IKAT, The Essential Handbook to Weaving with Resists
by Mary Zicafoose.
Interweave, 2020, ISBN 978-1-63250-678-8
Reviewed by Judy Lepthien
October 2020

I love Ikat fabrics of all kinds from all places and I have tried it once or twice and it’s very time consuming but produces such lovely effects and Mary Zicafoose is definitely a master at the technique. I was disappointed we had to cancel her scheduled workshop for this fall but the programming committee will still try to get her for a workshop next year.

The book has a description of Ikat and lovely pictures from around the world with stories interspersed among the chapters, followed by chapters on equipment, methods, and then dyeing the wrapped fabrics. There are clear explanations and good pictures on Mary’s wrapping technique, with details about how to accomplish warp shifting and jigs to make that happen.

The chapter on dyeing includes a recipe and instructions for the 1-2-3 indigo vat Michel Garcia originated as well as synthetic dye processes.

The last chapter has 7 warp Ikat projects, one weft Ikat project and lastly one double Ikat project, starting easiest to most difficult.

This book is almost like having a workshop with Mary and is good for people who want to learn this technique. It can be ordered directly from Mary Zicafoose’s web site and also Amazon, and is published by Interweave, part of Penguin Random House, and is $29.95 plus $9.00 shipping and handling and I received it within two days of ordering from Mary. Now to see if I will really make some!

The project cartoons, and templates for making an Ikat board with removable pegs, are available online at https://staging.interweave.com/article/ikatcartoons/ . As noted on the website, the Adobe files (.pdfs) are full size and are best saved by downloading the .zip file. Printing these files could be done at an office store.

Designing Woven Fabrics
by Janet Phillips.
Natural Time Out Publications, 2009, ISBN 10: 0955762014, ISBN 13: 978-0955762017.
Reviewed by Judy Lepthien
June 2014

I love this new book in our library.  Everyone loves gamps, right? Well Janet begins the book with a 4 shaft 25 inch wide gamp with various threadings including a crammed and spaced sample and 13 lifting plans and enough warp (4.5 yds) to experiment with your own designs. In the rest of the book, she develops many of the samples into very nice fabrics varying some of the elements of design, discussing how she evolved this fabric from the gamp. She includes a small section on collapse fabrics as well as a section on design and using colors.

I would recommend this book to new and experienced weavers. It’s full of great ideas.

The Art of Tapestry Weaving: A Complete Guide to Mastering the Techniques for Making Images with Yarn

by Rebecca Mezoff with a forward by Foreword by Sarah C. Swett.
Story Publishing, 2020;ISBN: 9781635861358 (hardcover);ISBN: 9781635861365 (ebook)
Reviewed by Janet Bare, Cathy Jacobus, and David Johnson
December 2020

It’s exciting when a new book on tapestry comes out. It’s even more exciting when the person who wrote the wonderful new book is a guild friend and member. So, below is not one, but three reviews by three other guild members from three different perspectives. As you can see from the reviews below, whether you are new to tapestry or an accomplished artist, this is a book that you will definitely want to read, if not own. And yes, a signed copy of the hardcover book has been donated to the Circulating Library and should be ready to be checked out once we can meet at the church again.

David Johnson, hardcover book, teacher and nationally recognized pictorial tapestry artist

Rebecca’s new release is a wonderfully comprehensive review of tapestry weaving from the European tradition with references to other cultures. The book is divided into two sections, Learning and Making. I found chapters 1-5 about “Learning” to be good solid information on the general processes of looms, yarns, warping, and weaving. Any beginning tapestry weaver will find these chapters extremely helpful in creating a path forward in perhaps this daunting process of steps to creating with yarn.

Chapters 6-15 titled “Making” address technique and design. In these chapters Rebecca presents processes and dealing with the parameters of a plain woven weft face structure. Some beginning students may find the quantity and detail of material on these pages intimidating but for those who remain focused there is an abundance of valuable information.

Rebecca’s writing style is entirely readable and engaging. I found this book to be a page turner and was rewarded by beautiful photos and diagrams as I read through the text. Her understanding of “fiber” from spinning to yarn to structure was evident. Rebecca’s knowledge of color is clear through references to optical and mechanical mixing of color in spinning, structure, and the dye studio.

 

Janet Bare, hardcover book, novice tapestry weaver

What a delight to open The Art of Tapestry Weaving and see the wealth and breadth of information and quality of the illustrations. Rebecca answers the question “What is tapestry?”, then introduces the reader to various types of looms, tools and yarns that work best for tapestry, goes on through basic steps for warping the loom, designing and weaving your envisioned textile, to finishing and displaying the finished product. Throughout the book are numerous, clear illustrations — both drawings and high-quality color photographs — accompanied by brief, easily understood, explanatory text. In addition to Rebecca’s own close-up photographs illustrating her teachings, she includes color photographs of beautiful weavings by professional weavers that further illustrate the concepts being discussed. There are trouble shooting sections, with illustrations of problems and explanations of the causes and fixes, as well as inset boxes with handy “Tips” to help your tapestry weaving experience go smoothly and boxes labeled “Tech Talk” to deepen your understanding of the process. To encourage your mind and fingers to absorb and own the teachings in the book, Rebecca provides practice exercises for methods such as “meet-and-separate” when you are learning to weave with more than one butterfly or bobbin of yarn and “hatching” for blending yarns of different colors. Much of the guidance contained in this book will be useful for other types of weaving, as well as tapestry.

