| I usually do my Nature Weaving Workshops in places where we can pick up what we need around us but not this time. I knew there would not be enough 'interesting stuff' in the Wigtown Primary Schools playground to satisfy the needs of all the people due to turn up. Therefore a big thank you too all my family and friends who collected who helped me out collecting 'interesting stuff'. When out for walks they were all asked to spot and collect anything that they thought would be interesting to weave with, from nature of course. I got small bags and big buckets full of 'interesting stuff'. There were cones, feathers, twigs, bark and even shells and everyone who came to the nature weaving workshop loved it all. I even got permission from SNH to collect some of the grass and rushes up at Cairnsmore of Fleet so we had enough. It was a great experience seeing people selecting just the right thing to go on their weaving the 'interesting stuff' was a hit. The Workshop was part of the Wigtown Children's Festival which is part of the Wigtown Book Festival. We were at Wigtown Primary School and as it was a lovely day we were outdoors and got to enjoy the sunshine. This was a good thing as all that sorting the 'interesting stuff' to find the right materials made a bit of a mess. I use a knot called square lashing to make the weaving frames and this is where the theme of under and over starts. You have to go over and under a cross of two sticks. Over the top one and under the bottom one round and round in a square. The frames were made from trimming the willow screen around the play ground and thank you to the volunteers that helped out cutting that to the right sizes. Most people used some colourful wool which was donated for the warp thread. This goes over and under the frame to make the loom. All the great stuff that was collected was then woven over and under the threads to make the nature weaving. It was great to see families working together making the looms and choosing just the right things to weave into their designs. Thank you again to the people who volunteered and gave much needed help on the day, to my families and friends for collecting the 'interesting stuff' and to all the people who came along to weave. Thank you also to the unicorn that made a special appearance too.  Some of the completed weavings, as you can see they are all different  PS we met a unicorn too! |  Making the frame  Warp threads in place the loom is ready to start weaving  You can add all sorts of 'interesting things' to your weaving |
P.S. This is the third time I have written this blog so fingers crossed that this one is not deleted by the vagaries of the computer and internet
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