Hema in ancient Greek means blood. Thríno means lament or grief.
This piece is reimagined and adapted from the original Hema Thríno pictured below.
It might be clear that I was working some things out in the making of this knitted sculpture. Namely, a grief to do with the natural departure from one stage of life into the next, evidenced in part by the changing soul landscape bringing me towards menopause. Over time, I’ve learned that I do best when I wrestle with matters of the heart/mind/body through my hands. Maybe writing, maybe drawing or weaving… in this case, knitting with gorgeous deep red cotton thread, strong and soft at the same time, and engaging with a plant called Witches’ Broom, parasitic in nature, that you find on trees and bushes. Witches’ Broom is an abnormal growth of branches in the tree, usually signaling some kind of distress.
Evidence of distress mixed with beauty, resilience, and strength…
I’d been looking at the first iteration of Hema Thríno for some time in my studio and I began to see her in a different form~ less vulnerable, more in an assumption of power and clarity. So off the wall she came and we got to work together and brought her into fuller form. She has a countenance now. She is here more fully… calm… and powerful.
The details: Dates: Saturday and Sunday October 4 and 5 Address: Shelburne Pond Studios @ 1260 Pond Road, Shelburne, Vermont Hours: 10am – 5pm What’s in the studio: lots of things but especially recent work I’ve been doing that interlaces my focus on the plants around me and my love for weaving. My work has been dreamy lately, and I’m excited to show it.
If you’re in the area and feel like stopping in, I’d love to see you! This Open Studio event is wonderful. If you haven’t participated before, there are studios open all over the state and you can pick loops that are in a region you’d like to explore. The very comprehensive maps will show you all the spots to check out. This is my second year doing it and it’s a total joy. Many thanks to the Vermont Crafts Council for putting on such a great event.
As August comes to a close, I’m thinking about realities from the past few weeks that made engaging in a creative endeavor every day more challenging. Whether it was working a lot, having chores to do, managing a busy schedule, being with my family, or a bump in stress, it took some extra doing to stay with my creative process. I got some insight into why it’s hard to do something creative every single day. Sometimes, the time just runs out. Sometimes the fatigue is too great. Sometimes the stress is too distracting.
What to do when these deadly horsemen arrive to mess with the best of our intentions?
I noticed that for me, it helps to have at the ready a list of things I like to do or want to do that have different time and focus commitments. For example, recently I had a lot of chores to do outside and in our garage. I needed to clean, straighten, toss, and arrange so much stuff, in part to get ready to scrape and paint our shed. Well… I was bummin’ because I can’t very well weave and sweep at the same time, and I knew that the manual labor I’d be doing would make my arthritic hands and body tired at the end of the day. BUT, I had creative things that I wanted to do that are also passive. For example, making black walnut and chokeberry dye was something I wanted to get done, as well as clean some deer antlers that a friend gave to me. I realized that the passive time required for boiling the berries, nuts and antlers could be used to do something else (like clean the garage). So, I set up my portable cooktop on a table in my driveway, got to boiling antlers and tended to my chores, periodically checking how things were going. The antlers required scraping/washing, scrubbing to get the muscle, skin, and hair off the skull part, but I did that in between other tasks.
No one can accuse me of being a one-trick-pony!
By the end of that afternoon, I had accomplished what I’d needed to chores-wise, and had some beautiful deer antlers to show for it.
On another day, I did more outdoor work and boiled the black walnuts and the chokeberries separately, making beautiful red and dark brown dyes. I also prepared a chokeberry tincture which just requires putting berries and vodka in a sealable jar and putting it in a dark spot (with a commitment to shake it every day).
And on yet another day, I washed a lot of wool while I scraped the paint off the shed, using the sun’s energy to keep the soapy water hot.
