear if the scene is a violent killing about to happen or a ritualistic sacrifice, laden with meaning. The reverse of ‘Prodigal’. The subdued pinks and blues from the front image are inverted here, so the pig is now blue against a pink landscape. There is no equivalent ‘reverse shadow’ of the black silhouetted figure, nor the sun, as they are superficially woven on the other side.
May 11, 2025 at 6:31 PM
gliful.bsky.social
Some photos from Diedrick Brackens’s show in Bath - Woven Stories.

My favourite piece was ‘If you have ghosts’- the colours are gorgeous and I could inspect it for ages.
Diedrick Brackens’s weaving ‘If you have ghosts’. A black silhouette stands tall with arms and legs spread out. They contrast strongly against the background that contains areas of bright white, shocking pink, and more muted mauve and purple. A the shape of a bridge is in the background, and the central figure in the foreground has a transparent tornado-like shape overlaying it. Shapes like feathers are scattered across the scene. The image looks mystical, and both chaotic and peaceful to me. This may be fitting, as the title ‘having ghosts’ alludes to having a connection to the past, both good and bad. A detail of the weaving, looking up at the figure from their hips upwards. The figure’s silhouette is created by weaving black wool ‘on top of’ the pink weaving that forms the basis of the fabric, and the translucent whirlwind over the figure is made by weaving purple wool sparsely in a similar way. Detail of the bottom left corner of the weaving. The central silhouetted figure’s leg extends down towards an area of light cream, which merges into bright pink further up the weaving. The background behind the figure isn’t a consistent colour, or treated consistently between the different panels that are connected together to make the final image. The warp ran top to bottom in this weaving, so the areas of pink and white streaking up and down together intrigue me- how was that achieved?
May 11, 2025 at 6:20 PM
gliful.bsky.social
I’ve been playing with a #tapestryweaving idea based on a bridge near South Norwood. The repeat attempts to cover up graffiti have made a patchwork of different coloured squares, which look almost like a mural.

However in my sampler I found that my colours were either too subtle or too saturated 😮‍💨
A small tapestry sample showing a beige-y grey background with overlapping squares of muted yellow and purple/grey, as well as more saturated squares of yellow. The sample sits on a page in a notebook that has notes about the colours used. A photo taken from a car passenger seat of a concrete wall lining a bridge. The wall has been graffitied over time, and each time someone has painted over with a different paint. The colours are all muted, but vary from browns, yellows, blues, and purples.
April 28, 2025 at 6:50 PM
gliful.bsky.social
Yesterday I went to a stained glass market and bought this gorgeous piece of painted glass from @zozosglass.and.art (Instagram handle). It’s a cosmos flower 🌺

Realising that there are stained glass workshops near me to where I live has given me some ideas… 👀
A hand holding up a small, hand painted painted glass diamond containing a painting of a cosmos flower. The glass is a pale yellow and surrounded by lead came.
April 20, 2025 at 11:22 AM
gliful.bsky.social
Some little 3x3 inch portrait tapestries I’ve done recently. The one at 8epi didn’t get the detail I’d imagined, so I experimented with doing the same design but up at 12epi.

They remind me of character portraits in a video game, might do some more in future!

#tapestryweaving #tapestry
Two tapestry weavings that both depict a white man with pink round glasses, beard and moustache, and a yellow T-shirt under a dark jacket. The tapestry at the top has a higher level of detail due to being woven at 12 ends per inch, versus the bottom tapestry woven at 8epi.
February 26, 2025 at 10:29 PM
gliful.bsky.social
Last weekend I went to see the Tadek Beutlich exhibition at the Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft and I’ve kept thinking about the gorgeous pinks and oranges in this sculpture ‘Growth II’ ever since
A photo of the exhibition catalog for ‘Tadek Beutlich : Innovations in Textile & Print’. The background photo shows thick bundles of dried grass that have been wrapped in red/orange/yellow wool to form many fat, sausage-like forms that are crowded together. A textile sculpture on a plinth. The sculpture looks organic, with flat sections that are rippled like a sea-creature’s that curve round to for a rough circle. From the centre extend two long antenna-like tendrils, which arch up out of the sculpture and extend down the plinth. The main body is a vibrant magenta pink, and the colour shifts to orange and yellow along the antennae. Another view of the textile sculpture, which conceals the antennae and focuses on the main body. Tadek Beutlich Growth Il, 1984 Wool, sisal, Esparto grass Collection: Estate of the Artist
February 23, 2025 at 11:15 AM
gliful.bsky.social
A better way is to sew some velcro onto the top header and also make a wooden baton that has velcro attached. You then mount the baton to your wall and the art hangs from it 🎉

