Weaving? Me? No Way!
I was not looking for a teacher. I wasn't even interested in learning anything new.
I was too busy with experiencing self-sufficient living on the island of Lesvos, Greece, when one day mu husband and I met a lady at the local hot spring who invited us to visit her shop in the agora of Molivos.
It was a small shop filled with colourful hanks of wool, skeins of silk and bags of cotton selvedge.
The walls were draped in beautiful tapestries and the floor covered with thick, gorgeous rugs - and looms! Looms everywhere and of every size.
It was a visual delight.
We drank strong Turkish coffee and exchanged pleasantries when the shop owner announced that she was planning a workshop (one day a week) for three months, teaching tapestry weavin, and if I were interested.
I just sat there, mesmerised by colour, design, mechanical devices and hot, strong coffee - and I said yes.
WHO IS YOUR MUSE? WHAT INSPIRES YOU?
Do you work with a Spirit Guide who ignites your creative fire?
Have you got an Angel sitting on your shoulder filling your
heart with great ideas?
Or is Grandmother Spider whispering into your ear to create...create...create?
I have written a poem about my inspiring voice and to read it
please click on the photo.
Song of the Skyloom
Oh our Mother the Earth,
Oh our Father the Sky,
Your children we are!
So, weave for us a garment of brightness...
May the warp be the white light of morning,
May the weft be the red light of evening,
May the fringes be the falling rain,
May the border be the standing rainbow.
Thus weave for us a garment of brightness,
That we may walk fittingly where birds sing,
That we may walk fittingly where grass is green.
Tewa Navajo, NM
WEAVERS
WEAVERS, weaving at break of day,
Why do you weave a garment so gay?
Blue as the wing of a halcyon wild,
We weave the robes of a new-born child.
WEAVERS, weaving at fall of night,
Why do you weave a garment so bright?
Like the plumes of peacock, purple and green,
We weave the marriage veil of a queen.
WEAVERS, weaving solemn and still,
Why do you weave in the moonlight chill?
White as a feather and white as acloud,
We weave a dead man's funeral shroud.
Sarojini Naidu, India 1879-1944
A SONG by Kabir
..."This is nothing," whispered Kabir,
"I have run mere cotton threads for the warp and weft.
But how did God, the master Weaver, make this finely
woven fabric we call skin that we wear all our lives?
What is the warp? What is the weft?
What fine thread does he use?"
wondered Kabit and broke into a song....
Jhini jhini bini chadariya,
Kaahe ka tana, kaahe ki Sharani,
Kaun taar se bini chadariya?
-Kabir, Weaver and Poet