When fatigue was the main bad actor keeping me from my creative goal, I did my best to get clear on what my fatigue was about. Too little sleep? Stress? What was out of balance? There were several days when I didn’t have the bandwidth to sit with my more focus-required projects, so I continued to let passive interests save the day. I simply put fabric strips into the dyes I made and let them be. I also laid flowers between folds of dyed cloth and let them rest under weight in the sun. These were fun experiments that hit creative chords but didn’t take any energy from me. I do feel like I benefit from being a “let’s just do this and see what happens” kind of person. No one is going to find meticulously kept notes of how I do things on my bookshelves, but I always have random thing around to use in a project.
The stripes on that cloth you see below? That happened by accident when I laid the wet material on a rusty steel wire shelf. The lines appeared immediately and I was like, HEY! Look at that! As Bob Ross would say, I made a “happy accident”!
I’m also a big fan of taking pictures of things I see that I think are beautiful or interesting. I aim to keep them in a folder on my computer that is to do with inspiration I glean from the world around me.
When longer work days were the issue, I did things like spray paint dried plant stalks to prepare them for projects I’m working on. I also sanded some things and basically got my project ingredients together.
I learned that stress is the most killer of distractions for me. Stress mixed with worry is the monster that steals my creativity. On those days where that kind of stress was in the mix, I listened to people I admire. I looked for my mentors’ words and anchored myself in wisdom. On those days, that was enough.
When I actually had time to devote more than a couple of hours to my making, I took it, guilt-free and pressure-free. I chose a project to commit my attention to and went for it. That was glorious. I felt so grateful to have that time with myself, and the woven piece is done, just waiting to be mounted!
These are examples of what I do. I have my Creativity Options that suit whatever might be true for me on a given day. If I had to rely on having hours in my studio every day dedicated to my making, I would either be chronically disappointed and resentful, or I’d be neglecting other responsibilities I value. I’ve learned over the years how to excavate time and opportunity to make and tend to my making, and for me, it’s worked.
So, here’s some questions to ask yourself:
~ are there any creative things you do that have built in down-time moments? i.e., solar dyeing, cooking/baking/steeping/drying. ~ are there things you like to do that, if you have them around and easily accessible, would be easy to achieve in a short period of time? i.e., drawing/painting paper and brushes/pencils on the counter where you can play while something is cooking, or clay you can sculpt with while you listen to a lecture, or yarn you can knit/crochet/weave with while you wait in a waiting room/attend a conference/wait for water to boil? ~ are there things you like to do that you would do more if only you had a few hours to dedicate to them? i.e., working on larger pieces, sculpting, writing… if so, are there ways to take advantage of open time and claim it for yourself, rather than fill the space with a bunch of shoulds? ~ are there ways to organize your environment so that when the moment is right for any one of these things, you can act without having to think about it too much? If you have to dig out a bin from the back of the closet that has your art stuff in it, how likely are you to do it when you only have a half-hour? How can you arrange things so you can just as easily pick up a colored pencil as your phone? ~ on those days that are stressed and/or worry-filled, from what well do you draw insight, comfort, and support?
If you tried to be creative every day in August, how did it go? What did you do that supported your efforts? Where did it fall apart?
As we head into this next month, I am going to focus on keeping my environment arranged in such a way that I can continue to engage with myself creatively within my life, not as an effort separate from my day to day living. Might you join me in this?
One of the classes I teach at the Shelburne Craft School is called Weaving Your Story. The chance to meld my love of weaving with my passions for healing, growth and creativity has been a true boon in my life. The program is fully grant funded by grantors and an anonymous donor making it cost free for participants. The Vermont Arts Council, being a grantor and a great supporter of the program, recently interviewed me to talk about Weaving Your Story and I wanted to share the article with you here. It captures so much of what the class is about and how I feel about it!
In case you are wondering how weaving and creative expression can be healing, I think the conversation gets at it well. Enjoy!
We are ten days into this month and I wanted to share an update on how I’ve been doing with the Summoning Creativity intention, which is to engage with your creativity every day. First, I’ll just give you the run down.
