Spend a few pleasant afternoons indoors on a weaving project.
Children become quiet and content as they concentrate and
watch their doll house blanket, potholder or place mat take
shape before their eyes. A bookmark, wall hanging, coin purse
or a simple cloth sample are the functional results of a few
hours on a corrugated board loom.
Master weaver Yehudit Abrahams has provided us with some of
the following information. Weaving has come down to us
through the ages. This is an ancient craft basic to humanity.
From [raw] cotton, linen and wool, people have spun and woven
their own fabrics by hand to use for clothing or other
functional and decorative uses. Curtains, room dividers,
covers of all sorts. In medieval times, very large wall
hangings (tapestries) decorated castle walls. They also
provided a way to keep the chill out of the stone walls.
Weaving and its preparations comprise several of the avos
melacha of the Mishkon -- Beis Hamikdosh. Weaving was
used for all the priestly garments, for the tapestries that
served as walls and the paroches curtain before the
Kodesh Hakodoshim.
Looking back in Jewish history, we can see examples of the
splendid paroches curtains that covered the Aron
Hakodesh from shuls around the world. One such example
from the late fifteenth and sixteenth century in Italy is on
view at the Italian Jewish Museum in Jerusalem; it has lavish
embellished and embroidered weaving from brocade, damask and
velvet.
When we weave, we are locking threads together. The vertical
threads are called the warp and the horizontal threads are
called (in American English) the weft (or in British English,
the woof). In Hebrew, it is known as shti v'erev. The
warp supports the threads that create the weaving, so make
sure that the warp is tightly strung. The woof should not be
too tight or it pulls the tapestry out of shape along the
left and right sides.
The weaving is supported by a frame called a loom. Different
types of frames can be made from picture frames, a wooden
board with a top and bottom row of nails, styrofoam meat tray
or corrugated sturdy plastic.
The soft and warm texture of authentic sheep wool is a
welcome touch in today's synthetic world. Synthetic yarns, on
the other hand, are inexpensive and plentiful. Strips of cut
fabric can be rolled or left flat to be woven into the
weave.
Lengthen or change color of weft yarn by tying or tucking in
additional yarn into the last row of woven material to the
weft. Pack down rows of weft yarn by pushing with fingers or
with a comb, a fork, a pick-up-stick or a shed stick.
Weavings can be finished by inserting wooden dowels or
driftwood/tree branches through the loops at the top and
botton of the weaving. The wood can be covered or wrapped
with colorful yarn.
SIMPLE FINGER WEAVING
Simple finger weaving requires no needle or shuttle -- only
your child's hands. This is a basic tapestry weave. Each row
alternates over and under (even-odd-even-odd) each warp
thread. Side edges are free of the frame. For a split
technique, weave one color to edge of area and work back and
forth to fill the area. For the next color, start weaving on
next warp thread and work back and forth on that area, thus
creating an open slit between colors. If you wish to join the
areas of color, weave both colors at edge of area around the
same warp thread. Or you can tie on new yarn.
Materials
12" x 6" plastic corrugated board (polygal in Israel)
Ruler, scissors, pencil, red marker and blue marker
(permanent)
Macrame yarn or other thick yarn or material (ribbon, string,
pipe cleaners, strips of fabric)
Instructions
Position board vertically.
With a pencil and ruler, make 6 or 8 vertical lines from top
to bottom 1/2 inch or one inch apart.
Draw the odd numbered lines red and the even numbered lines
blue. These are the color-coded guidelines to remind your
child of the even-odd-even-odd warp yarn.
Your loom is now completed.
Now wrap the warp around the loom. Wrap it from top to bottom
inserting the yarn between the slits at the top and then at
the bottom. You can go around and behind the slits and come
out the front side each time.
OR, wrap the yarn around both the front and the back of the
frame.
Begin to weave by locking the beginning of a length of yarn
between the first top slit and knot it from behind.
Weave the yarn under-over-under until the end of the row.
Turn to the next row and continue to the bottom of the
loom.
Cut the yarn, leaving about three inches. Knot end of yarn
around last warp thread and trim end.
Finishing Options
If there are no warp threads on the back, remove from frame
and insert a stick or dowel through the top and bottom of the
warp threads.
Cut the warp threads in half. Knot and trim to desired
length. Remove from loom.
Fold weaving back a few inches from the top and put a strip
of heavy tape on back and hem bottom.
MAKE YOUR OWN SHINY YARN
Add a special glittery touch to your weaving with homemade
shiny yarn. We make shiny yarn by twisting a length of yarn
and a length of metallic thread together.
We can also do this activity separate from weaving. It takes
about fifteen minutes and is very gratifying.
INSTRUCTIONS
Start with a forty inch piece of yarn and a fifty to sixty
inch piece of silver, gold or metallic thread. The yarn
should be twice as long as the finished twisted yarn will be.
The thread should be longer than the yarn to allow for
twisting. If nonmetallic thread is available, use a second
color of yarn for a different effect.
Tie the two top ends of the yarn and thread together and then
the two bottom ends of yarn and thread together. There
will be slack in the thread since it is longer so that it can
twisted around the yarn.
Tie the yarn/thread to a door handle.
Twist the yarn/thread tightly together, starting close to the
door handle. Move backwards as you finish twisting every few
inches.
When you finish twisting the yarn/thread, knot the end.
Hold the yarn/thread taut at all times.
Cut the yarn twist free from the door handle and knot the
start of the yarn twist.
Fold the yarn twist in half, carefully keeping it taut. Knot
the top end. Knot the bottom end.
The yarn twist will be half of its original size. It will
also be curled up and twisted. So shake it a few times until
it relaxes and straightens out.
Now you are ready to weave your sparkling shiny yarn on your
loom.
DEVORA PIHA is available for art and craft therapy. Ramat
Beit Shemesh (02- 992-0501).
