Tom Condé Fingerwoven Bag for Linda Scurlock

"After the 2010 CLA annual meeting in Lexington, KY Linda contacted me about making her a bag and asked if I would create an original design based on collected 18th century pieces. I accepted the challenge and this is the result that I delivered to her at the 2011 CLA annual meeting.

Fingerwoven using a very fine 3-ply yarn and the oblique weave. This bag is about 7.5" wide and 7" tall. There are 200 strands for the front and 200 for the back. Like all bags of this type the design is different from front to back and there are almost 2200 beads total for the bag. The opening is bound with a worsted wool tape and the bag is lined with a linen check material that would be correct for 18th century. The strap is woven from the same yarn and is 2" wide by 42" long and has almost 2000 beads. The cones are hand-rolled from sheet brass and the deer-hair tassels are madder dyed. The bag and strap were woven from white and black yarns and then dyed with madder root after they were completed. There are no seams on this bag. It was woven upside down, from the bottom down to the top and "in the round".  This is found on a number of fingerwoven bags and is a technique found on many many twined bags also.

displayed at the 2011 CLA Show

Copy and photos supplied by Tom Condé.