August 1: I feel like this was a bit of a cheat because I had the opportunity to visit the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. I specifically went to see the Woven Histories exhibit, which was incredible, inspiring, tear-inducing… but we also checked out a lot of the permanent collection which knocked my psyche into a great space. I was also reminded of how much I love the work of Marc Chagall. Once back at home at my family’s house, I did a quick sketch inspired by a piece from the Woven Histories exhibit entitled Composition 9 by Manolo Millares.
August 2: while on a walk in the town I spent a lot of my childhood, I gathered some leaves that caught my attention. I either was drawn to their shape or to their colors. Once back at the house, I looked them up to see what tree they belonged to and took some notes. Sassafras, Pin Oak, Big Tooth Aspen, and some kind of Hickory were of special focus.
Captured with VisionCamera by mrousavyCaptured with VisionCamera by mrousavyCaptured with VisionCamera by mrousavyCaptured with VisionCamera by mrousavyCaptured with VisionCamera by mrousavy
August 3: On this day, my daughter and I drove from my family’s home in NJ where we were visiting to Asbury Park which is on the Jersey Shore. Driving in NJ elicits a unique kind of stress in my mind and body, so just making that trip felt like a feat that involved mental creativity. BUT, once there, we made it to the beach for a bit, swam, and I let myself succumb to the relaxing and beautiful sounds of the ocean waves. Heavenly magic. I watched people and witnessed a most beautiful scene: two women helped an elderly woman down to the water. The elderly woman was wearing a long blue dress. Her hair was pinned up. She was beautiful. The two women on either side of her were holding each of her hands gently; they were in bathing suits. They stepped into the water, feet getting wet. Then a little deeper… ankles and calves… no worries about the woman’s dress getting wet. They moved slowly, patiently, lovingly. Deeper still and they were up to about mid-calf. They were getting splashed by waves, smiling. Her dress was completely wet. Other family members approached and stayed. It seemed like there were at least three, maybe four generations of family there. It was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. The picture here is cropped in such a way to respect the privacy of those in the scene.
August 4: On a walk with my daughter to the place we went for dinner, we got turned around and ended up on a little footbridge. I took a picture of the reflection, imagining a tapestry project idea and made sure to document it in my book.
August 5: on our last night in Asbury Park, we took in the scenes around us and marveled at the art, edginess, creativity and spooky feeling that abounds there. I didn’t do any journaling- taking in the ocean and the sights was satisfying enough.
August 6: I drove home to Vermont from the Jersey Shore, about a 6.5 hour drive, and stayed mostly calm through 4 hours of heavy traffic. That’s all I could muster.
August 7: I had to, rather quickly, make a fun project for an upcoming class at the Shelburne Craft School. My goal? Show how random we can be when weaving on a frame loom, and how we can just follow an urge or a whim to create something unique.
August 8: I sat on my porch in the evening and added a little bit to my little tapestry project. There’s no plan to this. I just want to make waves an swirls and swales, capturing my feelings about this summer. I didn’t have too much time to work on it but I got one more wave in (on the left) and the yellows.
August 9: Yesterday began with me trying to sort how I was going to spend my hours… I need to repair a sculpture at my studio and am longing to be there. But home was calling to me- I wanted to tend to it and be around my family. What began as some mild chores turned into cleaning windows, mopping floors, putting things away… I listened to music (I’ve been on a Rolling Stones kick lately) and took care of my space with a lot of time to be with my people. I came across started and then left, or half-finished art projects and did the next step on one of them: a while ago I took some loosely knitted linen material from a former project and molded it around a bowl with some hardening fixative. It’s been sitting and curing for months now. Yesterday I spray painted it gold. Next step will be to paint it with nuln oil. Can’t wait to see what it looks like when it’s finished.
August 10: Early this morning, I sat on my porch, listened to all the critters making their late summer sounds. I worked some more on my little tapestry, until it became too hot in the direct sun.
