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Mon, 06/08/2009 - 20:05

suehelmken (not verified)

I've been using copper wire on the loom for a while now.  Lately I've tried shaping the cloth and attaching it to weathered wood I collect on hikes.  I plan to try more things as I collect them.  It would be great to talk with others doing things with non-standard materials.  I don't have much of the newest work on my site yet, but it's coming.

Sue Helmken 

[email protected]

www.barefootweaver.com

Mon, 06/08/2009 - 23:15

Orion (not verified)

 Well, I was weaving with "normal" fibers until I took a class from Patricia Morton involving weaving with plants.

Now, my daffodils, irises and other plants are being eyed very suspiciously.

I wove my plants into an eyeglass case and plan on making some purses. 

I guess you could call it grass cloth but it's a lot of fun to weave.

The current issue of Handwoven has an article on plant weaving by the woman who taught my teacher :-)

Tue, 06/09/2009 - 01:39

dteaj (not verified)

Hi Orion. Are you a member of the Weavers Guild of Boston? Patricia taught that plant weaving this year through WGBl so I'm wondering about the possible connection. I'm a WGB member, but I wasn't in Patricia's plant weaving - too many great classes to choose from. I ended up taking the Bumps class with Barbara Herbster and using Habu linen and cotton papers in a fulled doubleweave and wool/stainless steel in another collapse scarf later in the year. Those are the first non-traditional fibers I've used.

Tue, 06/09/2009 - 15:42

HazelRose (not verified)

Been doing this for years. Taught art in grade school and we made cardboard looms and warped with cotton string then gathered plant materials around the school ground and used them with an assortment of fibers we brought from home. It's amazing what you can come up with with a bunch of kids with no preset ideas of what weaving ought to be. Cat tail & day lily leaves make good weaving material & tho the lily stems get brittle as they dry they are attractive. Rolled and flattened magazine pages are interesting, too. But I am mostly talking 'art' rather than fabric. But good for place mats, pads, mats of all sorts... anything that does not need to be really flexible. I made some seat pads from rolled newspaper that lasted for quite awhile and are thick enough to actually add a little 'padding'. Works pretty well for sitting on grass.
Wed, 06/10/2009 - 07:40

Caroline (not verified)

Wow! You guys are adventurous, and I shall enjoy reading what you get up to!  Adventurous means using polyester or acrylic yarns to my local spinning and weaving group, and its very much frowned upon, so I'm really looking forward to being able to talk about and experiment with pushing the boundaries.

cheers, Caroline, :-) !!

Wed, 06/10/2009 - 12:39

Aunt Janet (not verified)

COOL GROUP!  I haven't woven with any of this stuff, YET.  Last week I collected and dried up some grass with intent to weave it.  While cleaning out a storage room this week I found a spool of fine copper wire.  I was thinking of weaving it on my inkle loom.  I make paper sometimes, so I'm looking out for plant materials anyway, I suppose I can weave some of my handmade paper as well.  I'll be looking forward to seeing work woven by folks in this group.

Aunt Janet

Wed, 06/10/2009 - 16:12

FybeRae (not verified)

  When I heard about this weaving community I figured I'd come look around a little, but since I only dabble in weaving I didn't think I'd be joining.   How surprised I am that I'm having a BLAST here already!  LOL!  Discovering there are places here even for "bits and pieces" weavers like me was a real surprise.  I like to weave small things with "normal" materials, but  I LOVE to weave "just stuff" like wire and plants and paper and such just for the process and for decor use!  While I wouldn't really call many of the little art pieces I've woven "fabric", they are still woven and it's great to find "comrads" in art weaving here! 

Thu, 06/18/2009 - 14:01

Cloth n Clay (not verified)

I've been thinking about weaving with copper wire too.....for lampshades to go with my ceramic lamps.  Do you have any tips about tension?  And is the wire hard on your loom or do you have any tips on that too?  What type of loom do you use?  I live just down the road from Lorton (Fredericksburg, and work at LibertyTown Arts Workshop).  I HAVE to make the trip and check the place out.  I've heard great things!!

Wed, 07/15/2009 - 21:08

ingamarie

I weave wire on my rigid heddle loom, and it holds up just fine. I've woven pretty fine wire 30-34 gauge. I keep it under constant tension when I warp, I hang knitting machine weights on it to keep it tight when I'm not holding it. I think I'd do the same on my floor looms.

marie

Mon, 07/20/2009 - 04:47

fantasticfelter (not verified)

hi ingemarie nice to see you on weavlution as well as ravelry i would like to share a word of caution with wire and weaving. a few years back i took a 3 day work shop with nadine sanders, singing weaver, who taught a theo mormon technique. she has been doing workshops for years. but she shared this strange phenomena she was having with a large workshop group in texas i believe and some other weavers. for some reasons her extra fine warp yarns were breaking right and left especially during this workshop. the looms were university looms i believe, any way she stopped using this very reliable warp because she thought the quality had gone down the tubes. she came to find out much much later that it was not the quality of warp threads at all, but the fact that any loom in which you weave WIRE as the warp actually can damage the metal heddles and cause abrasion and breakage of the warp yarns in the future! she notified the university and has shared this information with her students since because it was so elusive for so long. i was grateful because i had just bought my baby wolf and had not ruined my heddles wire ones, but was tempted to. i am thinking of making string heddles or texsolve for a wire project, and decided not to ruin my ridged heddle plastic heddle either with wire.
Mon, 07/20/2009 - 12:51

Little Meadows (not verified)

It sounds like weaving with wire might be best done then on a  dedicated loom, set of shafts or  rigid heddle.  Thanks so much for posting this info!  Liese

Tue, 07/21/2009 - 17:34

ingamarie

I think it depends a bit. My big loom has texsolv, so I don't think it would be an issue. And the wire I weave with is very fine guage, 30-34, and also plastic coated. I  seems to be gentle on the loom. That said, I haven't put wire on that one yet, only the rigid heddle loom.  But it sounds very much like something to be aware of so thanks for the heads up!

Wed, 09/23/2009 - 13:16

msthimble

hi fanatasticfelter, i took classes at fit in nyc we were not permitted to use wire warp because the school feared damage to the looms-  i think using string heddles and proyecting back bar w a strip of wood would make wire warp doable.

 

orion i would love to see photos of your grass eye glass case

 

with takako ueki i learn to twist ramie it made a lovely sample