Wacky Weaving!

Week 2 of Summer ART Camps was all about Wacky Whimsical ART! Every project was a bit wild and weird -- just what kids love!

Our first project was this crazy Circle Weaving. 

This project was done in two parts: FIRST, the cardboard loom was created. SECOND, the circle weaving was created.

We first drew an 'organic' loom shape (like an amoeba) on a piece of stiff corrugated cardboard and cut it out. A circle was also drawn somewhere inside the shape for the weaving to happen, but left uncut.



The loom was then decorated in one of two ways. The first was to "Zentangle" or doodle it with black Sharpies, then attach pieces of tissue paper over the doodles with thinned white glue.  The doodles showed through! 

Once the white glue was dry, the artist could go overt the doodles again here and there with a metallic marker to emphasize some of the shapes or add new ones, like this one:

Black Sharpie and tissue

Metallic Sharpie details added

(The metallic details were added here after the weaving was completed)

The second decorating method was to paint a design on the loom using thick tempera paint. After it dried, the artist then added oil pastel patterns over the paint. Some doodled then painted, which was a-okay too.

Artists were to choose a specific color scheme for their loom: warm colors, cool colors, analogous colors, etc. and could also use black and/or white to mix tints and shades.


When the loom was completely dry, the teachers cut out the center of the loom using a craft knife and punched holes around the edges -- always an ODD number of holes to make the weaving work. 

Then the warp was woven through the holes to create a starburst effect.




The remaining warp yarn was woven around the center of the starburst warp to create the weft. When it was only a couple inches long, it was tied to a new piece of yarn and the weaving continued, hiding the knots behind the weaving. 


It was fun looking for unusual pieces of fuzzy or stringy or fat or multi-colored yarns to add to the circle weaving. Some of these odd yarns gave the weaving a 3-D look, which was surprising and pleasing to look at and touch. 




It was not necessary to fill up the warp with weft. Each artist decided when his or her circle weaving was done.

My sample

We love Circle Weaving! Thank you to Small Hands Big Art for this great project!