Strip Search

“Serape Atkins” was my last newspaper weaving. If you’ve been following my blogs, you will know that this weaving was not a challenge for me. I knew what it would look like before I began work on the weaving. I was worried I’d be bored bit it kept my interest.

While weaving, I did notice that most of the design was made up from images of meat so I named it “Serape Atkins”. My husband is on the Atkins Diet; there are no images of carbs on the finished piece, only protein. Seemed perfect!

All the while I was weaving “Serape Atkins,” I was thinking about my next piece. Serapes are striped blankets. I wanted the next one to be composed of rectangles radiating from a central field. I began this piece the next day.

This weaving is made up entirely of the same one inch strip of newspaper from several hundred copies of the same paper. The central field is the only portion which isn’t. The technical problem is managing the corners. It needs to look mitered and the design consistent along all four sides of the developing pattern.

I was feeling pretty cocky about having “figured out” the corners and about the developing design. I was feeling pretty smug about the rectangles in rectangles. And then I ran out of paper.

The piece is not complete. I tore the studio apart looking for more of that one strip. I found a couple hundred copies of the original newspaper advertisement.

Today I begin prepping another 200 copies of that same newspaper page. It will take me a week or more to prep the newspaper and cut it into strips: the same one inch strips as before. And then I can complete this piece.

In a week or so, I can resume weaving. You can bet I will be counting the number of strips used in this weaving for future reference!

I wanted a challenge. I got it. What I’ve learned thus far with weaving is to keep your concentration on the whole project, not just the challenge. What if I didn’t’ have more copies of that newspaper. I would have been defeated.

This weaving will be for sale once completed. If you cannot wait, please take a minute to visit my website at www.JerryLHanson.com Take a look at my artwork. Contact me if you want to buy one of my works or if you have any questions about a specific piece. My contact information is on my website and you can leave a comment on this blog site for me to contact you. You can e-mail me at JeryL@JerryLHanson.com or you can telephone me on my studio phone 760-992-3157. You can call me. I won’t mind.

Thank you for listening

Jerry L. Hanson