Drawing for Tapestry
With Elizabeth Buckley
This program is part of Handwork 2026, presented by Craft in America
This workshop combines drawing and weaving, focusing on the relationship between drawing and tapestry: how the pencil can be a way of putting thoughts on paper in a manner that assists in tapestry design. We will explore different approaches to describing shape and form, quality of line, and shaded areas, then look at how these translate to tapestry technique and design. At the loom, we will weave different types of woven lines, three-dimensional forms, and shaded areas.
Throughout the workshop, we will work with how drawing is a way of fine-tuning the eye to see in terms of shapes, angles, curves, positive and negative space—all of which the tapestry weaving process entails. Come and get acquainted with what your pencils can do, and then apply this to tapestry technique.
By the end of the workshop, students will have experimented with a range of approaches to drawing and developed confidence in playing with line and shape. Students also will have explored weaving a variety of shading techniques, woven lines, and other tapestry techniques that relate to drawing.
This workshop is aimed at intermediate weavers with some experience, a working knowledge of basic tapestry techniques via weaving by shape-building.
No previous drawing experience is necessary. This is a playful class!
Students should bring:
- Drawing: Pencils (2B, 4B, 6B); Erasers: white polymer and kneaded; Pencil sharpener
- Loom: Portable tapestry loom, warped and ready for weaving. Suggested warp width: 8 inches wide, 8 – 9 epi with 12/9; or 9 – 10 epi with 12/6 cotton seine twine. Recommended looms: Shannock, Mirrix, Hagen, Copper Pipe. It is best to have a loom with a shedding device, or a loom that requires hand picking only one shed.
- Additional materials: Examples of your work (2 or 3 pieces); Note-taking materials; A few colored pencils, regular pencils or pens; Glue stick; Black Sharpie markers, fine and ultra fine; Awl; Yarn needle and curved needle
- Optional: Bobbins, if you use them
- Lunch and a drink
Four-Day Workshop
Day 1 – Thursday, July 9, 2026
Day 2 – Friday, July 10, 2026
Day 3 – Saturday, July 11, 2026
Day 4 – Sunday, July 12, 2026
- Skill level Intermediate
- Age appropriate 18+
- Materials $40 (Cash to Instructor) for weft yarns, drawing paper, art supplies, and handouts
Instructor
Elizabeth BuckleyAs second-generation tapestry artist and teacher of over 50 years, Elizabeth Buckley has an international student base in her online classes. She regularly teaches in person at regional weaving conferences, retreat centers, fiber arts schools, and numerous weaving guilds throughout the United States, as well as the United Kingdom. With her degree in art, she brings to the classroom her deep grounding in design principles and color theory that specifically apply to tapestry. She draws from multiple tapestry traditions to provide her students with the technique vocabulary for finding and expressing their own unique voice.
Her award-winning tapestries have a lengthy exhibition history, including national juried and invitational shows, as well as in museum exhibitions. Her work was featured in the Fiber Art Now article on “An Artist’s Sense of Place,” Fall 2017 issue. Book publications that include her tapestries: FiberArts Design Book V, Rebecca Mezoff’s The Art of Tapestry, plus the following Schiffer Publications: Carol K. Russell’s The Tapestry Handbook: the Next Generation, and Contemporary International Tapestry, Micala Sidore’s The Art is the Cloth, and upcoming Tapestry Talking , Tommye Scanlin’s Tapestry Design Basics and Beyond.
The Artist’s Path blog: https://www.elizabethbuckleytapestryartist.com/blog
