In the Art Room: Weaving, Part 4

Finished weaving, complete with cord and coordinating background.

Now that your weaving is finished (ahem, you did finish it, right?), let's get to everyone's favorite part: cord weaving. My students as young as second grade absolutely love weaving these cords. They weave mounds of them, fashioning them into necklaces, bracelets and belts.

If you need a refresher course on the woven pouch, you can catch up on that with Weaving, Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

For this project, you'll need:

• two colors of yarn, four strands of yarn each, all of them approximately 24" in length. 
• thick cardboard
• scissors
• pencil

Begin by cutting out a circle. I traced around an old plastic lid with a 4" diameter. 

Make four equally spaced marks on your circle like a compass. We do a short geography lesson in class while marking our loom.

Make four more marks in between your North, South, East and West.

Make eight marks in between each of the aforementioned markings. You should have a total of sixteen equally spaced marks. Cut them. 

At this point, I ask the students to bring me their looms and I stab the center of their loom with a pair of pointy-end scissors. While I'm loom stabbing, I send them off shopping (our art room word for supply-gathering) for yarn. Students will need eight strands of yarn, four of one color, four of another.

Have the students tie all eight strands of yarn into an overhand knot like that shown above. Push the knot through the hole in the loom just enough so that only the knot is peaking out from the bottom and the rest of the yarn is on the top of the loom.

With those long strands of yarn coming through the hole in the loom, feed them through the cut notches you made. Set your loom up like a compass. There should be a vertical "X" and a horizontal "X" of yarn.

To weave, you will follow the same three steps over and over. Begin with vertical "X". Using your left hand, remove the bottom left string and place it on the top left side of the loom. Now your "X" should look like a fork.

See the fork? Easy.

Now using your right hand, begin at the top right side and remove the right string. Place it at the bottom on the right side. Now you should see your "X" again.

It should look exactly as it did a moment ago. If the "X" becomes off-center, do not worry. You can correct that by shifting the strings on your loom if it bothers you.

I promise I am not flipping you off, I'm trying to point you in the direction that you will turn your loom: clockwise. Once you have turned your loom clockwise, you will do the same steps over again, this time with the other yarn colors in the "X". And that's it. Really. You'll repeat this pattern continuously until you have completed your cord. We have a little poem in art class that we say to help us remember the weaving instructions: Right string to the top, Left string drops, Turn it like the hands of a clock.

Now let's talk trouble shooting. As you are weaving, your cord will come out of the bottom of the loom, shown in the photo below. The long strings around the loom can sometimes become tangled, shown in the photo above. To prevent tangling, I usually have my students stand while weaving. This allows the long strings to hang straight and not tangle. If they do become tangled, pull one strand of yarn out of the tangled mess at a time. Do not run your fingers down all of the yarn in hopes of combing out the tangles. It will only make it worse.

After just five minutes of weaving, you should see your cord coming out from the whole in your loom. Yippie!

More trouble shooting: if your cord keeps popping out of the hole as you weave, as shown above, tug on it gently from underneath the loom to bring it back down, as shown below.

The entire time you are weaving, it's a good idea to tug gently on the cord to keep it from popping up.

How do you know when you are finished? When the shortest of the eight strings is no longer long enough to make it to one of the notches. You can see my peach colored string at the top is now too short.

Taking it off the loom is very easy. Just remove the strings from the notches and pull it through the hole.

Viola! A finished cord! Often the kids will ask if they can use strands of yarn longer than 24" so they can create longer cords. I have found that this causes a lot of tangling so I try to avoid the question by changing the subject, "Oh, look, a unicorn riding a rainbow!"

Depending on the time, I'll either show the kids how to sew in their cord or have one of my awesome mom helpers give us a hand. Simply feed a knotted strand of yarn through both ends of the cord...

And attach with a couple of whip stitches. The students are give the option of having the cords sewn on the side like mine or across. Most boys tend to go for the cord on the side as the across one looks a little too purse-y for them.

And there you have it! Because I've thrown so much at you today, I thought I'd do one final installment of this weaving series. In that, I'll show you how to sew on a button and hide that pesky warping tail. I'd also love to share with you my favorite weaving books and how I manage to get these pouches woven in the 30 minutes of class time that I have. Yeah. 30 minutes. We have Fingers of Fire! Chat with you soon.

