Weaving on cardboard looms

This is a continuation of the weaving project that I wrote about in my previous post.

As I mentioned earlier I ran two workshops during Social Inclusion Week in conjunction with our community loom project and here is how I did it.

The first workshop was open to the public and had no age restrictions. I had two attendees. I feel strongly that numbers in attendance is not an indicator of the success of a project and I was happy with two. Given the limited space we have in our library and the fact that it was already a very busy day for us I was hopeful that it would be a small turnout.

In preparation for the workshop I cut out some rectangular pieces of stiff cardboard measuring about 15cm by 20cm. I then snipped a row of notches about 1 cm long and 1cm apart - 10 in total across both 15cm edges of the cardboard. The notches have to line up with each other.

I then took a length of yarn and holding the cardboard so that the notched edges are on the top and the bottom and beginning at the top left-hand side I slipped the yarn into the first notch, leaving a tail hanging at the back of the cardboard of about 10cm. I then brought the yarn down tot the bottom left and slipped it into the first notch and behind the card, back through the next notch so that the yarn is back in front. I then threaded the yarn back up to the top and through the next empty notch, behind the card and through the next notch so that the yarn is back in front. I continued like this until the yarn is woven through each notch with a row of ten vertical lines or warps, finishing at the bottom and leaving a tail of yarn hanging at then back of the cardboard. 

And that is a cardboard loom. You can slip a pencil behind the warp at the top to create a small space which makes weaving easier. 

For the workshop I had a box of yarn and ribbon ready to use as well as some books about weaving beside some comfy chairs. I demonstrated the simple tabby weave and the participants picked it up very quickly. We spent a lot of the workshop chatting about weaving and other textile art as well as just getting to know each other. It felt like the knitting circles I used to attend and I enjoyed it a lot.

Our second workshop was a little bit more hectic. I had sixteen 8-10 year-old girls for an hour of weaving chaos.
I used box lids instead of flat pieces of cardboard which made it easier for the girls to weave in and out behind the warp. I prepared the box lids in the same manner as the flat pieces of cardboard. I used two different colours for the warp which made instruction much easier. When I was explaining to the girls what to do all I had to say was " go over the yellow ones and under the orange ones, and the next row go over the orange ones and under the yellow ones".
 I had a selection of paper and ribbon for the girls to use, the bigger the better.  It was a very hands-on workshop. I had thought that the girls would be able to do a lot of it without too much help but we needed all hands on deck and there were four adults helping the pupils for most of the hour. That being said, it was great fun. At the end of the workshop they each had a small wall hanging to bring home which they were very proud of . The class teacher was also delighted to have a new activity which she could use again.