Cayla Kennedy
Weekly 1: Make a Book Loom
With this weekly project, I set out to learn how to weave using a loom that I created using household objects. I was hoping to create a simple design with three colors of yarn, and make a repeating pattern using these three colors. I also planned on using conductive string to embroider a small design onto my weaving. As I was using a book on the history of animation, I wanted to make something colorful, and chose mostly bright colored yarns to complete the project.
I started off doing a simple weave using a different colored yarn from the warps, but the yarn had the same texture. I felt like I got the hang of this fairly quickly.
I then moved on to a thicker and more textured wool yarn, which I found was more difficult to pack into the weave, however it created an interesting texture, as the warps were still the acrylic yarn.
As I went on, I saw that the width of my weave changed, which I was not super satisfied, but I figured was par for the course as this was my first time weaving.
In order to incorporate the conductive thread, I started to weave it in like I did with the other threads I used. I found that it was difficult to use and didn’t work how I wanted it to, so I went back to my original idea of embroidering. I chose to try to put in some little cartoon hearts, though I found it difficult to fully embroider while the weave was still on the loom, so they did not turn out exactly as I envisioned.
While my exploration into weaving was not particularly groundbreaking, I greatly enjoyed learning how a loom works and the process of weaving. I liked the visual interest of using different yarns, and would be interested in exploring different textures and materials in the future. I also think it could be interesting to make a loom using other objects that I could find around my house, such as a hula hoop or one of those LED signs that you could find at Target.
Cayla Kennedy 