Weave It Wild!

Animals woven in the French menagerie (Reptiles, Amphibians, and Flatcat Kitty) that I’ll be teaching weaving in Weave It Wild!

Just Bee-Cause! HoneyDew Bee or Don’t Bee Chicken just weaving around the Hive at Honeygirl Meadery

Because honey is the required ingredient in the making of mead, Diane Currier of the Honeygirl Meadery inspired me to create honeybee awareness. I was bizzzy helping others craft some fuzzy honeybees at the Honeygirl Meadery celebration on October 24. The festivities included mead tasting, live music and crafting all around the Meadery hive!  Now we’re having a follow up class. Signup at the Meadery to make hive cozy and learn to weave on a loom class on Tuesday, November 10 at 7 to 9 pm. Great for adorning your mead cup or bottle gift. 

Jan’s Honeydew Bee and Don’t Bee Chicken

 

Jan’s Bee Hive Cup Cozy or BottleTopper

 

Thanks to Diane for a great event!

Hive Samples on view at the Meadery.  

Community Weaving Idea: Fiber Constellations

From time to time, folks ask me if I know any community weaving activities they can do at outdoor gatherings. Because I work with classrooms of 25 students, I am compelled to dream up projects which assemble multiple individual projects into a single artwork installation…(which can later be dismantled back to individual projects for take home.)  It is transformational to see a single piece made from combined efforts of the many!  And so I offer some general advice on the planning of group activities and suggest one weaving activity which could be connected to form any number of shapes and surfaces: the fiber star constellation.

Activity Planning:

For an afternoon community activity, you will likely have more than a handful of people of all ages (and abilities) and a limited materials budget.  You will want to stick with with inexpensive or easily collected scavenged materials. Initial setup should be minimal, primarily setting out the materials in an orderly way.  Provide examples of  individual elements in order of process and minimal written instructions.  The process should look easy and be somewhat self-explanatory. Provide a person to demonstrate and start installation. Some folks who stay with you for a long time will be the ideal candidates for showing the next wave of weavers..or will assume other roles you have not thought of!

Locate the activities close to the site of installation. You will likely need a person to start and monitor the assembly but then this, too, could be self-sustaining.  Encourage folks to come back and check on the progress. Take photos over time using a camera on a tripod!

Project: Fiber Constellations

Making Fiber Stars

Make a ring from grapevines you are already removing from your yard (instructions not provided here). Secure yarn to the ring leaving a 6 inch tail. (No need to cut the yarn from the skein) Wrap yarn around the opposite side of ring and then return but move over at least an inch to the right (See figure).  Wraps should be snug, but not so tight as to deform the ring. Repeat until the last  pass meets the starting knot.  There should be an odd number of points, including the last one you are closing. Secure by tying the ends together.  (Trim yarn but leave the tails long for connecting the stars together later). Move the “points” of the star until they are evenly spaced.

Wrap (or is it Warp) the Grapevine Ring

The stars could be prepared ahead of time.

Weaving the Stars!

The beginning of a star. Go under each point all the way around.

Start weaving yarn scraps, one at a time, from the center out. Go under or over each point (2 threads) all the way around.

Then pull and pack the weft towards the center.

Then pull and pack towards the center.

To start another weft, overlap the end of the last yarn scrap weft over the end of the new weft and keep weaving. Stop weaving whenever…

At some point, you could weave under 1 thread, over 1 thread  … you could also twine with two pieces of yarn.

Colored yarns, fibers or natural materials found on location will add color and texture.

Loosely packed and tightly packed stars can be connected to make a surface or structure.

Creating a Constellation:       Connecting the Stars

Using the tails or another piece of yarn, connect the ring of each star to ring of another star.  After 3 stars are connected the structure will be more stable and easier to attach additional stars.

3 dimensional structures, enclosures, and surfaces are very light and can be placed, suspended from a tree or hung on a wall. You made need some hardware!

Fiber Constellation:

Have fun, whether you

Weave or Knot!

Send Photos!