Weaving a tapestry, changing bobbins and working in various areas of the piece create small ridges on the side facing the weaver. It does not lie as flat as the non-worked side. Traditionally, the worked side is installed ("hung") as the 'back' side of the piece. So in traditional tapestry weaving, mirrors are affixed to the loom so the weaver can see how the other side is coming together.

I weave more as a painter paints a canvas. That is I use no mirrors and the side I work on it also the installed front side. The threaded loom is my canvas. Part of what I find innately beautiful about a handwoven textile is its strong sense of hand at work. I find the ridging beautiful. Looking at the face of a tapestry through mirrors is not conducive to creativity. I sometimes 'crowd' the warp in areas of a piece to increase the base-relief texture innate to a hand beaten textile.

The sketch for a tapestry is called a "cartoon." Traditionally it is not created by the person weaving the piece. Frequently the outline shapes of the cartoon are drawn on the warp - and the weaver basically works as a craftsperson skillfully weaving/filling-in the shapes.

I do paint a cartoon for each tapestry, but use it as a painter uses a sketch for a painting. I usually do not paint out the idea in full detail. There is only so much energy to an idea. Full creativity should be used in working the tapestry itself, not in working the rendering for the tapestry.

I do not draw on the warp. Weaving this way would be filling in color blanks. The opposite of a creative process. Instead, I place my rendering (cartoon) a few inches behind the loom, glancing at it while I weave - just as a painter would keep an eye on his sketch while creating his painting. Always as one works creatively, in long periods of concentration, the creative process that initiated the idea continues to evolve. If one stops creativity at the rendering level, expression in the finished tapestry is diminished.