 I won’t address each and every chapter in the book, but want to highlight a few. Chapter 4, Warp and Weft, deals with the sizes of yarn used for warp and weft, and the combined effects of different sizes of yarn with different spacing of the warp yarns (sett). The photograph, table and text on page 63 show clearly the differences in appearance resulting from changing these variables. This section ties in well with material in Chapters 12 and 13, which address designing your product and include the effect your choice of yarns and sett will have on the appearance of curves and angles within your finished item. This chapter also includes extensive information on how to warp different types of looms, the importance of even warp spacing and even warp tension, and different methods of warping a loom.

Chapter 7, Heading Off Trouble, goes even further, as much of this chapter addresses warp tension. Here Rebecca explains why warp tension is so important, includes excellent examples of commonly encountered problems (warps get closer together or further apart, tops and bottoms wider than the middle of the weaving, “lice”, etc.) and how to avoid or to fix them. Other problems addressed include smoothing out weft turns at the edge of the weaving (you know, those uneven edges with just a little too much weft yarn sticking out), two warps in the same shed, and ridging, especially near the selvages.

Two chapters deal with color: Chapter 5 – Learning to See Color and Chapter 8 – Color Blending Magic. The former deals more with color theory, while the latter focuses more on the technique of hatching, in which “two adjacent colors are woven over each other in alternating sequences to create an area between them where the colors are blended” (pg. 161). Rebecca describes how hatching can be used, not only to blend colors, but to create illusions, forms and the appearance of transparency.

Chapters 10, 11 and 12 deal with different methods for making steeper or shallower angles, vertical growth of shapes, and smooth curves – all critical to making the weaving on your loom look like the design in your head. Chapter 12 also includes the making and use of cartoons to help transfer your design from concept to the loom.

Chapter 15 – Finishing Up takes the reader through different approaches to finishing the edges (fringed or hemmed), cleaning the textile, preparing it to be hung (framed or on the wall), and labeling it, as well as thoughts about lightfastness, storage and later cleaning. Appendices at the end of the book cover special knots, leashes (long heddles used on some high-warp tapestry looms to open one of the two sheds, and how to build your own pipe loom.

Finally, the book is produced on high quality paper and has a sturdy binding that will withstand the years of use it will surely receive. It will be a good investment for your personal or guild library.

 

Cathy Jacobus, kindle version, accomplished tapestry weaver

In the book launch videos for The Art of Tapestry Weaving, Rebecca Mezoff observes that there has not been a comprehensive techniques book published in decades. In doing so now, she not only seeks to consolidate her prodigious knowledge and remarkable teaching skills in one place, but also to create a teaching tool that will appeal to today’s learners; i.e., those who spend a lot of time looking at screens and are, by and large, accustomed to processing smaller bits of information in one go. The Art of Tapestry Weaving, with its step-by-step approach, presented in clear text and high-resolution photos, achieves both goals. Rebecca’s decision to simultaneously publish her book in print and Kindle format takes accessibility to another level. 

I’m a (fairly) old-school librarian and, as such, my heart will always belong to printed books, with their heft and scent and all the other venerable attributes many of us love. Having said that, there are times when an eBook is particularly useful. Here are a few reasons why:

1) Accessibility and Content

eBooks are available anytime you have your PC, laptop, or mobile device handy. They include all content found in printed versions and even offer page-turn animation to simulate their print counterparts.

2) Useful links and Powerful Searches

Kindle books include a toolbar that provides access to a hyperlinked table of contents so you can go right to a chapter of interest. If you know the page you want, type its number in the “go to” box, hit enter and … there you are! There’s also a search function that allows you to enter specific words or phrases and an interactive index to take you straight to a subject simply by tapping on its page number. Finally, you can look up word definitions simply by highlighting them.

3) Reading and Visibility

Kindle books are formatted so you’re able to tell where you are, either in terms of percentage of the book read or page number. You can also place a bookmark and/or highlight text and make notes that stay with the book until you erase them. Kindle allows you to adjust type size and line spacing, as well as change fonts and background color for ease of viewing.

While these qualities are common to all Kindle books, there are a few reasons why this format is particularly well suited to The Art of Tapestry Weaving. Chief among them are high resolution photos that can be enlarged without loss of clarity. Charts and other illustrations have built-in expand keys to aid in reading text. Moreover, the cross-referencing is terrific, with hyperlinked text that will whisk you right to relevant material with one tap. These attributes enhance the usefulness of the book for anyone but, perhaps, most so for the weaver at her/his loom, trying to find information quickly.

I have been weaving tapestries for about ten years now, Rebecca’s student from the get go. I have a HUGE, three-ring binder filled with notes and printouts from her online classes, the subjects I refer to most marked with colored tabs. I wouldn’t trade my notebook for anything except, perhaps, this book. Whether in print or electronic format, The Art of Tapestry Weaving more than does its part to keep tapestry alive as a viable art form.