I’ve not tried that technique out yet, but here’s a photo of a tapestry I’ve bought from an artist that does use it:
A photo showing a bright green wall with a baton of wood stuck to it with a command strip. The baton has some velcro stapled to its front. A tapestry, that has velcro sewn along the back of its top section, is hanging from the velcro on the baton and is otherwise unattached to the wall.
January 31, 2025 at 8:02 PM
gliful.bsky.social
Sure! I’m not a professional & am still learning, but I like advice from Rebecca Mezoff’s book The Art of Tapestry Weaving to include ‘headers’ on the top and bottom of the tapestry that can be folded and sewn flat on the back, leaving clean edges at top+bottom.

Here are some pics, with alt text:
A photo of the reverse of the tapestry in my original post from this thread. The ends of the tapestry -aka headers- have been folded back and sewn flat against the back of the tapestry. There are no loose warp ends because they were secured to the back of the warp-as-weft section of the header using a sewing machine, and then were trimmed short. A view of where the tapestry’s ends have been folded behind it and handsewn flat. There are visible threads but they cannot be seen once the tapestry is displayed 🤫 This photo shows a different tapestry, but it shows how a sewing machine can be used to secure warp ends after doing half-Damascus knots. After the ends are sewn down tightly you can trim the short and minimise ‘bulk’ behind the tapestry. A close up of the tapestry discussed in this thread while it was being woven. At the base of the in progress weaving are warp threads going vertically and some horizontal length of warp that stabilise the vertical warp. On top of the horizontal warp threads sit some double half-hitch knots. On top of that is a section where warp is used as weft, and then there’s a section of woven yarn. These will both eventually be folded behind the finished tapestry. Then, there’s a single pass of warp that will be removed during finishing. Finally, on top of all that, the actual weaving of the tapestry design begins! NOTE: if I could go back in time I would have done a line of soumak weaving above that single pass of warp-as-weft. This would make a crisper edge when folded during finishing!
January 31, 2025 at 8:02 PM
gliful.bsky.social
Here’s the inspo: the 50p building and Gunta Stölzl’s Red-Green Slit Tapestry

bauhauskooperation.com/knowledge/th...
The 50p building in Croydon. AKA No,1 Croydon ‘Slit Tapestry Red-Green’ Gunta Stölzl, 1927–1928 This tapestry is approx 1m x 1.5m and features contrasting blocks of bright reds and greens within a wider design that includes areas of long columns, wavy stripes, and blocks. There are areas with striped or checkerboard patterns, due to using pick and pick. Overall the design is busy-looking, colourful, and engaging.
January 25, 2025 at 2:03 AM
gliful.bsky.social
Here’s something else I finished recently- a tapestry based on the 50p building in Croydon.

#tapestryweaving #weaving #croydon
A small A5 paper-sized tapestry made of abstract blocks of colour and patterns in shades of green, pink and some deep brown or deep green areas of near-black colours. I intended the shapes to be abstract but also interpretable as the bold shapes on the front of a brutalist building, such as the 50p building in Croydon, UK.
January 25, 2025 at 2:03 AM
gliful.bsky.social
I’ve been trying to make a little sampler with the Maldon sea salt pattern for a while. And after three attempts I’m putting this idea on pause cos I need a break.

