Weaving Project

New Mexico Standards: Art 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Objectives
1. Students will understand the way that the technology of weaving has been developed by different world cultures (historical and cultural understanding.)
2. Students will describe and discuss the weaving process and materials (perceiving, analyzing and responding.)
3. Students will explore sequence, symmetry, color and rhythm to make a weaving (creating and performing.)

Materials
Heavy cardboard pieces 8" x 10" or 6" x 8" with 10 notches
cut across two parallel edges and 2 notches cut on each side,
warped with cotton warp thread
(To warp looms, catch one end of the warp thread in the two sides notches, then bring the thread to one of the upper corners of the loom and tightly wrap the thread around both sides of the cardboard,
using the precut notches. Catch the tail end in the remaining two side notches.),
colored yarn precut into 24" - 30" lengths,
scissors.

Motivation
Begin a discussion with the students about textiles. What are textiles? Where do we find them?
Have students look at their clothing and see if they can determine how the cloth was made?
Introduce the concept of weaving as being a way to organize fibers so that they stay together to make fabric. Explain that they will be weaving their own "mini" cloth.

Procedure

1. Make sure each student has a loom and access to yarn. Retain the scissors for distribution later. Explain that the students will be weaving on one side of the loom only and count to insure that they are working with the side with ten warp strings.
2. Have students select a few strands of yarn and thread the yarn over and under, sequentially, each warp thread. They can leave a little tail at the end and use the under/over pattern to secure it. When they get to the end of a row, instruct them to reverse the pattern in the next row, going over when they went under before. Continue the pattern until the thread runs out and then they can add another color.
3. Guide the students to weave with a tension that is not too tight by encouraging them to make a "hill" with their yarn as they weave and then pushing it down to meet the other strands.
4. When the looms are almost full of weavings, gather the students to explain that they will be tying the warp threads to keep the weaving together, as well as make fringe. You can explain that the warp threads are like the bones of the weaving.
5. Turn the looms on the back and have the students snip two adjacent warp threads, in the middle of each thread, at a time, starting on one end. Turn the loom onto the right side (where the weaving is) and knot the warp threads twice, right next to the weaving. Continue cutting and tying pairs of warp threads until an entire edge is tied.
6. Tie the other edge.
7. Students can trim the fringe, but encourage them to cut some distance away from the knots so that they don't untie.

Evaluation
Arrange a display of the weavings. Have students discuss the colors and patterns that their classmates used. Have the students imagine that their weavings are life size. How have they been used? What is their history? They can write stories about where the weavings have been, and what they have observed.

Extensions and Connections
Students can research the use of different fibers in textile production. Which fibers are animal, vegetal or synthetic? Have them report on their findings. (Science) Students can explore the way that looms are constructed and used. Where are back-strap, vertical and horizontal looms used? What is the relationship to culture and loom structure? Have students report on what they have discovered. (Social Studies)


Bibliography

Children's Books
Blood, Charles and Martin A. Link. The Goat in the Rug. New York: Four Winds Press, 1976.
Duncan, Lois. The Magic of Spider Woman. New York: Scholastic Inc., 1996.
Heyer, Marilee. The Weaving of a Dream, a Chinese Folktale. New York: Penguin Books, 1986.
Medearis, Angela. Seven Spools of Thread. Morton Grove, Illinois: Albert Whitman & Company, 2000.
Musgrove, Margaret. The Spider Weaver, A Legend of Kente Cloth. New York: Blue Sky Press, 2001.
Roessel, Monty. Songs from the Loom, A Navajo Girl Learns to Sing. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications Company, 1995.
Solá, Michèle. Angela Weaves a Dream, The Story of a Young Maya Artist. New York: Hyperion Books for Children, 1997.

Adult Books
Anni Albers. On Weaving. New York: Dover Publications, 1993.
Fisher, Nora, ed. Rio Grande Textiles. Santa Fe, Museum of New Mexico Press, 1994.
Rainey, Saria. Weaving Without a Loom. Worcester, MA: Davis Publications, 1972.
Stanton, Andrea Fischgrund. Zapotec Weavers of Teotitlan. Santa Fe, Museum of New Mexico Press, 1999.
Znamierowski, Nell. Step-By-Step Weaving. New York: Western Publishing Company, 1967.



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