In these first ten days of this month’s Summoning Creativity intention, I’ve given myself a lot of space to be where I am and fully engage with whatever is happening. Sometimes I’ve actually gotten to make something or work on a project. Most times, I’ve been more of an observer/noticer of interesting, beautiful, lovely things or moments. One day, so much focus and energy went into driving safely that there was no energy left over to do anything else. What has been consistently true is that I have not had hours to spend on my own art. Life is busy with family, work, chores, and other engagements. Yet, I feel like I’ve been really tuned in to the part of myself that is creative and wants to create. I’m proving to myself that not having a lot of time in the studio doesn’t mean I can’t live in and experience my life artistically and creatively. Having this intention for the month is reminding me to tune in and do something… anything… to keep the flow going so when I do have more time, I can jump in with abandon.
Tell me about your creative practice! I love hearing how people approach their own artistry.
I’m writing to you from my porch. It’s just a few days before August 1st. I’ve been thinking about the next Summoning Creativity post for a while now. As I listen to the myriad birds engaged in their morning meetings and wonder at the frogs knocking to one another from here to there*, I can’t help but come back to the bewilderment I feel at being on Earth, doing this thing called life. Being alive. Being here as part of, and witness to, all of it. All of what is happening, all of what has been, all of what will come… here we are. Part of the story.
August in Vermont has a certain texture and moodiness to it. The sun’s height in the sky has gone through some noticeable shifts and, even with the hot days of late, there have already been moments that feel and smell like early fall. The rhythms we live in are obvious. Yet, they can pass by with little notice if attention is not paid to the shifts.
Lest this seem like a naval-examining treatise on the passing of time, let me get to it and make the link between being human in nature and creativity.
The Link
When We Notice, We Are Engaged
When We Are Engaged, We Can Create
The Prompt for August
Engage Every Day
Yes. Every day.
Don’t go yet! This isn’t bootcamp or a fad diet. It’s an invitation to harness the energy of August and give yourself the gift of engagement with your life, your surroundings, and your beautiful creativity that is boundless and waiting for attention. Here’s what I have in mind.
~ Every single day, take a moment to be fully present in your body and mind. Let your senses guide you. Do you hear something that has you wondering? Do you see something that catches your attention? Feel a sensation on your skin? Taste something that has your tongue tingling? Smell something that makes you tilt your head?
~ Let your attention rest on something that is: neutral, pleasant, interesting, or beautiful. Yes, I’m being directive about that. ** Like students in school, we learn best when we feel and are safe. Let us give our nervous systems the gift of a moment of, at minimum, calm neutrality.
~ Observe what you have chosen to rest your attention on. At least for five minutes, study what has gotten your attention.
~ Then, following this engagement, document it. You can do this in several ways. On days that are busy and there’s just no time that feels available for more, simply write what you saw.
It can be as short and sweet as: “By my front step, I saw a web that formed a circle on the grass. It looked like a tissue from a distance. But up close, it was webby and dewy.”
Or, you can take a picture of it and print it out, if possible.
Or, you draw it, paint it, sketch it.
Or, you can research it. Using this example, I might wonder, “what makes those webs?” and then study that creature.
Or, you can make something inspired by what you’ve seen.
~ And… repeat. Every day for one month.
Why every day?!
Because when we do something every day, over time, we change our habits. And yes, it is a habit to plow through a day without noticing anything. And, it’s a habit to live every day and notice many things.
It’s a practice to let those things you observe work on you and interact with the part of you that is curious, has wonder, and wants to play.
Things that might be useful to have around:
An unlined notebook where you can keep sketches/drawings/writings/clippings….
A camera. Many folks have smartphones that have one million photos on them that they forget about. I recommend for this endeavor to print out pictures and put them in your book. If you have a printer that can do this, great. I don’t have reliable printer and ink costs a forture, so I often will order prints through the Walgreens app because I can order the prints I want and pick them up quickly. If you are only ordering one print here and there, it’s remains inexpensive. Many pharmacies and grocers have photo printing these days, and there’s no minimum number of prints necessary. My daughter also has this little polaroid camera that is pretty fun. I haven’t used it for things like this, but I think it would work great!