From L to R: forgot to use an odd number of warps, lost tension on one side so aborted early, and better but still squishy looking!
Three small ‘sampler’ tapestries of the same design showing light green diamonds repeating over a mid green background. Inside each diamond is a smaller dark green diamond. At least, they’re meant to be diamonds. They all look a bit squishy and don’t have crisp edges and angles! A product photo of Maldon salt. The packaging uses the same pattern I tried to recreate in tapestry
January 24, 2025 at 12:27 AM
gliful.bsky.social
Also, prior to this I had my first experience sewing up slits and found it very satisfying. Though some slits felt unnecessary to see up so I couldn’t be bothered. This photo shows a slit that’s sewn and one that isn’t
A zoomed in photo of a tapestry that shows two slits, sections of the tapestry were two warps aren’t connected by weft for a long enough section of the tapestry so a gap is present in the tapestry. One slit’s sides are close together due to being sewn up, and the other shows some slight gaps due to not being sewn. I personally thought it was good enough as the sides naturally sat close together.
January 11, 2025 at 1:28 PM
gliful.bsky.social
I’m having my first attempt at ‘wet finishing’ a tapestry to try and solve some bulging in a section with lots of dense hatching.

I’ve realised that I need some thinner brass nails to pin down the tapestry, lol. Luckily I can nail through the headers without worry about the nails disrupting yarn
Down on the floor, an MDF board with a small tapestry nailed to the surface. Four nails in the four corners of the tapestry pull it taught, ready for wet finishing. Nearby on the floor is a hammer and a small bag of brass nails
January 11, 2025 at 1:21 PM
gliful.bsky.social
‘Lucid Blue’ by Heyden was so vivid, like the blues you’d see on an exotic beetle’s shell. Tracing the warps through the ‘feathers’ created by wedge weaving is a fun exercise (I still haven’t quite wrapped my mind around it)
Lucid Blue lives up to its name. The blues are luxurious like in a peacock feather. The tapestry looks like it’s two or three tapestries super imposed on each other. The solid dark blue at the top and the bright turquoise at the bottom appear to interleave with each other throughout the middle section, which looks like several striped, overlapping feathers. A detail photo showing turquoise, yellow and purple yarn creating stripes within ‘feathers’ that are made by packing so much weft into the warps that the warps distort
December 20, 2024 at 1:39 AM
gliful.bsky.social
I didn’t capture the name of this tapestry but the colours were so fun! And it was great to be able to look up close at the path the weft takes to create these shapes
??? by Silvia Heyden - this tapestry was much larger than others on display and had a simpler colour palette. The mid oranges, blues, purples, yellows, and dusty reds are striped together throughout the tapestry. Some areas have highly contrasting colours striped together, and other areas are slightly more muted. For me, this was a tapestry were the interest was in getting close to see how different sections were made. The overall tapestry didn’t photograph well due to how the colour values don’t vary much across the abstract design A zoomed in detail showing now different sections of the tapestry interact with each other. I love the choices of which colour to pair together here! An extra-close detail showing how several sections of wedge weaving interact together
December 20, 2024 at 1:30 AM
gliful.bsky.social
A photo dump of more photos I took of Silvia Heyden tapestries exhibited at Heallreaf 5!

