Finished the bookmarks!

I’m having loom trouble at the moment, so had to scotch my plans to spend the long weekend threading up that beautiful blue-and-gold warp.  Instead, I’m tying up lots of loose ends…like finding a rod to hang Sandra’s banner, working with my mother’s gold double-happiness symbol, and…finishing the bookmarks!

So here is a pair of finished bookmarks (front and back):

I debated about stamping the back with our names and wedding date – the stamping wasn’t coming out super-well in the trial runs, occasionally being a bit blurry or having blotches – but eventually I decided that wedding favors should have names/date on them, so I went ahead and did it anyway.  Not all the stamps came out perfect (in fact very few did), but they mostly came out acceptably legible.  And the bookmarks are beautiful.

I plan to put one bookmark into each program, and include the following text in the program:

Wedding Favors

The bookmark tucked inside this program is made from the handwoven fabrics in the wedding dress.  Over the course of the last year, Tien (a weaver and seamstress) designed, wove the fabrics for, and carefully sewed the dress, building symbolism into each part of it.

The wedding-coat fabric (front of the bookmark) consists of gold Tibetan eternity knot patterns against a white silk background.  The eternity knot symbolizes wisdom, compassion, and eternity.

The wedding-dress fabric (back of the bookmark) has a subtle three-strand Celtic braid woven in white silk.  The three-strand braid symbolizes “eternity” in Celtic lore.

Finally, the ribbon decorating the front opening of the coat (not in the bookmark, alas) has gold Chinese double-happiness characters (symbolic of a happy marriage) woven into the ribbon.

Together, the three fabrics symbolize “Eternal Love” – our hope and best wishes, not only for our own marriage, but for all our guests as well.

We hope this bookmark will remind you of this happy occasion for years to come!

So that’s finished.

On deck for today and Monday: finish (yes, I said FINISH) the Sabraset dye sample set, put away the dyes, CLEAN HOUSE, and put together the smaller tapestry frame loom.  Also wind the silk/cashmere wefts onto cones for later use.  Nothing glamorous, but useful tasks nonetheless.

And take care of wedding stuff, of course.  Today or tomorrow we’re writing the vows and our speeches to each other.

Off to the farmer’s market!  If the Patterson apricots are in, I might make some apricot jam.  And I’m really tempted to make another batch of brandied cherries, too.

Two weeks to the wedding!