DIY: A Dress to Dye For...Twice

Oh, look. Me in a dress. Shocker.

 Yesterday, I dyed. Twice. 

 

And after some hemming and hawing, I did some hemming. On the dress. 

But I chose to skip the hawing (what the heck is that, anyway?)

So I thought I'd share it with you as this week's DIY. Mostly because there are some serious do's and don'ts when it comes to dying (of which I am the authority on the don'ts) and partly because my other DIY is currently Resting-In-Pieces in the trash can. Ahem.

So here's the dress before the dying. I know, I love it too. I snapped this photo a couple years ago for my belt shop. Funny thing is, I got more questions on the dress than the belt. I remember the day I found this dress, the very thrift store and the goofy squeal I made when I found it.

 [This is off-topic but...(btw, if ever we were to meet in person, you would find that many of my sentences begin with that phrase)...is it just me or does that photo look like it should be in some sort of pharmaceutical ad? You know, like it should have superfine print at the bottom that reads:

If you suffer from the desire to take coy photos of yourself, Notbeingadork, might not be right for you. Side effects may include: dressing like someone your age, not wearing bumpits and having a cell phone that is less than 7 years old.]

 And then, this happened.

I remember this day also. It had been a hot one and I had sweated. A lot. Obviously.

 I took it to the cleaners who wanted nothing to do with it. They claimed the only way to fix it would be to remove the red piping, bleach the dress and reattach said piping. My response: Like, ew. That sounds hard.

So I attacked it with a bleach pen to no avail. I pouted and grumbled and wadded it up into a ball and kicked it around in the laundry room.

Then hubs said, "Why don't you just dye it?"

 Oh, yeah. Duh.

Now, when it comes to dying fabric, I do know a thing or two. 

Thing One: (in my best Joan Crawford voice) Never use RIT dye. Ever!

Seriously, I know you see it on the grocery shelf and it sounds so easy but it stinks. You'd be better off dying with Kool-Aid.

Thing Two: Use Procion MX Dye. It's seriously the best. You won't find this on your grocery shelf or even at your local craft store, sadly. My favorite place is from the sweet and kind people at Dharma Trading Company. You can call them on the phone and ask them plenty of questions. They've helped me and my mom army when we tie-dye 400 t-shirts for our annual fundraiser.

 I chose to dye in my washer, although you can use the stove top if the idea freaks you out. Besides the dye, you just need non-iodized salt (found at the grocery) and soda ash (bought from Dharma). You must follow these directions closely for best results.

 Looking at the spooky storm clouds that brought nothing to my dead and dry yard. Gee, thanks.

After the first dye, where I was a little shy with the dye mix, I was left with this light pink. I wore it on my errand running but wasn't thrilled with the color. It was a little too Tums Tablets Pink for me.

 Oh, I wanted to show you the back. Don't you love how it ties? It's a vintage Act I dress...I don't know much about this brand, do you? I have a couple vintage Act I and Act II dresses and I love the style.

I asked hubs, "Well? What do you think?" And he gave me his classic I-don't-wanna-hurt-her-feelings-but-I-just-can't-lie phrase: "Well, it's not my cup of tea. But if you like it..."

After the second dying I'm still not sure about the pink. It's now a little Pepto Pink for me...I'm thinking of going darker. Or not. I can't decide. Maybe this is what the "hawing" in hemming and hawing means. 

Oh and the hemming. What do you think? After wearing it around on Monday, I decided it was just too long. I took 6" off of the bottom before wearing it on Tuesday. That's right, I wore the same dress two days in a row. That should make for an interesting "What I Wore this Week", don't you think?

Thank you for dropping by. I do hope all of my friends in the states have a wonderful and safe Fourth of July!

What the Art Teacher Wore #23

Beautiful Bamberg Monday: That is, once we found the place. Our GPS was giving us fits (switching from German to English to mute when important decisions like "Do I take the autobahn now?!" needed to be made) and our gas station attendant friend could only point down the road and say "go straight on". But we made it! sweater: vintage, thrifted; dress: vintage, The Hip Zipper; belt: Pinky Otto; sandals: Chacos

 Well, we're back! What a fun week and a half we spent in Germany and the Netherlands. I think I may be cured of my jet lag (a bedtime of 7:30pm last night and a 10 hour sleep just may have done the trick) and I'm now ready to tackle unpacking.