I enjoyed that, because the tapestries didn’t necessarily lie flat against the wall, I was able to get a photo showing the back of one tapestry, including a handwritten name tag!
A photo of the tapestry ‘Sottovento’ by Silvia Heyden. It’s an abstract tapestry made of various wedges and stripes of colours, with no part of the tapestry being a solid colour. There are: light pinks, taupes, creams and beiges predominantly in the bottom right; the bottom left shoes mid and dark blues sat next to contrasting stripes of beige; and the section leads up towards the centre of the piece where the juxtaposed strips of colour trend towards being darker and featuring mostly blues, purples and blacks. There are infrequent chunks of bright orange, which gives the impression of a few autumn leaves flowing on a wavy water surface which is catching sunlight in its ripples A close up of the tapestry ‘Sottovento’ by Silvia Heyden, showing where stripes made with beige, lilacs, pinks and taupes give way to mid and dark blues and purples, with occasional sections of contrasting bright orange. The stripes of colour creat movement like the rippling surface of a body of water ‘High Sea’ by Silvia Heyden. This tapestryw is colourful with desaturated purples and blues at the bottom rising to meet rich but dark blues and purples towards the top. There is a disjointed line of red that weaves through the blues and across the entire width of the tapestry, about 2/3 of the way from the bottom. There’s less juxtaposition of contrasting colours in this tapestry versus others, but there are still stripes of colour that create the impression of a rippled water’s surface. This makes the red stripe ominous; is it blood in the water? Or maybe it’s a harmless reflection of autumnal trees near the water? A sneaky photo taken of the back of ‘High Sea’. There’s a fabric label sown to the back that has “Silvia Heyden” written on it in large writing with a thick red marker. The photo also shows how the tapestry was finished with ‘header’ sections that are folded behind the tapestry to create a clean edge.
December 20, 2024 at 1:17 AM
gliful.bsky.social
I visited the Heallreaf 5 #tapestryweaving exhibition at the Morley Gallery today, and looooved it. I took a ton of photos and inevitability got frustrated at how photos didn’t do anything justice.

For now, here’s some photos of Silvia Hayden’s ‘Undulations’. More thoughts in🧵
A photo of the tapestry ‘Undulations’ by Silvia Heyden. The tapestry is roughly square and includes swirling shapes of blue, white, cream, iand grey yarn. Due to the ‘wedge weaving’ technique used by Heyden there are several diamond or teardrop shaped area of colour that are all packed together, with wavy, organic changes in colour connecting them all. The overall effect is reminiscent of the water at a surface of a river; numerous small waves all close together resulting in dense reflections and refractions of light close together. A close up of the tapestry showing several sections of the weaving that are made with different colours of yarn. There are warm greys, cold light blues, creams, and darker blues that intermingle with each other in patterns. Different sections show use of different techniques: eccentric weaving creates long curves shapes reminiscent of water; and use of pick-and-pick creates sections where colours form stripes. Overall the section varies in colour and technique used, so it has a patchwork-like quality and there’s a lot to see in just a small part of the overall tapestry A photo showing another zoomed in section of the tapestry. Similar to the previous photo there are blues, greys, creams and light browns that crest the impression of the surface of water on a cold, wintery day. This detail shows how the tapestry appears to be made from multiple panels attached to each other so that their warps face different directions and allows the movement in different areas to contrast against each other
December 15, 2024 at 1:00 AM
gliful.bsky.social
Some obligatory progress photos
A photo of the tapestry sample on the frame. The tapestry is made with bright yellow wool and has a large triangle of cardboard sat in the warps to allow the tapestry to be woven with no warp in that area. The yellow wool of the tapestry, from top to bottom, makes a 45 degree slope from the right hand side to the left, and then a 45 degree slope from left to right. Those two 45 degree angles are important for the final 90 degree turn in the sample ;) A photo of the sampler arranged in a right angled position before the warps are pulled. The unpulled warps balloon out from the sample prior to being pulled taught.
November 28, 2024 at 12:56 AM
gliful.bsky.social
Latest experiment with using pulled warp technique in #tapestryweaving!

I found this sample was a little bit easier versus the first (there were fewer pulls). Though, arguably, it’d be clearer if this sample went wrong and the result wasn’t a right angle, so maybe it’s harder that way.
A photo showing a small, yellow tapestry that has been made to include a 90 degree bend using the pulled warp technique. Nearby on the table next to the tapestry is a photocopied image of the tapestry before the warps were pulled. The image shows that the tapestry was woven as a straight tapestry with a large triangular area that was kept free of warp. As that triangle is closed by pulling the warp the tapestry bends and forms a right anguled turn
November 28, 2024 at 12:56 AM