Colored pencils or pens
Charcoal drawing pencils
Portable paints
If you have a specific medium you like to work with, have that around and easily accessible in case you have more dedicated time to play and create.
Things to consider that might help support this practice:
Setting an alarm each day (with a pleasant sound, please! – no startle responses necessary for this effort!) to remind you to take a moment to engage.
Keeping your art book around so you are visually reminded to engage.
Inviting people you live with or talk to regularly to do this, too! Sometimes it’s fun to have a partner in daily efforts.
Beware of the following:
If you forget a day or days, don’t throw in the towel! Just get back to it. My relationship with my journal changed drastically when I decided not to make it a shame and self-hate punisher if I miss a few days or months. Shit happens, man. It’s no big thing.
Judgement of what you are focusing on or on what you do with it. Reminder: this is not a project to get anything specific done. It’s an invitation to engage with what resonates with you while taking it a step further and interacting with what you noticed.
What do you think? Are you game? I am! I vibe deeply with getting practical and organized in my efforts. I also don’t want to miss any of August, no matter where I am or what I’m doing. If any part of this feels too rigid for you and your nature, adjust as needed and make it work for you. Most important is to commit.
As always, I love to hear from you whether through the comments or directly, so please let me know if you take this on! I plan on sharing my thoughts about the whole thing as we make our way through the month. We’ll see what engaging every day inspires!
Until next time,
Bradie
ps- this post came a little early so you can start on August 1 if you’re so inspired!
* I think I’m hearing mink frogs but it seems like where I am is not considered part of their Vermont territory. Not sure, but a deeper dive into frog lore is in my future.
** To be clear, I am not saying the requirement is to ignore all that is happening in the world and to just “be positive, man”. What I am saying is that we need to give our nervous systems a chance to balance out, reboot, and access a sense of safety if we are actually living in a safe circumstance. With the issues we are facing, we need to do what we can to nurture ourselves so we can stay strong and grounded.
Recently I was talking to someone in my studio about a theme he noticed in my work~ I had an image expressed several ways and he wondered at the significance of the image to me. This got me thinking about how this happens in my work sometimes and the best way I can put it is, I let my psyche guide me in what images, symbols or themes I want to follow, and then… I do.
For example, several years ago, I was looking at a picture in a book I have of an image of an elderly woman sitting on a granite sort of bench that was really maybe a retaining wall for a city garden bed, her hands resting on her pocketbook. I loved her face and found myself looking at her and going back to look at her some more. I had all kinds of feelings when I took in her details and conjured stories that might explain her look of sadness.
Then, I decided to try to draw her. (I know I didn’t get her image exactly as she looked in the picture. For one, I don’t know how to draw, but the point of all of what I’m saying here has nothing to do with perfection, and only to do with engaging.)
Then I found myself looking at the face of the woman I drew. And I kept going back and looking at her some more and I remember thinking, who are you?
A year or two after drawing her, I took a tapestry weaving class with Rebecca Mezoff, which I highly recommend. We were tasked with designing a cartoon for a weaving project, and I chose my lady. I knew I wanted to learn how to weave faces, and I wanted to spend more time with her. So, I dove into that and made the cartoon, and then I started weaving her…
And I wove her…
And kept weaving her…
And then I was like, “no really, who ARE you?!” She became ever more important to me. I started to see in her face regret, which is another theme I’ve been following, studying, and writing about for many years. That was interesting. This thread I was following was actually one I’d been engaged with in a more intellectual way for a long time. The theme suddenly dove into new, creative terrain.
Then, I was done with the weaving, but I wasn’t done with the image, so I did a block print of her.
And then, I was done.