 But first things first, what I wore around town and country. This week I decided to include some photos of the towns we visited as well. If you live in these cities or have visited them, I'd love to hear your stories about these incredible places...especially shopping recommendations! Thanks for stopping by.

This town celebrated it's 1000th birthday back in '73, can you imagine? There were witch trials here back during the 17th century. It's full of so many rolling hills and beautiful churches it's reminiscent of Rome, which the locals refer to as the "Italian Bamberg." They so silly.

An Amsterdam Evening: Hubs drove a caravan of us from Bavaria to the Netherlands. It was a beautiful day for a drive...until we hit Frankfurt and sat in traffic for a bit. But we made it! sweater: Mini-Boden, thrifted; dress: Ann Taylor, thrifted; belt and flower: H & M; sandals: Chacos...again. My only preferred footwear during this trip

Such a fun city to walk around and explore...given you don't get run over by the one bah-jillion people on bicycles.

Gettin' Cheesy: We decided to take a day trip to the sweet town of Alkmaar. It's most famous for it's incredibly amazing, mouth-watering cheese. And adorable kalliopes, like this biggin'. At least we think that's what this large music box thing was. sweater and dress: vintage, thrifted; scarf: picked up at some little shop in Germany; belt and flower: made by me

Alkmaar is also home to a Beatles museum. Apparently John Lennon's first guitar was made there.

We decked in and out of several cheese shops but this one was the best. They had samples of every cheese in the shop which we helped ourselves to. My favorites were the blue cheese (which was so strong I literally pounded the counter a couple of times as if I was downing tequila) and the wasabi and pesto infused cheeses. I tried to ask if they had any Cheese Whiz but I guess they just aren't that advanced yet.

Hubs and I took an evening trip to the town of Haarlem which is the historical center of the tulip bulb-growing district and has the nickname 'Bloemenstad' (flower city), for this reason. We didn't spot a single tulip though as they are now out of season.

Nowhere like Amsterdam: Seriously, it's amazing. I now want to buy myself a salmon pink Schwinn with a basket on the front and a bell on the handlebars and cruise everywhere. dress: Viva, picked up in Germany

I hadn't been to Amsterdam since I was there in college. I did some student teaching in Ireland and made my way over to the Netherlands, Italy and Belgium afterwords. It was so fun to walk through the train station and find the hostel and little Italian place I once ate at again.

A rare photo of hubs. He's was so nice to take all of my outfit photos. Usually it's just me and my tripod. This background is amazing as it looks totally phony baloney.

Leaving on a Jet Plane Friday: Time to head home. We were missing our kitty. Little did we know it would be one million degrees when we got home, ugh! dress: Mango, picked up in Alkmaar; tights: Target; scarf: Germany

Hubs and I had separate seats on the plane. No worries, I had Jes to hang out with. The poor guy sitting next to me immediately caught on to my crazy ways and pretended to sleep all eight hours. I got some great photos of Jes resting with him! (gah, just kidding, silly man kept waking up)

In the Art Room: Weaving, Part 3

Weaving by one of my fourth grade students.

Hello, crafters! This week I am going to show you how to remove your completed weaving from your loom. If you have not started your weaving, no worries, you can begin here at Weaving, Part 1. Or, if you've finished your weaving and are now ready for the flap, you can catch up by reading Weaving, Part 2.

However, if you've done it all, then let's get to taking that weaving off the loom! This doesn't take long at all so you should be done in a snap.

You may begin on either side of your loom. I am starting on the side with the flap. Cut two warp strings close to the top. Never cut the warp strings close to the weaving as that will cause your weaving to unravel.

Tie your first knot so that it sits right on top of the weaving or weft strings. Do not pull the knot too tightly or it will cause the weaving to smash down and become uneven.

For the second knot, pull very tightly so that the double knot is secure.

Continue this process of cutting two strings near the top and double knot tying them until you have gotten to the end. If you have an odd number of warp strings, you will encounter three warp strings to tie at the end.

If you have this issue, simply put two strings together as one and tie it to the left over string. Double knot tie it as you have done the other warp strings.

Double check and make sure all warp strings are tied off and secure. At this point, you can snip the warp strings shorter.

