ABOUT EARTHHIVE
Heirloom textiles - made with love in Aotearoa, New Zealand
Earthhive Handwovens is a labour of love by Bee Fradis, a New Yorker based in Tākaka, Aotearoa, New Zealand.
Bee's weaving journey started in a small Saori studio in Manhattan, and after a relocation to New Zealand, the loom and fibre collection began to grow, and so did Bee's skills as a weaver and dyer. Currently, all the work is done using the finest silks, wools, cottons, and specialty blends on a large Nitchke (NZ built) 8-shaft countermarch loom and an AVL 16-shaft mechanical dobby loom.
Finished and ready-to-ship pieces will be available here under "In Stock". If you have a project in mind and want to communicate with Bee about creating something unique for you, please send a message on the contact form at the bottom of this page.
"If you take any activity, any art, any discipline, any skill, take it and push it as far as it will go, push it beyond where it has ever been before, push it to the wildest edge of edges, then you force it into the realm of magic"
Tom Robbins
WEAVING GLOSSARY
from theweavingloom.com
Loom: A loom is the structure that you use to give your weave support and tension as you work. Once your weave is complete, you will cut it off the loom and your weave will have it’s own structure. Looms can vary largely in shape and size. From the extremely large floor model looms down to small handheld looms.
Warp: These are the threads that are strung over the loom vertically, and hold the tension while you weave.
Weft: These are the threads that you weave between the warp threads, creating your patterns and structure in the weave.
Shed: This is the separation of the warp threads that creates upper and lower warp sets that you pass the weft thread through.
Heddle: These work with the loom to create a shed in the warp threads. To do this each warp thread is passed through the heddle, so that the heddle can be used to separate the warp threads as the weaver works. Heddles can be a rotating stick that has grooves for the warp threads, or wires & strings that pull on the warp threads to separate, or a rigid heddle that is a single piece with slots that either pull the warp threads up or down to create the shed.
OUR FACEBOOK CHATTER PAGE
The chatter is a hub for the online community of Earthhive Handwovens to gather, and to share in my journey as a textile artist.
It is also a place to chat about anything textile and weaving related, for me to share my inspiration and for you to inspire me.
What's happening on Instagram...
CONTACT
Get in touch if you are interested in commissioning a custom woven Earthhive piece, or have any other questions.
Tākaka, New Zealand