So you see… there was an initial spark, and then an idea and another idea and another idea… I couldn’t have planned this all. I just followed the image and let it keep working on me over the course of a few years. There need not be any rush or pressure. There’s no time limit. There’s only an invitation.
Following threads of themes, symbols and images is a really fun and meaningful way to get into something and experiment with different mediums. Fun because you’re literally playing with an idea and letting it work on you. Meaningful because the threads come from your own psyche. No one is assigning them to you.
So, how does one do this?
Start with these questions: ~ What’s on your mind these days? ~ What are you drawn to? Is it a song? A color? A taste? A smell? An image? ~ This thing you are drawn to, how might you engage with it creatively? Can you draw it? Cook it? Paint it? Weave it? Sculpt it? ~ Can you start there? And see where it leads? ~ Can you write about it? What draws you to it or captures your attention?
For example… maybe the color green is really grabbing you or you know it’s your favorite color. You can:
take out some water colors play with greens; you can blend, use solid colors, or make them so subtle you can barely see them, or pair the greens with complementary colors…
you can take pictures of all the greens you see in your immediate landscape or your home
you can wear green
you can knit/crochet/weave a green-inspired project
you can read about the color green and see what themes/symbols/stories/myths are associated with it
you can follow an idea because what might happen is, with all of this attention to green, an image of a way to work with it will occur to you- listen to that and follow it.
the more you do this, the more you’ll do it – wow, that was deep.
I love seeing how people do this~ please write and share if you are so inclined! And, if you want to keep up on this monthly Creativity Summoning, sign up to receive updates to the site! We’ll keep it going as long as I have something say.
My mom was a very talented artist. She had an eye for alluring shapes, luscious textures, intricate details that could easily be missed if one didn’t stop to look closely at whatever-it-was. In Florida, we lived on a bayou and the whole back of the tiny house on stilts opened to a view of it, tree and mangrove lined. The bird life there was epic. Alligators glided through the water, occasionally lumbering up the bank into our yard. Oh, do I have some stories about them.
Much of what my mom made included materials found in our yard or on the island. She had this uncanny ability to use the natural contours of something to house or nestle around little sculptures she’d make, usually faces. Once, when I went home for a visit after I’d moved to Vermont, one of the walls in the open space in the middle of our house was adorned with her pieces of art. I was breath-taken. They were exquisite. I went directly into agent-mode, wanting her to get her work into local galleries. I wanted everyone to see what I saw.
After my mom died, eight years ago now, many of the materials she used in her art ended up with me. One piece in particular has hung on the wall in my studio for a long time. It is a material that comes from palm trees and is like netting or burlap. It’s the most amazing material, woven by nature, strong, pliable, beautiful. I’ve wanted to make something with it for years but nothing was coming to me so I let it simply be itself.
Last week, I was in the midst of repurposing a piece I’d made about a year ago for an art exhibit. It was fabric of very fine grey linen, knitted loosely. I wanted it to be something else and was letting myself play. After treating it with a stiffening agent so it didn’t unravel in my hands, I moved it around and “asked” what it wanted to be and netting came to mind. As I sat at my table strewn with materials, I thought about my mom. Then, I invited her to play. What does that mean? I welcomed her to participate in what I was doing. I talked to her in my mind and imagined how she might have approached what I was doing. Then, I remembered the palm netting. It was at that moment when I felt, “oh cool, we’re making something together”. And then I got to it.
When people ask me how I use fiber art or handcrafting to process grief or life events, I know I answer the question, and I have a lot of things to show for my efforts. But in the moments I’m describing here, I got to observe myself while in the process of doing it, and I wanted to share some things that came clear to me. I believe anyone can do this, with whatever materials they have on hand, whether they or their loved ones were/are artistically inclined or not. And by the way, I truly believe all humans are creative beings. Creativity is not just for some people. It is an energy and a gift available to all of us because it resides in us.