When you flip your loom over, you will do the exact same thing. I like to pull the warp strings out from the other side or you could simply cut two as you have been.

Again, cut two, double knot tie two and continue until all strings are tied and secure. Trim warp strings.

Now you are ready to remove the weaving from the loom. This might be a bit of a struggle, especially if you have woven very tightly. But you can do it. Just put the end of the loom between your knees and start pulling the weaving off the loom. In art class, we say it's like taking a too-small sock off of someone's foot.

Don't worry about messing it up because you can't. Although it may look like you are.

And if you see this, don't panic.

Just flip it inside out and flatten by hand. Viola! You've woven a pouch!

Next week, I'll walk you through sewing on a button and making that little warp tail (seen in the photo above this one) disappear. Then we are on to creating the handle which is very easy and fun. Please feel free to ask questions or leave comments if you've got 'em. Happy weaving!

DIY: Crafts that Travel

My Prissy-Presley Poodle inspired by the wall paper I saw at Graceland.

 One of my favorite traveling crafts is embroidery. I love to work on it during our occasional road trips and flights. Surprisingly, I've never had any trouble making it through security with my embroidery scissors and needles. Now that jar of Reese's peanut butter we tried to smuggle to Germany was a different story...

For this trip, I brought along three embroidery projects and I was so excited to finish this one yesterday. This little embroidery is going to be apart of a much bigger DIY that I'll be certain to share with you once complete. For now, here's the back story behind this embroidered piece.

A snapshot of a recent girl's trip to Graceland. You can read more about it here, if you like. That's Emma on the left and Quincy on the right.

Earlier this summer, I had the pleasure of traveling to Memphis to visit Graceland. I had not been to Elvis' crib since college (which was many blue moons ago) so it was a delight to visit again. Especially with Quincy who is the biggest Elvis fan I know.

Elvis outside Graceland, circa 1957. He purchased home and the land for $90,000. The name Graceland came from the original owner who named it after his daughter. Elvis liked the name so much he kept it. All images of Elvis via pinterest.

Elvis with his mother Gladys. Elvis said the most important woman in his life was his mother who passed away shortly after the purchase of Graceland in 1958.

About his mother, Elvis said, "My mother, she never really wanted anything. She stayed the same through it all. There are a lot of things that's happened since she passed away. I wish she could have been around to see them. It would have made her very happy and proud, but that's life, and I can't help it."

Elvis' parents chose Graceland as it had plenty of land (for the animals they wanted) and was off the road and had privacy (for the crazed fans they were trying to keep at bay).

Elvis' parents bedroom which is located on the first floor, to the right of the main staircase at the entrance.

 This bedroom of Gladys and Vernon didn't become open to the public until 1997. After the death of Gladys, the room was occupied by Millie Mae Presley, Elvis' grandmother.

I love this little peek into a world of purple velvet, white French-reproduction furniture (which I totally had in my bedroom as a kid), nifty 1950's lamps, rubber-stamped poodle wall designs and a brassy chandelier.

Emma and Quincy outside of the bed and bath of Gladys and Vernon.

 I immediately fell in love with the poodle wallpaper you can see over Emma's shoulder. It's just darling! So I snapped a couple of close ups in hopes that I'd be able to do something with the design.

 When I got home and started doing a little research, I was surprised to learn that this is not the original wall paper. Apparently a restorator, after studying many layers of paint and wallpaper, discovered that there once was poodle paper in the bath. After chatting with a Presley relative, he was able to get a description of the design. Memphis artist and designer Thomas Malic was hired to recreate the paper. He studied poodle images of the '50s and designed rubber stamp images which he printed with black ink over an off-white background.

Can you find the poodle I tried to replicate?

 I flipped and redrew the image of the poodle on the top left of the wallpaper photo. I'm going for a Parisian Poodle theme, hence the beret. Because of the small scale of the poodle and the fine details, I embroidered this guy with one strand of embroidery thread.

Just a little close up.

 Like I said, I cannot wait to share with you the final result of this project...but that will have to be once I return home and have access to my sewing machine. Until then, I'll be working on embroidery project #2. After some sight-seeing, gelato-eating and souvenir-shopping, of course!

Until then, I leave you with one of my favorite images of Elvis...that shirt! the princess phone! the pink stuffed hound dog! Love.