Kathe Todd-Hooker
Tapestry Weaver

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NOTICE

I was recently in an exhibition in Albany, Oregon at the gallery in Albany City Hall.  One of my tapestries was stolen off the wall.  It was titled: "Variations on a Theme: Sky Series - A Moment to Pause" Click here to see a picture of it.  Please notify me if you see it. Thanks.

 

Biographical Information

Kathe Todd-Hooker has been a tapestry weaver since 1980. She has a deep and abiding interest in historical textiles, symbols, and how those symbols have been used in textiles. Ms. Todd-Hooker has exhibited her art work both nationally and internationally. She holds a Masters degree in Craft design, History, and Clothing, Textiles and Related Arts. She lectures locally and nationally on design, tapestry, and the Russian Old Believer. Her primary focus for the last several years has been in small scale/small format tapestries. Ms. Todd-Hooker also teaches workshops in tapestry technique, colour theory, design and journaling. In her spare time Ms. Todd-Hooker is writing books on tapestry technique, avoiding housework, reading, and tormenting family and friends. She is a member of HGA, the now defunct Tapestry Forum, a former Board Member for the American Tapestry Alliance (ATA), and past President/Vice president of the Corvallis Handweavers Guild.

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Current Projects  

Tapestry Books
Writing a series of monographs on advanced tapestry technique for Fine Fiber Press.

Tapestry 101: This book is a beginning course for the person interested in learning how to do woven tapestry. It will give you the foundation you need to understand tapestry weaving and be able to express yourself in this wonderful medium. There are plans for a simple, but competent loom, information on the equipment and materials you'll need for weaving, and instructions on doing the basic techniques that you need to know to complete your own tapestry. There is also information on finishing and mounting your tapestry for exhibition. Even if you have been weaving for awhile, Kathe has covered information on all aspects of tapestry weaving that will be a help to you. (There are 108 pages of written information, diagrams, and photographs with a spiral binding so that you can lay the book flat beside your loom as a reference while you're weaving.) Cost: $29.00 plus shipping and handling. ($3.67 inside USA and Canada. $8.50 outside North America.) ISBN 978-0-9753698-5-2

Line in Tapestry: Been weaving tapestry for awhile? Then you aware that there are sometimes difficulties with weaving the perfect line for the situation. Or are you a beginner who wants to get a good technical foundation? Then knowing how to weave lines easily and correctly is important. How do you keep it from being wavy when you need it perfectly straight? How do you shade with dots or create a floating bar? How do you make vertical straight lines? Or lines that travel in all directions? Are in you interested in the linear techniques of kelims such as zilli, soumak, and cicim?  What about textured lines such as those made with chaining or brocading? How do you tame a line and make it do what you want?  This book is written about line use, line technique, and producing lines in tapestry from the simple to the complex.  There are explanations and illustrated techniques for producing lines for all occasions and purposes. If you want to understand line usage in tapestry, this is the book for you.   (82 pages of text, black/white drawings and photos. Spiral bound so that it lies flat for quick reference when you're at the loom) Cost: $25.00 plus shipping and handling ($3.67 inside USA and Canada. $8.50 outside North America.) ISBN 0-9753698-2-2 Available from Fine Fiber Press.
 
Shaped Tapestry: This book is filled with information about weaving tapestries "out-of-the-box". There are many ways to weave a non-rectangular tapestry. These include: shaping the loom itself, using weave structures that cause the weaving to become shaped, and using scaffolds and other devices to hold areas of warp that are then manipulated into 3-D shapes when the weaving is finished. Naturally, these types of techniques require some special finishing techniques, and this book covers those as well.
In addition, this book has a lot of information of general use to tapestry weavers. These include: methods of stabilizing edges, choosing the warp and weft for tapestry, overview of tools useful for tapestry weaving, tips for beginning and ending weft threads so that you don't have a lot of extra ends hanging off the back of the loom, tips for easily securing weft ends, how to re-align warp ends, adding supplemental warps and wefts, hints on controlling eccentric weaving, methods of ending and finishing tapestries, and readying them for exhibition. There is a lot of information here that can be applied to all types of tapestry weaving, not just shaped work. (78 pages of text, black/white drawings and photos. Spiral bound so that it lies flat for quick reference when you're at the loom.) Cost: $25.00 plus shipping and handling ($3.67 inside USA and Canada. $8.50 outside North America.)  ISBN 0-9753698-0-6  Available from Fine Fiber Press.
 
 
Russian Old-Believer's Research
Gathering research for a book on Russian Old-Believer textiles.
Studio Tapestry Work
Teaching Workshops
Teaching all levels of tapestry, creative journaling and design. Seminars and Workshops, Titles and Descriptions
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Exhibits and Teaching, Upcoming and Current

Teaching/Lectures

KATHE'S CLASSES AT FINE FIBER STUDIO

For classes at Fine Fiber Studio, there is a minimum of 4 students, maximum of 7.
To register for these classes please see the Fine Fiber Studio Classes page.



 

 

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Links

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Contact Information

Electronic mail address
spider472@comcast.net

Office/Fax phone
1-541-917-3251

 

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Comments

Please send me E-mail if you have any comments about anything you have seen on this page.

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© Kathe Todd-Hooker
Last revised: April 04, 2008.