Why am I sharing a personal moment like this in such a public way? Because I think about grief and love all the time, and help people process their own when I can. And I can tell you with absolute confidence, creating while in the mindset of connecting with a loved one* or processing grief does something. Many things. Here’s some details:
~ It creates a space in which you can think about and talk to your loved one. ~ It can be playful, which benefits our mental and physical health tremendously. You can read about that here. ~ It fosters the bond between you and the one you are grieving – read about continuing bonds as described by Dennis Klass here. ~ It’s a worthwhile effort, even when the relationship was painful or your grief is complex. ~ You make something meaningful to you. There’s no getting it right or wrong. ~ New thoughts, emotions, and understandings have a way of coming forth when you allow the time and space for them to emerge. When this happens in a creative zone that utilizes some form of action (art making, cooking, gardening, singing/playing music, writing), these shifts are metabolized through the body. All the thoughts and emotions are no longer only housed in the mind, but flow through the body, which can lead to greater peace. ~ You might be able to repurpose things that would otherwise be stuck in a drawer or thrown away. ~ You hang out with yourself, which is something I highly recommend. You are worth your own attention.
unfinished co-created piece by my mom and me
This new co-created piece between me and my mom is not finished yet. It’s hanging in my studio in a spot that is important to me and commands my attention. I find myself looking at it and feeling all of the textures and imagining what it will be when it is finished. There’s no rush to get it done and I suppose this is a chance for me to just be in my thoughts with and about my mom. It’s an ongoing invitation…
Until next time… ~ bradie
* I often use the term “loved one” to refer to the person we are grieving. This is not to imply that all has to wonderful and conflict-free in terms of the relationship one had with the deceased person. I should figure out a new way to refer to the person who has died that allows for imagining processing all loss creatively, not just the loss of someone we had a generally good relationship with. It is possible to do this, and is very valuable. Even if grief is complicated, there are ways to work it out through creative expression.
In my space circling around materials and ideas I found my great-grandparents Not all but some, And then it started. Do you like this color? Did you have this flower in your garden That was in the back of your little house Where you made my brother and me The most delicious hamburgers In a frying pan, with butter and salt? I remember you and your dear love. Mom told me you held hands when you slept at night. And you, great-grandmother I never met, Whose teacups I have but am not graceful enough to use. Maybe you know I’d slug the coffee that could fit in that dainty piece of porcelain in one gulp, Apologies. I feel loved by you and can feel you through the veil. I’m glad we got to play.
Klara and Friedrich Behind a VeilVirginia Behind a Veil
Greetings, fellow crafters. In my Fiber Saturday class yesterday, I demo’d how to make a circular loom out of cardboard. Here, I am offering more detailed instructions and a project idea. Many of the kids I have gotten to craft with LOVE circular weaving. In a way, it’s easier than weaving on a rectangular loom because you just go around and around, rather than back and forth (coming back the other way on a loom can be super perplexing to some. What do you do with that end warp thread!) Getting into the flow is easy and you end up with something beautiful at the end.
Quick Disclaimer: I’ve woven many things on circular looms at this point. I’ve often had the experience where I wanted my circular weaving to lay flat, but it curls up instead, or I’ve wanted the piece to be a bowl, but it’s lays more flat than I wished. So much affects the way this project turns out. The yarn or fabric variability really changes things, how tightly the yarn is pulled as it is taken around the loom certainly affects how taut it becomes… Things I always stress with this project are: have fun, the goal is not to adhere to a rigid idea of what you want but rather to play with colors and textures and see what you get! No matter what, it will be beautiful. For elementary kids, the book Beautiful Oops, by Barney Saltzberg, is a great companion to this project. I also love the book Ish, by Peter H. Reynolds.
To make a bowl on these looms, you do want to pull a little firmly on the yarn, especially as you reach the edges of the loom.
One more thing! This is a great project for kids, but elementary age kids will likely need adult or older kid help with the construction of the loom and the step-up.
