Fiber artist and permaculturist, Linda Hendrickson makes beautiful things. Her site is dedicated to two rather rare forms of fiber art, Tablet Weaving and Ply-Split Basket Weaving. I’m particularly interested in tablet weaving, which is an ancient textile form used to make sashes, edgings, trims, and straps. It was used in iron age northern europe by those ancient women. I just got her book Table Weaving for Parents and Children, and I’m excited to try it.

I feel like this ties into my word for the year, Gathering. I have a primal feeling about it, as if I was a pioneer on the edge of something wild and strange. Sometimes that’s how I see life, we live our lives as experiments, never knowing if what we do will create order or chaos. We are pioneers of the future, whatever that may lead, however we choose to shape that future.

I am drawn to handcrafts that don’t need a lot of high tech or energy to make, like block printing and tablet weaving. Things that I could conceivably make from start to finish from materials in my local ecosystem. Beauty and sustainability combined. I continue to gather in information and skills as I wander.

In my exploration of neat tablet weaving stuff around the web I found this great blog called Upcoming by artist Shane Waltener.

Here he’s using playing cards to weave the word destiny to literally interweave chance and predetermined fate.

These are webbings made of knitted lace! I’m totally impressed. They look so genuinely like cobwebs, yet they’re made by a person. If you’ve ever tried to make fiberarts look really organic you’ll know how hard that is! I’ve tried crocheting spiderwebs before and gave up and tossed the whole mess into the trash can.

Soon I should have my own tablet weaving examples to share, wish me luck!