Materials:
cardboard- the flaps of cardboard boxes are plenty strong enough
yarn for warp
yarn, fabric, ribbon, string, jute… whatever you want… for the weaving
marker
strong scissors
tape
round things that can be used for tracing a good circle- must fit on the cardboard
tapestry needle (or a sewing needle with the very large eye, or, you can even use a paperclip- just find the smallest one you have and tie the end of the yarn to end of it)
Step 1: Trace your circle. This will be the approximate size of your circular loom.
Step 2: Cut out the circles as neatly as you can.
Step 3: Some folks who are really good at being precise might balk at my lack of straight or perfectly measured grid-work here. I get that. BUT, the point is to demonstrate that this does not have to be incredibly perfect. In fact, I think it’s a relief to many to not have to stress about that. You generally want to split your circle into four kinda even sections.
Step 4: Around the edge of each section, you will start to make triangles. These will be cut out and serve as notches for your warp thread to hold on to (the warp is what you weave around). You want the same number of triangles in each section EXCEPT ONE! You can see that in each of my looms below, I added one that straddles a segment line. This is because you need an odd number of notches so that you have an odd number of warp threads. Otherwise, each time you go around the loom, you’ll have the yarn always going under the same warp thread and over the same warp thread. You don’t want that.
Step 5: tape one side of a piece of yarn to the back of your loom.
Step 6 (warping the loom):
turn the loom over so you are looking at the front (the front for me is the side with no marker.
pull the yarn over, crossing the loom to the other side. you have an odd number of notches in your loom… so when you pull your yarn across, it won’t land right in the center, right? So you want an even number of notches on one side and an odd on the other, of the yarn just pulled across, having one more notch on one side.
hold yarn snuggly and wrap it around the notch, moving from right to left and then turn the loom so it is “up” again, with the notch you just wrapped on the upside
bring yarn down, crossing in the middle, going to the left of the notch with the yarn in it.
wrap the yarn around that next notch, again, moving from right to left
repeat this step until you’ve brought the yarn around every notch
cut the yarn from the yarn ball, leaving several inches to work with and use that yarn end to tie around the center of the warp threads, making it neat and organized in the middle.
Warping the loom:
Tying the center of the warp:
Step 8: Then start weaving! I generally weave from right to left, but it doesn’t matter which way you go as long as that is the only way you go as you weave. No doubling back! The same weaving principles apply with circular looms as do with other looms. Bring the yarn over one warp thread, under the next, over the next, under the next, and so on… The first few rounds might not look right, but as you go around, it will become more and more organized and clear whether you are to go over or under.
Step 9: Optional- You can add new colors and textures whenever you want. I usually just tie on the the thread and begin weaving. When the loose ends come up against the weaving as the new yarn starts getting woven with, I gently tuck them under the already woven part. DON’T SNIP THEM! You want them longer so you can sew them in once you are finished and the piece is off the loom.
As I make my way towards the upper part of the loom, I like to use a tapestry needle to weave. It keeps one from pulling on the warp too much and allows for weaving right up to the top.
Step 10: Once you feel you cannot weave anymore, it’s time to take your piece off the loom! Gently pull off the tape, and the warp that is wrapped around the notches. You will notice how it is naturally shaped- will it be a bowl, or a coaster/placemat/wallhanging? Does it curl up or lay flat? Assess and gently shape it as you wish.
Step 11: Time to sew in those loose ends with the tapestry needle. I usually sew them into the bottom/underside of the piece. Just gently bring the loose end down through the column of weaving right below and it and carefully snip the remaining bit. It will be completely hidden in your piece.
Step 12: Admire your handiwork! I love my little bowl! I can imagine making several of these and having nesting bowls all over. Or sewing them together in a way to make something that looks like coral, or finding a little stuffed bunny or chick and making this a little nest…
Have fun with this. I’ve done circular weaving with kids as young as 6. And I intend on weaving this way for as long as my fingers let me. It is so relaxing and so satisfying, and you likely have all you need already in your home.
Healing Handcrafting 